1300 mi trip with a Savage ?

[dancho]

Hi guys, the summer is already here and I am thinking about my vacation. I am originally from Bulgaria, a small country in eastern Europe and now I live in Germany. The distance from G to B is 2000km (1300mi) and I was thinking of trying to go home on my Savage at the end of the month. Do you think this is doable? Can I travel 2000km in two or three days? And can the Savage survive it?

A littel info: I have had the bike for like 3 months (my first one) and my longest trip so far has been 250km (160mi). The Savage is a '97 with 7500km (4700mi) on it.

[wsharp]

Dancho,

Yes, the bike is certainly capable of that trip. I have read authors of articles in bike magazines that use the Savage for it's long distance capabilities.

Before your trip do a complete service of the bike and check for anything that is not correct. Take a couple of 200-300 mile rides on it and see if YOU think it is comfortable enough to ride 660km (430+ miles) per day for 3 days. People do it, and the bike is capable, but only if you are willing to do it. It certainly gets great economy and will save money.

If you do the trip please post a report here for us to read, I know I would be interested. Also take some photos to post... hehehe.

Will

[ion54]

For Savage the German autobahn is too fast so the back roads will give you a more enjoyable but slower journey.
Every time I rode longer hours I noticed that is better to be in the saddle two more hours than trying to ride at top speed. For 700 km/day average you shall look at 10 hours of riding with some gas and coffee breaks, or 12 hours daily trips with meals.
I did 400 km/day for 10 days in a row riding a small 50cc enduro with a top speed of 70 km/h (7 hours of saddle time daily) and I liked it, but I was 30 then.

[tlwisner]

Originally Posted by dancho

Hi guys, the summer is already here and I am thinking about my vacation. I am originally from Bulgaria, a small country in eastern Europe and now I live in Germany. The distance from G to B is 2000km (1300mi) and I was thinking of trying to go home on my Savage at the end of the month. Do you think this is doable? Can I travel 2000km in two or three days? And can the Savage survive it?

Sounds like a fun 3 day trip to me. The bike should be fine if your butt can take it! Plan a safe route not using too many Autobahn type roads.

[dan330]

Sounds like fun.
The bike is not in question.
It is your butt that is the issue.
Do a complete service check on your butt and if it is still in good working order with all safty instruments up to code, then saddle up!

Dont for get to post report on your travel up here. For those of us that are illiterate, lots of pic will help!

[hecky]

Do some looking on the net your bike is very popular in Europe it never really caught on here in the states. LoL some of the europeans have even put side cars on them. Yes it will make the trip. Make sure your well rested and enjoy your trip. I have a savage gave it to my wife. I'm a tall rider 6'3 and it just doesnt fit me that well. However that didnt stop me from putting 7000 miles on that savage before I gave it to my wife when I got a bigger bike.

[dancho]

Wow, it has been more than a year since I asked for your advice guys. I apologize it took me so long to come back and share my experience from last summer.

Well, I did the trip to Bulgaria and back on my Savage last August. It was as much a pleasure as it was a test of endurance but I did enjoy it a lot and I did repeat it this summer, although on a bigger bike - a Suzuki Intruder 1400.

I started my trip on a Friday late afternoon after work. For the first day I only travelled around 250km from Darmstadt, near Frankfurt to Nuernberg. I slept at a friend’s place and on the next morning continued on my way to Sofia. The weather was sunny and warm at 9am and it became quite hot after 10. The heat was a problem only when I stopped for refuelling, otherwise at 110-120km/h I was just fine. Suzi was OK with the speed although the engine sounded quite busy. After Germany I came to Austria where the mountains offered a little bit more variety than the plains around the German Autobahn but also the danger of rains. Though it was cloudy and a bit cold, it did not rain and I reached the Slovenian border without a problem. Slovenia was by far the most pleasant part of the journey. There was no highway there so I travelled at a lower speed on a two lane two directions road through beautiful villages in the lower parts of the Alps. Next came Croatia and I slept near the capital Zagreb.

During this day I noticed that I was losing oil from the cover on the left side of the engine that looks like the head of a huge bolt. I had not happened before so I was a bit surprised, but since the leakage was not very significant (half a liter for the trip), I decided to leave the repair for Bulgaria.

The third day of my journey took me through the second half of Croatia, Serbia and finally Bulgaria. The eastern part of Serbia, once a Bulgarian territory, was the most beautiful part of the trip. The road goes along a river through a very narrow valley in a mountain range at the border between. The experience however was degraded by the terrible unrepaired-in-centuries road with enormous holes that force you to drive with as little as 15km/h in some areas.

I passed the Bulgarian border and an hour later, at around 2am I arrived in Sofia. After two and a half days and 1800km I was finally home, exhausted and happy.

