opinoins on Suzuki C50 VS Yamaha VS 1100

[MotoF150]

I did take it to 2 Suzuki Dealers and they both said all V Twins backfire and thats normal. When it backfires thru the air cleaner it comes thru the screw holes and I can feel it on my left inside leg by my knee, it hurts, it feels like someone shot me with a BB gun, and everytime I run it hard and let go of the throttle quickly, "BOOM" backfires thru the exhaust, I did no mods to the fuel injection and exhaust. The backfires are interminint, it doesn't do it all the time, the bike seems to take fits, some days it runs fine, some days it backfires like crazy, sometimes the backfires seem to happen the same time the ignition fuse blows. My warranty is up had it longer than a year, im stuck with it. Im upset cause when I went to buy a new bike I wanted either the Honda, or Yamaha 1100 and the dealer talked me into the M50 instead, im upset with myself cause I really screwed up buying that POS Im upset cause its embarressing when I go riding with real bikes and they make fun of it and they want me riding in the back cause they don't like breathing the smoke from my exhaust and I know im a better rider than all of them put together, my exceptional skills are limited only because of the bike I own.

[canuckerjay]

Never rode the suzuki, I bought the yamaha 1100.

The Star has loads of torque, and pulls quite nicely. While it has no trouble cruising at 130-140kms/hr on the highway, it is quite loud at those speeds. This took some getting used to. . .

Overall, you get a lot of bike for the money, however, some things to consider:

Some nut designed the bike so that when you change the oil, the pipes must be removed to get at the oil filter. One of the first things most people do is get an oil filter relocation kit so they don't need to do this.
average cost for this mod is 200$.

Just about everyone replaces the stock seat, which is absolute crap. Seats vary in price, of course, but my Corbin cost me 500$ (worth every cent, I might add).

The above two are things that in my opinion (and others) are pretty essential. but there are other popular mods:

Most people I've talked to online have replaced thier pipes. Stock, the bike sounds like a rough running sewing machine. many people like thier cruisers to sound meaner.
At the same time as they replace the exhaust, most replace the intake, some go with the hypercharger deal, most go with a pod system underneath the tank. Most people are upping their power from the stock 51hp to around 63,64,65 ish with pipes and pods (yes, dyno'd).

Other people have done more. Some do the above, but then add mild cams and an ignition kit. Some of these people get up to around 70-74hp with all that.

With the exception of one dude, Ive never heard a bad word about the Suzuki. I've also rarely heard anything bad about the Vstars, either. To be honest, I chose the Vstar because after reading all kinds of reviews on these bikes, I liked the asthetics better than anything else in the price range.

Pick what you know is you and ride.

Good luck.

[basshole]

Take it to an independent mechanic and have him fix it or put it on a dyno. What kinda gas mileage are you getting? You may want to pose this question at some place like Volusiariders.com there would be alot more people familiar with your bike who may have had the same problem and can tell ya how to fix it.

I did take it to 2 Suzuki Dealers and they both said all V Twins backfire and thats normal. When it backfires thru the air cleaner it comes thru the screw holes and I can feel it on my left inside leg by my knee, it hurts, it feels like someone shot me with a BB gun, and everytime I run it hard and let go of the throttle quickly, "BOOM" backfires thru the exhaust, I did no mods to the fuel injection and exhaust. The backfires are interminint, it doesn't do it all the time, the bike seems to take fits, some days it runs fine, some days it backfires like crazy, sometimes the backfires seem to happen the same time the ignition fuse blows. My warranty is up had it longer than a year, im stuck with it. Im upset cause when I went to buy a new bike I wanted either the Honda, or Yamaha 1100 and the dealer talked me into the M50 instead, im upset with myself cause I really screwed up buying that POS Im upset cause its embarressing when I go riding with real bikes and they make fun of it and they want me riding in the back cause they don't like breathing the smoke from my exhaust and I know im a better rider than all of them put together, my exceptional skills are limited only because of the bike I own.

[CTLawyer]

I love my M50! I think the original poster had his mind or heart set on a different style bike. I ride with 1100 and 1400 Harleys and have no problem keeping up and looking good. Worst gripes are no tach, 6th gear or turn signal cancelling. Otherwise I love it. The water cooled engine is awesome on hot days when my Harley pals start getting worried and over-heating in stopped traffic. The bike gets a lot of looks and compliments. I took of all the decals and plaques, added a seatback for the wife and a back carrying rack for my briefcase. We have taken some long rides (3 hours) and I have now ordered an after-market Mustang seat for our bony rear ends. The bike does 80 mph on the highways here in Connecticut with no vibration other than typical road surface feedback and it is smooth and responsive. I was tired of not hearing my bike over the wind and other bikes so I drilled eight holes in each of the bafffles. Not satisfied, I the debaffled the pipes by following the video by Lyd. I then realized how you can get crazy with after market EFI add-ons if you sweat the ramifications of debaffling too much. But the concensus I have read is that by just debaffling the stock pipes you won't rob your bike of any noticeable amount of power, and there is no need to adjust or remap the ECU unless you just have to to sleep well. The bike sounds a lot better debaffled but still no low Harley idle rumble, but that's cool. I think the need to remap the ECU applies to increasing the air intake or going with new straight pipes with no crossover, not just the debaffling of the stock pipes. If anyone (a seasoned Suzuki bike dealer mechanic would be nice) knows the real straight dope on the need to remap the ECU and/or add an after-market FI controller with debaffled pipes I would love to hear the no bull reality. I want to avoid endless upgrades and spend my dough on gas so if I can skip it I will. We'll see! Tomorrow I ride and pray it runs well and there is not a lot of backfires etc. Biker waves to all.

[CTLawyer]

Did the debaffle thing last night unto the wee hours on my 2005 M50. Did the test ride today. Power is up! With just drilled holes in baffles I realize now it cost me power and caused backfires. Completely removed baffles re the Lyd video method resulted in clean running and better power. My test was to accelerate in 5th gear up a steep hill with a passenger. With 8 drilled holes in the baffles of each pipe I had to down shift at 55-60 mph as the bike would not accelerate past that in 5th gear. It is a long steep grade, about 1 mile up a mountain and straight shot. Today with the same load and conditions in 5th gear it just kept climbing through 60 mph up through 70 mph and on. I had to slow for traffic or it would have gone right up to top speed, way faster than safe anyway. Burned up the cheap drill and arbor I used to cut out the baffles and bent the hole saw, but I returned all that junk to Home Depot today for a full refund. So my cost for the whole mod was 0$ to debaffle. Just some busted knuckles and blistered hands from that cheap drill. So I say the FI reset myth is busted. Debaffling the stock pipes optimized my M50's sound and power without any need to adjust the ECU or FI. Now I can really hear my bike, and she sounds good.

[basshole]

Congrats. Have you disabled the pair valve? that'll reduce some of the backfiring. Check out www.volusiariders.com for more cool tips.

[CTLawyer]

Congrats. Have you disabled the pair valve? that'll reduce some of the backfiring. Check out www.volusiariders.com for more cool tips.

Thanks for the tip. I read about the pair valve a little on www.volusiariders.com but I haven't got the guts to try removing it without a video to hold my hand. Hey Lyd, can you make another movie for us on the pair valve removal process? I don't want to screw it up, as it is running pretty good now and I'm having a lot of fun.

Will removing the pair valve give me any more horse power?
Or is it just about minimizing backfires? Cause backfires are pretty rare as it is. BTW, what is that thing in the exhaust pipe behind the baffle I removed? Is that the catalytic converter? Has anyone ever removed that or is that a dumb idea? This will never end . . .