V Star 650 Shakedown Cruise


Will a long time Honda Rebel rider be happy with a V Star?

My wife and I took a tour up Route 1 in Maine to Lubec, the Eastern most point of land in the US. We had a chance to put well over 400 miles on my new 2003 Yamaha V-Star 650 Silverado over 2 days.
Over all... I am quite impressed with the V Star so far :-)

We started our journey a bit late due to some morning rain. Around 11am the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to peep out of the clouds.

From our home in Oxford we traveled up Rt. 121 and picked up Rt 202 in Auburn towards Augusta. We stopped for lunch at Bonanza's Restaurant in Augusta, the state capitol. After our tasty sirloin tip meal we fueled up and headed East on Rt. 3. to Bucksport where we turned onto Rt. 1 North towards Ellsworth. Up until now the ride was leisurely going thru many towns along the way. Generally cruised at 55 mph between towns. The V-Star is nice riding at these speeds and handled great in the few twisties we encountered thus far. Carrying a passenger was easy with no noticeable difference in handling or acceleration with the added weight.

Once we got beyond Ellsworth the traffic, houses and businesses thinned out and the opportunity to give the throttle a healthy twist presented itself. Acceleration was brisk and cruising at 70-75 mph was comfortable despite the coastal breeze. The V Star at speed was surprisingly stable in the wind with very little of that blown around sensation. I suspect the low height of the bike, low center of gravity and that huge front tire play a role in it's stability. The torquey 650cc v-twin air-cooled engine mated to the drive shaft was able to pull right up the hills without downshifting and had no trouble maintaining speed while carrying a passenger and gear.

Now lets talk about comfort. I thought the driver's saddle was fairly comfortable. It seems to have a decent compromise between firmness and softness. It is large enough so I can move fore and aft for a change in riding position. I have never tried a custom seat such as a Corbin or Mustang, so I don't know what I may be missing, however, I don't feel a compelling need to upgrade to a custom seat. On the other hand, my wife, was quite miserable on the pillion after a hundred miles. The pillion is only about 11 inches wide and quite hard. I definitely have to have a wider and more comfortable pillion made for Jane that will complement the good looks of the V-Star.

The driver leg position and comfort on the V-Star is fantastic. It is a truly amazing accomplishment given the seat height is only 27.8 inches from the ground. Being a short legged 5 foot 6 inches tall I can easily flatfoot the ground. The bike comes stock with floorboards that are forward so the legs are always at an out stretched position. The floorboards are big enough that I can slide my size sevens back and forth to change position. The heel and toe shifter is perfectly placed with plenty of room to slide the foot under for a maximum stretch. I never once had any leg discomfort on the whole journey. The rear brake pedal has a large rectangular rubber pad that is easy to find and gives plenty of leverage for quick stopping. Both floorboards have a comfy rubber mat with a unique dampening quality that absorbs vibration. Initially it was awkward to bring the feet forward when getting under way. I found myself looking for pegs straight down at a 90 degrees from my knees. It didn't take long to get used to the new position. It would really be hard to go back to a traditional foot peg after having these floorboards with the forward located controls.

The upper body and arm position consists of leaning forward slightly with arms fully extended, downward and wide. When I feel the need for a change I just slide forward on the seat and slide my feet towards the rear of the floorboard and then I can sit in a more upright position. Being able to change leg, arm and posture position adds miles between stops when touring alone. When it comes time to add accessories I can see myself installing a handlebar riser with some pullback to fine tune the bike for the ultimate comfort. Of course longer, braided, stainless steel cables and lines will add a styling touch as well as insure there is no control binding with the higher handlebars.

The Silverado comes stock with a massive and heavily chrome accented windscreen. The fit and finish is excellent. The Lexan is lightly tinted and the clarity is perfection. It is adjustable up and down at 2 positions. I found that I preferred the higher position that allows me to look thru the shield while riding. If I slide myself forward, sit up straight and crane my neck slightly I can see over the shield. The stock windscreen also has a missing feature that detracts from the overall perfection of the bike. The shield rake is not adjustable. It would be great to be able to experiment with the rake to find the optimum angle for wind deflection. I would also like to push the top of the shield more towards the front so the reflection of the gas tank mounted speedometer would be reduced. This really bugged me at first, but I am getting used to seeing beyond the reflection and don't notice it at all anymore. It just would have been a really nice touch if Yamaha had engineered more adjustability into this otherwise excellent quality and gorgeous looking screen and mounting arrangement. When the time comes for adding accessories I think a set of shield "lowers" will be on order. I sense that I am getting an updraft from under the wind screen that is contributing to wind noise and buffeting my glasses somewhat.

Gas mileage seems to vary between 45 and 50 miles per gallon depending on how generous I am with the throttle. The bike only had 1,000 miles on it when we started the journey so I am sure mileage will improve once it is thoroughly broke in. The tank holds 4.2 gallons including the reserve of .8 gal. I have gotten into the habit of looking for gas at 150 miles. It seems to like 87 octane just fine.

Touring with a passenger, I increased the rear air pressure to the recommended 36psi. I decided to leave the shock adjustment at the factory preset to see how it went. It handled and rode just fine with no bottoming out or excessive bouncing. I imagine that I will have to firm the shock up a notch once it gets broke in. Adjusting the shock will involve removing the pillion and rider seat and using the supplied tool to adjust the single shock. This hidden single shock arrangement contributes to the clean hardtail look of the bike.

