Yamaha V Star Classic XVS650

I was fed up with forking out money on petrol for my car, as I spent most of the time sitting in traffic jams, which is just a waste of petrol, in my opinion. One particular morning I was sitting in my car in a traffic jams completely bored, when this this moped come whizzing pass me and went off into the distance. Seeing that moped inspired me to get one myself, but only for the summer when the weather is nice. I was at a car boot sale when I saw this old Yamaha moped, for £60. So I snapped it up. All I had to do to it was clean the carburetter out, put new fuel pipes on, a clean and a new ... more

Bought mine new in 1997. Loved it from the word go apart from its tendency to stall as you pull away on a part warm engine. Very reliable but for battery. As I used it more I felt the brakes were inadequate (only 1 disc on front and drum rear - and it is a heavy bike) so upgraded to harder pads (HH) and a braided S/S brake line. Better but no cigar. The headlight is too small and feeble for anything other than casual night time use. Uprated bulb made a bit of difference but really not a lot. Battery life is poor am now on 3rd battery. This may be due to little usage and my alarm system ... more

The Vstar Classic motorcycle. In England, it's known as a Dragstar. It comes in 2 sizes, 650 and 1100 and in 2 varieties; Classic, and what is known as Custom, versions. This review is of the 650 Classic. Basically the difference between custom and classic is in the styling. The Classic version has deeply valanced mudguards front and rear, with other slight differences to accomodate the different guards, tin sleeves over the fork sliders for that fat boy look, and a bigger headlight. The 650 and 1100 are both shaft drive, a refreshingly low insurance group, air cooled, economical on the petrol ... more