After my vacation at the Black Sea (which Suzi spent on a parking lot, resting) I checked the oil leakage problem. As it turned out, the previous owner had somehow managed to damage the cap (judging by the marks by trying to unscrew it with a too small screw) and had then glued it with some type of silicon glue which had survived the first three months in my possession but has given up after the extended exposure to heat during the first day of my trip. I glued it again with some epoxy metal glue and have not had a problem in the next one year until I sold the bike this summer a couple of days after I bought the Intruder.

Regarding fuel economy, the Savage did an average of 5.2L/100km (45mpg) @ everywhere between 80c and 1.37€ per liter. I had to pay additional 50€ for highway taxes. 300€ for new tires, 50€ for saddlebags, a couple of hundred for other stuff which I needed for the trip… Sure mom, it would have been cheaper to simply get a plane ticket, but saving money is not the idea behind travelling on a bike.

Now about my butt… My butt was going numb after the first couple of hours each day but then it sort of got used to the road and did not complaint too much. I had a back ache somewhere between the shoulder blades and it was a bit more of a concern for me. It remained for a few days after both trips. I guess it had something to do with the 1-meter-wide dragbar handlebar I had on the bike. It does look cool but it was not the best choice for my 175cm self on a long trip. My knees were another critical area. It would have been nice to get a pair of highway pegs in order to be able to change leg position once in a while. Also, they were freezing cold when I arrived home. Although it was quite hot during the day, driving after sunset was a bad idea without the appropriate riding gear.

OK, I think I will continue tomorrow, because it is around 4.20am and I need to get some sleep.

[Scott58]

Smaller displacement bikes on long hauls are more fun in my opinion. it feels a whole lot more adventurous. i did over 1500 miles on my Rebel to niagara falls from indiana. i also took a 50cc fantic enduro over the italian alps into austria and back (from italy)when i was younger. As you have already found out your savage could probably be riden on a round the world trip with pretty good confidence.

[oldgeezer]

Sounds like a very interesting trip. Thanks for sharing.

[Clint]

Good for you, dancho. Sounds like some quality riding.

[MagnumForce]

Scott58 and dancho are living proof that the smaller bikes can hang with the big boys on long hauls! Thanks for sharing!

[dancho]

Looks like it is already tomorrow . Let me just describe in short my journey back from Bulgaria to Germany.
The weather was not so nice. It was raining almost the whole time, so I got pretty soaked up. I had to stop a couple of times just to drain the water from my boots . I do not mind driving in rain, but my clothes were definitely not up to the task of taking me through 30 hours of rain. Well, I did learned my lesson and this year I was equipped much better.
Except for the rain, I also had another problem. Shrotly after filling the tank at a gas station in Serbia, my bike started behaving strangely. It was fine up to 30km/h but when i tried to give more gas, it started choking and if I continued pulling on the throttle the engine eventually died. Pulling out the choke lever let me get to around 50-70km/h depending on the slope of the road . This problem appeared and disappeared a few times during the trip, which was certainly annoying but since I could not find what was causing it after a couple of hours of looking around (circling around the bike and screaming at it ) and I could not find an open repair shop (it was a Sunday), I had to continue. Shortly after I finally arrived in Germany it disappeared for good. Go figure... I guess it was caused by some dirt particles in the gas.
Despite these small problems, the whole trip was a great experience and I certainly enjoyed it. I was also very pleased with the Savage, which had no fault whatsoever for the minor glitches and behaved very manly for a small, one-cylinder bike.

If I have to summarize the most important things I have learned from my limited riding experience so far regarding long trips, here is the list:

1. Drive safe. Do not hurry. Hurrying makes the trip less safe.
2. Enjoy the ride. Do not hurry. Hurrying makes the trip less fun.
3. Wear the right riding gear.
4. Make sure the bike is absolutely comfortable for you. Engine vibration, handlebar position and size, saddle shape and softness and pegs location are critical. What might cause just a slight discomfort after a 2-hour ride could be killing you after a day-long ride.
5. Have all the necessary instruments with you. On one occasion I had to call for road assistance just for screwing a loosened battery screw behind the battery cover because I did not have a screw driver with me.
6. Learn a bit about the bike you drive. Otherwise all the instruments in the world can not help you if God forbid something happens. I was amazed when I meet a motorcyclist (a great, interesting and funny guy btw) this summer who did not know how many cylinders and how many gears his Eliminator 600 had. "Well, I just shift up until I cannot shift anymore" is what he said. And that's after countless trips in Bulgaria and a couple outside of the country during the past two years.

Well, that's all from me for this evening. Please let me know about the things that are still missing on my list.

[oklahoma_mike]

Sounds to me like water was causing your plugwires to short out.

[wracing]

Great Post Dancho, this is what motor biking is all about. The open air and the adventure of getting their. Wish i could take my S83 on the same trip through Europe.

Willie