Thursday, May 24, 2012

the Suzuki Sausage

1996 Suzuki LS650 Savage


Wanting a thumper, I purchased a used Suzuki, my first motorcycle, and rode it for a year in stock condition.  Later I decided to repair what has been referred to as the
"standard Suzuki Savage oil leak" and I just kept going from there.

I removed some dead weight, rattle-can painted the gasoline tank, altered the saddle, fabricated an internal rear fender and a bracket for rear turn signals/license plate/State of Texas required doohickeys, etc.  The original tail light is mounted above because the new one I had first used kept vibrating apart.  The red bracket behind the shock is prototype number six or eight.  My first tries were cheap pot metal or aluminum stock that couldn't handle the stress.  Flat iron stock has proven much more durable.
The SuperTrapp muffler was installed by the previous owner.

Below is a paste from Clymer Manuals showing the factory configuration. 



The pic below shows the earlier taillight attached to a fabricated bracket hanging from the internal fender.  The bracket kept breaking at the bend.



My regulator/rectifier died early, so while the bike is in repair mode (pieces on the garage floor), I'm going to do some studying to see if I can take the customization a bit further.
Must train wife to ride.



This is what I'm dealing with right now.
I'm wanting to go all black coloring with exhaust pipe wrap, no turn signals, no mirrors(maybe).  We will see.
Stay tuned.