- Polishing aluminium parts* -
After a couple of years it can happen that aluminium parts, which are often protected
with clear paint, lose their varnish and start oxydation leaving grey, ugly aluminium
oxide behind and the shinyness completely goes away.
At your local motorcycle shop or hardware store you can get a round brush which you can attach
to your drilling machine. Together with a special wax (most times sold together with the
brush) you can now nicely remove the grey oxide. Better wear protective gloves - if the
piece of metal slips out of your hand...
- Manual start by pushing* -
As all thumpers and big twins, the compression in the single cylinder is too high to
push the motorcycle in order to start it if the battery is too low.
But: You may get it started if you first push your bike *backwards*, with a gear set
(second should work), until you can't push any more. The piston is then at the topmost
position and first thing will suck fresh gas/air mixture as soon as you push forward and
is already in motion *before* the compression phase in which the motor stops if it goes
out. A (heavy) person on the back seat can help the rear wheel stay in contact to the road
while pushing - the LS is very lightweight which is a little unfortunate regarding this
matter... Oh yes, and you should try to manually open the decompression valve (which
is normally done via an electromanget). Either do it where the valve itself is (upper left
front of the cylinder head) or where the magnet sits (inner right side of the tank).
- Battery* -
Stays longer in good condition if you distribute 4 g of
ethylenediamintetraacetic acid (EDTA)
over all cells of the battery and mix it with the battery acid. ATTENTION This agent
can irritate vour eyes and mucous membranes!
- Replace handles - stupidly, it is not trivial to remove the original handles
and replace them by custom parts, expecially the throttle handle. The plastic sleeve
which is stuck on the handle bar has stripes on it which are supposed to prevent the
rubber part from slipping off. Just these stripes prevent *you* from slipping over new
(namely different) handles... Only solution: Cut them off carefully with a sharp knife...
If you want to use metal handles which are usually fixed via three little screws, you
need to drill carefully three holes into the plastic sleeve into which the screws will
fit later. Screw them just as far into the handle such that they fix the handle to the
sleeve but that they don't blockade the throttle. Then, fix the screws with fixation
liquid (Loctite or similar, absolutely needed).
- Horn* - Better replace the original horn by something *real* and loud:
The original bicycle bell one doesn't wake up grandpa's on their sunday afternoon trip...
- Cold weather - At *very* low temperatures it is possible to wrap some cardboard around the
cylinder to allow the motor to reach normal operation temperature. If the battery capacity went
down due to low temperatures, there is often well enough current for the ignition to work alone
but not together with the starter motor (bike won't start then: No sparks)! Only solution: Start the
bike by pushing (see above) - works most times.
- Clean air filter* - Can be done with cleaning gasoline. Immerse it
(use clean gasoline min. twice) and let it dry. Apply new special filter oil such that
the filter is well covered but not flooded 8-)
- Oil* - Everything you might want to know about oil you'll find in
the Oil-FAQ.
- Screws* - The best you can do is replace all screws which are
exposed to the daily weather with V2A stainless steel screws *before* they are siezed up...
Inbus (inwards six edged) (*sp?*) screws should be preferred opposite to cross recess
ones (hold steady longer)
- Summer - In a really hot summer, the motor can possibly shake more than usual -
the use of Super gasoline may help here.
- Full throttle - Try to avoid it as well as big farts due to switching the kill switch
off and on, for example. This may ruin your cylinder head gasket with time. If it has to be
changed, pay attention not to hurt the cylinder foot gasket if you have to remove the cylinder or
the long bolts.
- Belt drive - if it squeaks, the following agents are supposed to help:
soap water, talcum, harley belt drive grease, stag suet (brrr!), silicone spray (?), ...
 Jeff Owens added here:
"Before putting anything on the
belt, you really need to check the belt pulley (both) alignment. The
swing arm index marks are not always even, causing the belt to run
crooked in the front pulley. My 98 does this every once in a while, as
belts will track to one side or the other in normal operation. The index
marks on my swing arm are nowhere near lined up side to side, so I use a
large carpenters level to keep the rear pulley square to the front one.
As for belt dressings, never use silicon spray on a drive belt. The
spray is generally incompatable with the rubber used in these, and will
accelerate the destruction of the belt. Suzuki kevlar reinforced belts
have been known to last 10 or more years with just routine tightening.
My dealer still has the belts and their shipping papers from one the
Savage originally debuted, as he has never sold a replacement belt. If
you have no other option but to dress the belt, try the HD product
specially designed for drive belts. Harley belts are made by the same
sub-contracter that Suzuki and Yamaha use."
- Odometer rattling (from Rex Ellsworth) -
"Crimp and remove the fuel line (I used an inexpensive plastic spring clamp). Then there is
a small vacuum line to remove also. Then remove the speedometer/odometer cable
at the engine (be careful there is a little rubber seal in there that can fall out).
When you slide the tank back you will see a wire connection for the turn
signal and tank lights. Unplug this and the tank is ready to be removed. It is
possible to remove the tank without removing the fuel valve, but be careful: it
could scratch up the frame. You might have to pull the tank more to the left (b
elt side) to clear the frame.
The rest is simple. The dampers on the speedometer were the main problem. They
were vibrating on the speedometer housing. I took the mounting brackets off and
shot some RTV Blue (available at any auto parts store) to dampen the vibration.
While I was there, I put some around the springs that hold the entire tank unit
in place. This took care of all vibrations and all is well!"
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Tips & tricks