The stretch of Rt. 1 between Ellsworth and Lubec was fairly rural, straight and only moderately hilly. Definitely a great road to stretch out and cruise. It has many long stretches where you can see far enough ahead to be able to "open it up" without fear of LEO being around the bend. I briefly cranked it up to 85mph and had more throttle to spare. I still think it is prudent to baby my new motor so I generally kept the speeds 65-70mph.
There seemed to be a spot between 60 and 65 that produced what I imagine to be a "harley" type of vibration/pulsating/thumping sensation that is hard to describe. It wasn't annoying. It kind of felt like a power throb I guess. Hmmm, the exhaust seemed to have a sweeter note at that point too.

Somewhere in the town of Whiting (blink) we took a right onto Rt.189 and headed down the finger of land that juts out into the Atlantic ocean towards Lubec. We found a nice, quiet and clean motel called the Eastland Motel at about 6pm.
We were unloaded and settled in by the time the 6:30 CBS evening news came on TV. Jane was in euphoria from being finally separated from the uncomfortable pillion. I took delight in massaging her butt back to life ;-)

After the CBS news we ventured the 2 miles East to Lubec Village. We stopped at Murphy's Village Family Restaurant and had a warm piece of native blueberry pie with ice cream and a delicious cup of coffee. The owner of Murphy's noticed the V Star and asked if it was a Harley. He expressed an interest in taking up motorcycling someday. After leaving Murphy's, Jane and I rode down to the working waterfront as dusk was falling. We could see Campobello and Eastport islands across the channel. The sky was clear and the bay was calm. The air was still and had that familiar ocean air scent with just a slight hint of fishery. We could hear coastal birds and the occasional far off report of a fog horn. Jane thought that this would be a nice place to live if we ever won the lottery. Regretfully we didn't have the time or finances for an extended stay to the area on this "shakedown cruise". It would have been fun to leisurely explore the entire area in this region known as Quoddy Loop.
We will be back again when we can stay longer.

The ride back to the motel was after dark. The large headlight does a tremendous job of lighting up the road on low beam. The high beams are spectacular. You can see far enough down the side of the road to stand a fighting chance of spotting a deer before he does something stupid.

The next day we had complimentary coffee and danish at the motel. By 9am we were checked out and on the way to Quoddy Head State park, the easternmost point of land in the United States. In 1808, West Quoddy Head Light became the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. Its light and fog cannon warned mariners of Quoddy's dangerous cliffs and ledges. It is another bright and gorgeous day with no humidity. It is a perfect riding temp even when wearing a leather jacket.

By 10am we are back on the road and heading north on Rt. 1 towards Calais. We stop briefly at the Calais WalMart and buy a plush chair cushion for Jane's tushy. It looked pretty silly tied to the V Star sissy bar but made the rest of the trip bearable for her. We stop for an early lunch at the Irving's truck stop diner before turning onto the section of Rt. 9 known locally as "the airline". The airline is a 90 mile 2 lane stretch of desolate highway that cuts thru the wilderness of Maine from Calais to Brewer. Except for 4 or 5 miles of construction most of this road is in excellent cruising condition. It has long straights, gentle curves, easy hills and very few signs of civilized life. The airline is a tremendous motorcycling road. Just be sure you top off the tank at the Irving's truckstop before "take off". From what I gather... Rt. 9 is called "the airline" because aircraft flying between Bangor and points east usually fly above that highway.

The 90 mile ride on the airline was exhilarating but uneventful. Jane's buttocks took a liking to the WalMart seat cushion. We made pretty good time, despite the few sections under construction that coated the bottom of my bike with mud from the liquid used for dust control. We had planned on staying on Rt. 9 all the way though to Lewiston. However, in Bangor, Maine's 3rd largest city, we lost Rt. 9. Apparently some of the intersections are not clearly marked. Despite retracing our path and trying different streets with no success, we ended up taking Interstate 95 for a few miles and hooked back up with Rt. 9 on the other side of town.

The stretch of Rt. 9 from Bangor to Lewiston was a mixture of country 55mph and small town speeds. Nice leisurely cruising that the V-Star gobbles right up. The stock exhaust is pretty tame, but 55-60mph sounds like the motor is just happily working away at a comfortable pace. It is reassuring to know that the torque and power is there, ready to spring to action, if needed.

While visiting some of the V-Star 650 forums online, I quickly learned about the various air kits, exhaust pipes and jetting options available that can increase horsepower as much as 20 percent and sound volume 1000 percent. There are a ton of vendors, entrepreneurs and cottage industries that are gladly catering to the V-Star owner's insatiable desire for comfort, chrome, noise and power.
The V-Star Silverado 650 is an easy to handle 545 pound motorcycle that has a big bike ride and feel, yet is easy to maneuver and balance at slow speeds. It's low center of gravity and seat height make it a perfect machine for both experienced and novice bikers alike. The forward floorboards and controls would make it comfortable for longer legged riders. The power and availability of accessories make it a fun bike to ride, customize and own.

What remains to be seen is will the V-Star 650 hold up as well over the years as my 86 Rebel? Will it be nearly as maintenance free and hold it's value as well? Heh, heh, ask me in 16 years.

Later,
Dale

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