The $300 1998 Suzuki Savage

GVH

GVH

Well-known member
My better half is showing interest in learning to ride again. So I wanted a cheap parking lot beater. Something I didn't care what would or could happen to it. It will be puttering around private property for now. Meet the $300 1998 Suzuki Savage 650 or LS650P. All I want for starters is a bike the starts, runs and stops. It doesn't need to look good and it doesn't.

The good was new tires, cranks over, super trap exhaust and the price.

The bad Not starting, No front brakes, back brakes not working properly ( sticky ?), both seats and backrest ripped, Lots of surface rust, pitting higher up on forks, Rust or crap in gas tank.


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Congrats! Good score. Hopefully it's not the stereotypical cheap bike....costs more to fix than it's worth. This one doesn't look like it should be that.
 
How do you even find a $300 bike?
I don’t even see 50cc scooters in that price range.
I looked at a few Savages before I bought my Shadow. I think they look decent.
Will be following to see how it goes.

Sent from my purple GTAMotorcycle.com mobile app
 
That doesn't look bad at all. I bet a couple of hours in the garage has it running fine. Some SOS pads to clean up the rust and you're off. For $300 you're laughing.
 
So far I'm finding the designers of this bike need a beating. I bought this bike for the easy maintenance. One carb not two or four sort of thing. Also very low seat. To change the plug you must remove the tank. To remove tank you must disconnect the speedo cable, fuel lines, instrument cluster and possibly the petcock as it raps around the frame. lots of scratches from people doing this.

After inspecting the bike closer I found about 1 mm of front pads left, Rear brake return spring not attached just loose, gas/varnish smell from the air box, battery is NEW needed charge. I replaced the black sooty wet gas smelling plug. I removed the carb after many bad words. Rust specks in the carb. Took it apart for a quick clean to get the rust out. I scoped the tank and found the Rust spot or just crap dirt inside on area. Must have sate half full for a long time. After cleaning the air box out and reassembly new inline filter and fresh gas still crank no start. Quick shot of quick start it fired on 1/2 chock and ran fine. It even restarted six times no quick start just gas. I buttoned it up to work on the other issues.

I little side note I have not removed the bike from the truck. I already have 2 bikes at the shop so until I take my plated one home today it can't be unloaded. Not my works.


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Looks like a great prospect for someone who's handy like yourself, but yes...for someone who had to take it to a shop and pay $100/HR for labor it would quickly exceed it's value.

Sounds like all fairly minor stuff wrong with it though. I'm sure she'll be a runner soon. Apparently those thumpers are surprising engines.

BTW, assuming previous owner put the new rubber on it? Who puts new rubber on a bike that doesn't even run? The tires alone were probably equivalent to what you paid for it.
 
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PrivatePilot said:
Looks like a great prospect for someone who's handy like yourself, but yes...for someone who had to take it to a shop and pay $100/HR for labor it would quickly exceed it's value.

Sounds like all fairly minor stuff wrong with it though. I'm sure she'll be a runner soon. Apparently those thumpers are surprising engines.

BTW, assuming previous owner put the new rubber on it? Who puts new rubber on a bike that doesn't even run? The tires alone were probably equivalent to what you paid for it.
Click to expand...

It was running last season and being used. Owner paid some "shop" to install tires and get a battery. What half decent shop would not point out the lack of brakes. Some pics of the brakes.

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You could easily part it out for a profit. The supertrapp exhaust, the sissy-bar backrest, saddlebag guards, mirrors/levers/signals (for people who've dropped their bike).
 
only one side for the saddle bag bracket. This poor bikes had a hard life. It wants to run. A proper carb soak or ultrasonic clean plus a $30 kit should fix that. Pads will help the front brakes.
 
Joe Bass said:
How do you even find a $300 bike?
Click to expand...

Tried to PM you but your box is full

Loads of bikes if you have time to look. Love the old GSXR street fighters not good to learn on.

1992 GSXR750 $500
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes/muskoka/gsx-r750w/1253885302?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

2000 GS500 Free offered to take it even offered $ still waiting. Brother bike or some crap !
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-street-cruis...ke/1253795324?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

1980 CB400 Hawk $400
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-street-cruis...ct/1255288782?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
 
The Savage is supposedly the perfect learner bike. Low, single cylinder, with some extra engine size. And yours seems to be not too bad off. Good luck.
 
It's ALIVE !! (imput evil laughter)

Drained the fresh gas out of the carb. Smelt vanishy. Ran fresh fuel through it. One back fire then started on chock and idled fine. Now I have a new made by me problem. Inline fuel filter leaking at connections. Need small clamps but no one had them.
 
Nylon zip ties work well to secure fuel lines – just pull on them with a pair of pliers if you want to get them extremely snug. Bonus, they are available at pretty much any dollar store
 
I used tiny zip ties but they didn't get tight enough. I will get bigger ones and try again.
 
TK4 said:
Safety wire ?
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I tried it to snug enough to do the job cut the crappytire clear fuel line. Once it is running proper I will use proper fuel line. I wanted to see if anything from the tank was getting past the tank filter
 
Image of the filter setup that hates me. I put new bigger zip ties. Got them real good and snugged up. Leaks more than before. May have a crap filter or broke it trying to hard. So at princessauto sale today. Picked up a bunch of stuff plus a non fuel pump filter that is much smaller and proper fuel line with clips. Installing Wednesday. They also had wire wheels for the drill on sale. See if I can clean up the dullness and rust spots a bit. Front pads on order for this bike. Rear pads plus tires for the SV650 and need to get the Kymco Super9 LC fired up for a ride.

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