Yamahas

I had an 01 V-Star Silverado 1600 a few years ago. It was a good bike. Sold it to my father in law when I got the Valk. Never a problem out of it. Great bike to learn on.
 
Had a VStar 1300. Very smooth and well mannered bike once I got used to the weight (came from a sport bike).
 
I have owned Yamaha bikes since 1971. I think they are well made and good bikes in general. I still have a 1979 XS 750 Special. I like the shaft drive bikes the best.

I have owned 4 Virago bikes. 535, 750 and 1100. I skipped the 920. They are good bikes. Girls love them. At least all mine have. Consider any of these as a good place to start. They are well ballanced and very tolerant of mis-deeds.
 
I have owned Yamaha bikes since 1971. I think they are well made and good bikes in general. I still have a 1979 XS 750 Special.

I used to work on a XS 750 Special for a guy. Had a three into one header on it. What a great sound, reminded me of a Triumph Trident (wish my Rocket could sound like that). Good low end power too. Would easily do throttle wheelies in first. When I first moved into my house there was one for sale along the road for $200 and it ran, and had a chrome 3 into 1 header ! Not in bad shape at all. I still kick myself in the arse for not buying it. Just figured I had to much going on for another project. Shoulda bought it and threw it in the back of the pole barn. I've had plenty of time since to plat with it (the bike too ).
 
Check this beauty out RS. Only 10k miles on it; all original.
 

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Check this beauty out RS. Only 10k miles on it; all original.

That's a beaut ! I'd love to find one that clean ! The wife still thinks she want's to ride. It would be perfect for her (plus I could ride it when she's not home, shhhhhhhhsh !) If you don't mind me being a blatantly nosy bastard, how much did you pay for it ?
 
My sister has a V-Star 600, or 650(I can't remeber which it is, but it's six something). She always complains about when on a ride with friends who all have bigger and more powerful bikes that they have to slow down to allow my sister to catch up. When I had my VTX1800 my sister and I were riding together and at 65mph her V-Star sounded like it was wide open and was going to fly apart. I had a V-Star 1100 Classic for a while. It was ok, but was gutless as hell. A raider on the other hand at least on paper looks like it should be the fastest v-twin cruiser out there(I don't consider a V-Max a cruiser). I have friend with a V-Star 1100 Custom that with pipes, carb tuning kit, and a K&N air filter could at least somewhat keep up with the VTX I used to own. I think with Yamaha it's more about reliability than speed.
 
Hi RS. Well I have made some really good deals purchasing cars, trucks and motorcycles. However this is the one that got away from me. I made a bidding error on eBay and got stuck at $1800. Wanted to max at $1500, but I typed the wrong number. Have to be a man of my word, so $1800 it was. Then I had to drive 400 miles each way to p/u the bike. I currently have her for sale at $2100.
 
Thanks all for your feedback - I would like to have kept upwith the posts asthey came in but alas I had to be otherwise occupied the last 2 days. (Seems rude to start a thread and then disappear!!)

There is a consensus that the V series are reliable though perhaps underpowered - re-jetting and a better breathing setup will get the 650 to 60/70hp so that would likely be enough for her first few years.

Resale wise they are amazing. As at this weekend there were no used 650's for sale in Perth (not advertised in the internet at least) and the last one I saw for sale was 2009 model for $8000 - they are $10,500 on the road brand new.

Thanks again - shall report S-girl's progress after a test ride