| Author | Message | ||
     Zane |
I've got the chance to buy a very clean 2009 V-Star Classic 650. New tires, new battery and just over 9,000 miles. I'd use this as a spare bike and sometimes rider. It would also get ridden by my younger son who just got his motorcycle endorsement. He wants a CBR 500 but this would get him around until he can afford one. Any informed opinions on this bike and what it might be worth? Any strong or weak points on the bike? | ||
| Tootal |
I don't know anything about that specific model but I rode Yamaha's for many years and the one thing about them is they just don't break! Mine never did anyway. | ||
| H0gwash |
I can't remember if it is the Vstar 650 that a friend of mine fell in love with and then had shaft failures which he could not repair because all the other Vstars in the salvage yard all had their shaft drives sold already because of the same problem. Maybe they fixed that by 2009, my late friend Wes was probably riding an earlier model. | ||
| Zane |
I don't have any experience with a shaft driven bike. That will be a good thing to keep an eye on. thanks for the tip. | ||
| 86129squids |
I've seen many of these bikes, basically bulletproof. Once had a couple buy a H-D from me, and prior to that they had ridden the shiznit out of a V-star 650. | ||
| 86129squids |
I've seen many of these bikes, basically bulletproof. Once had a couple buy a H-D from me, and prior to that they had ridden the shiznit out of a V-star 650. | ||
| Oopezoo |
I agree with the bulletproof comment above. Yamaha has had some issues with their larger displacement V-Stars (over 1000cc), but the smaller ones just run and run and run. Shouldn't be anything to owning it other than Gas, tires, and oil. The larger displacement ones had 2 issues I personally had to deal with. My Sister had one, and I had the joy of diagnosing and fixing it. One, was kickback from the motor would actually twist the starter housing to the point it would break the long bolts that held it together. What started that journey was the starter appeared to start slipping, but it wasn't the starter itself. It was the mechanical starter clutch down in the primary that had worn out. You would hit the starter and it would just let out a horrible scream. I did some googling, figured it out, ordered, and replaced all of the effected parts in the primary. It was a serious PITA and not cheap. I think the bike had about 30k miles on it at the time. The thing was, once I got in there I realized this wasn't the first time it had happened.....there were a few missing parts and evidence of some hack mechanic work in there already. Once that was done, she rode it for a few more years and eventually bought a HD Low Rider But the little ones......oh yeah, buy it cheap, ride it, sell it for the same price you paid for it when its time to move on | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
That starter thing rings a bell for me. I remember in the late 90's there was a glut of "cheap" Viragos out there that "just needed a starter". One of my friends took on the challenge and found that his $200 bike needed a $90000 starter installed and shimmed in some magical way that required a dealer to do it. He only found out about the shimming and dealership thing after his first replacement starter died. I read this corollary here I think: The only thing more expensive than a cheap motorcycle is a free motorcycle. I'm sure they are better now than in the 80's though. Don't let me be a Debbie Downer.  The Japanese have been doing great things with their smaller bikes recently. I'm not sure what it is but there is a guy with some little Yamaha bike near my work. Looks sharp. I think it's an R3. | ||
| 86129squids |
Another bulletproof rice cruiser line were the old Suzuki Intruders. 700, 750, IIRC also 800cc were water-cooled, but in the late 80's they started building 1400cc air/oil cooled ones too. Going into the late 90's they redesigned them all, I never liked them after that. Early ones had a distinctive "chopper" look. The ones I liked best were the pre-'95 1400's, as they had a 4-speed tranny! You'd just pick a gear, and roll. Kinda fun not having to shift much, just let the torque do its thing. I'd love to have one, just for putting around... |
