The Ninja 250 of cruisers
Written: Sep 08 '06
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Pros: Very light, nice torque, low seat height. Very beginner friendly!
Cons: Small gas tank, no trip odometer, not for taller riders
The Bottom Line: It does everything well. Easy to ride, ample power, a great bike all around. Highly recommended.
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| funkdaddysmack's Full Review: 2004 Suzuki Savage 650 |
First off, I don't mean the title of this review as any sort of putdown, as you can see by my review of my 2000 Ninja 250r it's the highest form of compliment.
Introduction
If you don't feel like reading some backstory, I'd suggest you move on to the next section of the review to read about the bike itself.
My roomate bought a 2004 Suzuki Savage after I convinced him living without a motorcycle is hardly living at all. A co-worker's husband had a practically brand-new bike (800 miles on the odometer) that he was looking to unload. A few weeks later he was the proud owner of an (almost) new motorcycle, and I even got to ride it home for him. He's never ridden or been on a motorcycle before, so he was obviously a little unsure about the whole idea, who knows, maybe he wouldn't like it?
We decided to take the state motorcycle safety course (free here in PA) together, even though he had already bought his bike. As a side note, to anyone interested in motorcycling, I cannot recommend this course enough (even experienced riders). Depending on where you live you may have to pay, but it's still well worth it. Safety first!
After the first minutes of our first riding-class he was beginning to second guess his decision. Some people take to riding very quickly, I think his nerves were working against him. As the day went on and the speeds went up, so did his confidence and by the end of the day nothing could wipe the grin off his face.
The rest is pretty much history, we both passed the course with flying colors and have each logged at least 4000 miles so far this summer. Often times we would just sit around the house and say "We have motorcycles," and it was enough to get us grinning from ear to ear.
First Impressions
It's a thumper! 650cc, single cylinder, 5spd transmission. It's just about as simple as a bike can get, but that's definitely not a bad thing. The lines and overall look of the bike are very nice, classic and subtle, though you'll immediately notice that it's proportionally a bit smaller than the normal cruiser.
For a short guy like myself (5'8") the bike is a pretty good fit, though on longer rides even I felt cramped. I like how the bars are right up there in front of you, and because of that you can actually use the rearview mirrors, unlike my bike (without moving your elbows in).
The hand controls are a bit cheap-looking and feeling. They tried a little too hard to go for a 'bling' look, and the hard and thick grips aren't that comfertable, mostly just for looks. The controls all work fine and are laid out normally, it just felt a little bit cheaper than my Kawasaki. It's probably just personal preference, and to be fair we are talking about an inexpensive bike, here.
I can understand that it's a cruiser thing to put the speedometer in the tank, but really it's just not that practical. Instead of a quick glance down with your eyes, it's a quick glance down by moving your head. Usually I'm pretty good with a sense of speed, but I still like to confirm I'm not going too fast.
The ride
Alrighty, throw a leg over and start the bike up. One nice thing about this thumper is that it rarely ever needs choke to get started, and doesn't take very long at all to warm up. The weight is terrific, probably just over 400lbs wet. This is a very important factor for a new rider. The seat height is also very low, I have very short legs and have no problems flatfooting with ample bend in the knees. Sitting so low and such low weight is very confidence inspiring.
The stock exhaust is incredibly quiet, not necessarily a bad thing, but my roomate soon put a cheap pipe and jet kit on it. Now it's loud, but sounds good. You can definitely tell it's a thumper at idle and low RPMs, but 3k RPMs and up it sounds like a V-twin. I didn't really notice much performance gain (if any), but the sound is well worth the upgrade. Just remember your earplugs!
The shifter has a very positive feel to it, there is no guessing if you hit the next gear or not, all shifts are followed by a nice thunk feeling (not so much sound) letting you know you did a good job.
The torque, oh the torque! Going from a 250cc parallel twin to this thing is a dream. Off the line this thing is great, and around town and below highway speeds this thin pulls very well. Up top there isn't much going on, but that's to be expected. My ninja 250 is just the tiniest bit quicker accelerating, but that's not much of a surprise, it could shame some of the larger cruisers to 60.
The handling on this bike is really nice and comfortable. When I was riding it home I took the scenic route back and long sweepers and even tight corner are a breeze. Maybe it's something about the riding position that makes it so natural. As my roomate was starting out, he mentioned the same thing that it was just very natural to get the feel down, not something you hear a lot from the sportbike crowd. It must be the seating position.
The brakes are ok, not much weight to slow down. The rear is a drum (and you can tell), but it still does a pretty good job keeping the bike in check.
The seat isn't very comfertable riding more than a hour at a time, although Suzuki says the new S40 (gel) seat won't fit, it will with some coaxing. Some owners also raise the front of the seat up a bit so their crotches don't ride right up against the tank.
The Good
- Light weight
- Nice torque, great for riding around town and back roads. Highway is doable, but don't expect to do much more than 80.
- Low seat height
- Very easy to ride
The Bad
- Small gas tank. Fill up every 100-130 miles.
- No trip odometer, I hope you remember to look at your odometer when you filled up!
- Vibrates a lot at higher RPMs, highway riding not much fun
- Controls feel a little cheap
- Cramped if you're over 5'8"
Conclusion
To explain what the title means, this is probably one of the best cruiser-style bikes to introduce a new rider to motorcycling. That's not to say more experienced riders won't have fun with it, it's just most of the owners seem to move up to something larger after a while.
Again, like the ninja, it does everything well. It's easy to ride, ample power to get you around without getting you in to trouble, it's a great bike all around. Whenever I get the chance to trade bikes with my roomate I don't complain, I have so much fun riding I don't think I could find a bike I didn't like.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3000
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2004
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Epinions.com ID:
funkdaddysmack
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Member: Dan Dreese
Location: Williamsport, PA
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
24 years old, Database administration
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