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Good Beginners bike? suzuki savage/boulavard s-40
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:13 am
by gypsy_woman
I know quite a bit about this bike as far as specs and the backfiring issues it has, but i was curious about peoples experiences with this bike, mostly reliabilty(I have heard that it is) anything positive/negative you have to say would be helpful.
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:46 am
by jonnythan
Yup, definitely a good beginner bike.
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:14 am
by Thumper
Good beginner bike, easy to handle...but it runs lean and is prone to backfiring. Many riders don't seem to mind that...
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:15 am
by Big B
great first bike, the lean running condition can be (relatively) easy to fix as well
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:00 pm
by flynrider
I haven't owned one, but my friend did for quite a few years (back when it was called the Savage). That bike was solid as a rock. Very easy to maintain and it always ran well. She put 22K on it over 4 yrs. before selling it (I put a few hundred on there too). If you're comfortable on it, and are not planning on doing a lot of two-up, long road trips, it's an excellent starter bike.
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:25 pm
by gypsy_woman
I am already pretty sold on it, but i just wanted to see what the bike was like to own and at 40 hp vs. the rebels 18hp(i think) i mostly wanted to make sure that it wasn't too powerful, I'm not scared I just have a lot of respect for these amazing machines.
gypsy
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:49 pm
by DivideOverflow
My mom's first bike was a Savage. She still has it, but she also rides my brother's M50 sometimes now.
It is a great starter bike. The torque from the thumper makes it pretty hard to stall it, and it definitely doesn't have too much power.
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:02 pm
by flynrider
gypsy_woman wrote:I am already pretty sold on it, but i just wanted to see what the bike was like to own and at 40 hp vs. the rebels 18hp(i think) i mostly wanted to make sure that it wasn't too powerful, I'm not scared I just have a lot of respect for these amazing machines.
gypsy
The power delivery on the S40 is very docile. It'll never surprise you. It's not in the Rebel category (which will struggle at Interstate speeds), but it has just enough power to easily carry you anywhere you want to go. Also, I've had a few of these bikes on the dyno before and their real life horsepower delivery is around 30 hp.
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:47 pm
by gypsy_woman
I have heard that you can get a performance ground camshaft that adds around 10-15 hp i'm not sure if that is true or not but if it is than it is all the more appealing to be able to amp it up a little later when i am a better rider,
there are performance carb kits too, mess with the carberator( I would have to learn, but there seems to be plenty of resources on the internet to learn how.
thanks.
gypsy
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:35 am
by paul246
I'm a dual sport convert, but I have owned and ridden many types of bikes, including cruisers. I'm not likely to ever wish to own a cruiser again, but if I were to buy or recommend a cruiser the S40 would top my list. It has enough power to take you anywhere you wish to go, it has the reliability to do it repeatedly, and I just love the look of it. Most importantly, to me at least, is the bike's simplicity which in itself accounts for the bike's good looks.
My second choice would be the Yamaha V-Star 650C.