Now that my 9R is back on the road (and will hopefully stay that way)I really want to build one of these. I've spent some time poking around the Savage forums and read about a few conversions and I think it would be a fun machine to ride from time to time.
I have an 87 savage sitting in my garage. I have never heard or seen this before. Looks really cool. Now if I could talk my father in law into letting me do this to the bike lol
I'd love to do one. I'm betting the forward cafe position would be tough on me for long term, but I'd live to build and have one for the fun of it. I was just looking at Savages yesterday, poopin' around on th'interwebz. Saw one for $1k, another for 1200, another for 1500 OBO... All you really need is a solid-running beater. There are so many around with really low miles, it's a great kit concept.
Well, I have to admit that I thought about color, too, and how it would be cool to make one as close as possible to Black Sapphire Pearl. - (insert cool smilie with sunglasses here) -
There is a donor near me for $1000, if it was $500 I wouldn't be asking, I'd be telling you about waiting for the kit. There is a $500 donor down near Philly, kind of far for me so if it pushes one of you to do this, have at it. The fuel to go get it would send the price up closer to the almost local $1000.
Looking at the fuel tank, it has 2 gallons so you won't ever ride it far before getting off, especially if you keep your hand in the throttle, I bet it gets down to about 20mpg if you really flog it. But I bet it would be fun for those 40+ miles
My first bike was a 1990 Suzuki Katana 600... It would regularly do 60mpg on the highway, riding around I was sometimes able to get down to near 12mpg.
As I recall, unless you are boring out and swapping out the piston, the only performance changes are intake, exhaust and re-jet, so coming down from 60 to 20 mpg would be some pretty nifty riding, indeed.
I like how they transform the shifter mechanism, and make part of it into a manual decompression lever, so you can dump the heavy solenoid (a little bit of "ruthless engineering" there ;- ).
Well the $1000 sort of nearby and the $500 farther away seem to be gone, so I guess I don't need to feel pushed at all. Still something I want to make though.
There are an awful lot of those S40 Savages out there, starter bikes just sitting, unused. Prices for them aren't going up as time goes on, either. I think even the oldest ones would work fine, although I think they went from 4-speed to 5 in 1993. But that was about the only change.
I would love to build one of these. I agree with you. there are a few out there, and most are not aware of these kits. I would like to do one. Looking for one around phoenix.
Fahren, so put some dirt bar on it with dual sport tires...
Or just get a DR.
I love the look of that Ryca as well & Savages are dirt cheap here too.
As the conversion is mostly cosmetic I'd have no trouble with the paperwork either.
Hmmmm, Next winter's project maybe.
Probably not a Ryca kit as the import duties shipping & taxes would kill me here. The idea is sound though, if any of you do go ahead with one, I'd appreciate seeing the specs of the shocks, steering, etc.
1:14 "...the Suzuki S40 is pretty much a street legal eye-sore..." I kind of like that.
I'll need to look into the 4 speed/5 speed thing as I think I would want the 5 speed, didn't realize that there were 4 speeds until I saw a mention last night and Fahren's post above.
As far the speedometer issue she mentions, in NY there is a check box on the title to state that the odometer has been replaced, so not an issue here if you go to sell it.
Devil's Advocate: the lazy side of me says that there is a lot of two-wheeled fun to be had out there in the used bike market if you are already going to spend $3500-$4000, without having to build or heavily modify a bike.
But then there's the fun of that work, so..........
I paid $4k for a very low mileage 2000 Moto Guzzi V-11 Sport, which fills the Cafe Racer slot in the garage a bit better (imo) than that small/slow single cyl bike. It looks nice though, wonder what the Suzuki looks like with a full size adult on it vs. that 5 ft tall girl........
Dropping the front end? just slide the forks through the yokes & use a set of clip-ons on the top, it's easier & cheaper. Thicker oil in the there too.
Trip to the breakers for a pair of longer shocks.
I know of a wheel builder who'd lace the hub to a bigger rim.
Always plenty of cafe racer tank/seat units at the swap meets.
but changed and done this way, it looks pretty good.
Yep, you can probably get the rear wheel laced locally, and I like the idea of dropping the fork tubes in the bracket for the same effect. then you can either do the clip ons on some bars like on the CR.
Agree with the tank and seat. there are a lot of cafe racer ones out there now, picking and chosing which parts you might want to get from Ryca.
anyone heard of FSSNOC? they are the four stroke single National owners club. these guys all ride singles, and they ride across the country for a lunch, then turn around and ride home. cool folks, and they have a neat newsletter every other month. check them out.
Of course I like the Royal Enfield C5 Classic 500. Looks retro, single cylinder, now has fuel injection, hydraulic valves, unit construction engine, electronic ignition...gets 50-70 mpg...fun bike. light weight too.
there is also the Blast. I have seen these done in flat track attire. very cool.
I wonder how the ryka parts would look on the Blast Have to box out the space where the seat tubes are now, and drop those stock controls ..... could be a right decent set up.