Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi, I've been riding of all of three weeks now and I'm stating to feel that my bike is not all it should be. I have a 2001 suzuki savage and I've noticed that it's a smoother ride when I have the choke pulled out. Of course it'll rev really high at stops, but when traveling it's more responsive and doesn't chug as much. I realize it's a big single piston and it is what it is, but I'm wondering if something can be adjusted. Do I just tweak the idle adjustment and live with the higher revving? Or is there something more involved? Thanks.

Rob to the Total Motorcycle Community!

When the Savage is warmed up and running on it's own with out the choke, what is it's RPM at?

BTW - I moved your message to the Garage forums as it's better suited there than TMW Talk.

Mike

What altitude are you at? The Savage is probably still jetted for sea level and even 2000 feet can make a decent difference in how it performs.

The bike doesn't have a tach so I have no way of knowing the rpm until I find someone that can measure it otherwise. Where would I find the info for rpms at idle? Would that have an effect at running speed?

Also, I'm basically at sea level to answer the other post.

Has the bike been sitting for a while?

Keep riding with the choke out and you're going to foul the plug. Suggest you get to the root of the problem. Not sure by what you mean by "not smooth"? If the idle is turned WAAYY down, the bike could seem jerky with on-throttle/off-throttle transitions.

HYPERR wrote:Has the bike been sitting for a while?

I've been riding daily with an occasional day off due to rain if that's what you mean. It's not fresh out of the garage after a long winter's nap. If you're asking if I'm having the problem at the beginning of a ride, the bike is well warmed up when I noticed the difference between the choke/no choke performance.

jstark47 wrote:Keep riding with the choke out and you're going to foul the plug. Suggest you get to the root of the problem. Not sure by what you mean by "not smooth"? If the idle is turned WAAYY down, the bike could seem jerky with on-throttle/off-throttle transitions.

When I'm riding, it seems that the engine is laboring and it feels a little jerky. Not a lot, just enough to notice. When I ease out the choke it will accelerate and the slight jerk will go away. I'm in the correct gear so it's not like it's lugging.

I'd honestly go down to the next lowest gear. Not sure if that bike has a thing on the speedometer to tell you when to shift gears, but those are usually so low it will lug the engine. Next ride try a gear lower and don't worry about revving the engine, it's what it's designed to do.
If that clears it up then you're golden, otherwise I'd say perhaps your main jet is a big plugged.

I am going with fuel restriction on this one. The idle circuit is likely restricted making it lean. Try sea foam 1 oz per gallon of gas. run one tank through it if it doesn't clear it up manual cleaning may be required. If the bike sat for more than a couple months at any point the whole ethanol problem with phase separation comes into play. Running lean can damage your engine.