Readers' Rides: 1997 Suzuki Savage Cafe Racer
Gary Corde tells us about his eye-catching 1997 Suzuki Savage cafe racer:
I’m happy to brag about my cafe racer. This bike started out life as a ’97 Suzuki Savage. The bike was an unloved and rusted basket case that I purchased to repurpose into a useful motorcycle. I began with a RYCA kit but quickly realized that RYCA didn’t go quite as far as I wanted to go. For example, rather than shorten the fork stroke via spacers to drop the front end, I made my own triple clamp so I could raise the forks, allowing me to retain full fork travel. The forks are fitted with RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators & springs, and I topped them off with adjustable preload fork caps. There are custom touches and solutions all over this motorcycle. But more importantly, the low weight (less than 300 pounds) and mechanical simplicity make this bike a joy to ride. It is motorcycling in its purest sense. I own several custom-concoction motorcycles, but this one strikes the right balance of looks, rideability, and fun.
We’re suckers for nice photos and descriptive words and reasonably decent pics of your favorite motorcycle, or maybe just your most memorable one for all the wrong reasons? Send yours to contact@motorcycle.com, title it “Readers’ Rides,” and see yourself in this spot one of these weeks.
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I built a Ryca S-40 a few years ago. Easy fun build and feels light as a bicycle after removing all that heavy cruiser bodywork. Ryca even has a kit to convert to chain drive.
Quite possibly the best Ryca cafe racer out there. The details are amazing!