[Test Ride/Maintenance Log] Looks like a 250, but packs a 650. The SUZUKI Savage 650 (LS650) is a rare gem where you can enjoy the heartbeat of a “Big Single”

It’s mysteriously compact.
Pushing and pulling are light, it’s easy to straddle, and with torquey power it’s a breeze to ride.
As you get older, bikes under 750cc just keep getting better (*´ω｀*)

So the neutral switch hasn’t been lighting up for a while now.
It’s inside the clutch cover, so it’s a bit of a hassle.
But we’re not going to let that stop us—let’s move right along.

Removing the fuel tank on the Savage is surprisingly difficult

How do you remove it? When you touch it after a while, you panic.
Just remove the two M6 base bolts and push the tank hard to the left and lift it up. That’s all.

The diaphragm M4 bolts of the vacuum fuel petcock contact the frame.

I decided to tackle these small details one by one.
I had stock of ultra-low-head bolts with 10mm neck, so I adjusted and replaced them.

It’s made things much easier.
I’m constantly gaining experience with this one-of-a-kind vehicle!

The neutral switch simply grounds to earth

If you temporarily connect the sensor wire and ground it to earth and the light comes on, you know the bulb isn’t burned out.

By color, it’s blue—this is the wire that runs to the neutral switch.

You can’t access it without removing the clutch cover.
Of course, you also have to remove the muffler!

At least we didn’t have to remove the clutch basket itself—that’s something.

This pin and spring engage with the shift drum,
and when it reaches neutral, it grounds to earth—that’s all there is to it.

This function was once used for gear position indicators too.
It was a truly excellent feature with no lag. The GS750 and Beco had it.

We polish the gold terminal section and check. *Neutral Switch Discontinued

If the N light comes on when we ground it in this state, it means the wiring and sensor are both still working.

After polishing, we temporarily fixed it and checked.
It’s fully restored. We’ll order new springs and pins just to be safe.

Suzuki occasionally has units where this happens, and usually polishing or replacing the pin and spring fixes it.
With such a simple mechanism, it’s really a lifesaver.

Insertion point protrusion: 25.76mm

One-handed, so subtract the hole diameter from the outer pitch.
The pitch is 39mm. This is a measurement for future reference in case we need it.

They use pretty sturdy dowel pins

Fortunately the hole diameter was large enough.
If you grab a dowel pin directly, it can’t be reused, so be careful.

You can see the marks from where I grabbed it.

Without removing it, you can’t handle gasket work in areas like this.
We’ll proceed calmly and carefully.

Oh… typo. Dowel pins #3 and #4 are the same
Suzuki’s parts lists often have small typos, so you need to be careful.

Now’s the time! Ordering a genuine Bluebird S40 muffler

I’m not really an expert on this either…
But this Savage was probably a popular bike sold overseas until 2014 (*´ω｀*)

It should fit as-is—let’s go with a brand new genuine Bluebird S40 muffler!
So I got the part numbers and such.
Being skeptical, I checked the muffler bracket and such on CMS, thinking they might be different…

Unfortunately, 14410-24B00-019
is the same (*´ω｀*)Rest assured.
To be continued.

SUZUKI LS650 PARTS LIST BY CMS