Air cooled Yamaha reliability?

[ZiO]

Well, finally for my last quick question, I would just like to kow who has owned a Yamaha cruiser, and has their air cooled engines been very reliable. I dont expect myself to drive the crap out of my bike... just some nice country riding. So therefore I really dont feel the 'need; for a liquid cooled engine... ahs anyone had any issues inthe past? I've noticed all yammy cruisers are liquid cooled, and everyone says that they are very reliable bikes. so i am thinking the technology inthem now is good as it gets anyways.... thanks in advance.

[Ladymx]

I had and have another XJ650 which is an air cooled yam and I have never had a problem with them over heating even in extreme heat. Extreme increase in elevation made a bit of difference in the older bike as its not like some of the new ones, that adjust on it own, for the change. Found it wasnt that bike of deal either I just took the air filter out and use a nylon, to give the engine more air and put it back in when I got lower.

[Toyuzu]

I didn't see what kind of air cooled Yamaha you have - ? Anyway, they are extremely reliable for the most part. The only problem I've heard of is on the bigger bikes like the XS 1100 I had, the transmissions were weak, and would often loose 2nd gear around 30 to 40K miles. This was only on the 4 Cylinder bikes though, because the engines put out too much power for the tranny. The cruisers were not afflicted with the problem. On my 80 XS 1100, I did loose 2nd gear at around 46K miles, but never had any other problems. I put roughly 10K miles on it in the year I had it.

[TechTMW]

With good maintenance an air-cooled engine should last just as long as a water cooled engine. what's better is, they tend to be easier to fix too! No water hoses or coolant to get in the way.

My Air-Cooled Yamaha xj650 has over 45,000 miles, still pulling strong

[kar_the_terrible]

Chels you put in a nylon??? whats tht? a nylon filter?

-K

[BuzZz]

An old dirtbike trick. Cover your airfilter with one of the wife's nylons, cut down to size. Then when the outer nylon gets covered with dirt and plugging off, remove it, and you have a nice, clean airfilter ready and willing to get you where your going.

[JustJames]

I own Yammy V-Star 650 custom. I don't see any problem with my bike yet I feel it work harder, engine makes more noise when hot like on very heavy traffic on FWY but other than that it runs just fine.