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Freeway speeds on a V-Star

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:23 am
by xsyamahadg
I'm planning a little trip on my 03 V-Star 650 Classic, and it requires me to run about 250 miles on the expressway, the question is, is it going to hurt the little Star to maintain 70 mph speeds for 250 miles ? I bought the bike new and it's got 3,000 miles on the clock, but only a few of those miles are on the freeway, I like to avoid the freeway as much as possible. I presented this question to a V-Star riders group, and they said the bike will maintain 80+ mph if needed, but that seems a bit optimistic to me. I have a couple of other bikes I could ride, but I'd rather try the Star this trip. XS

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:37 am
by vector18
Why don't you take the bike on the freeway and get it up to 80mph and see what your revving at? If your at redline at 80mph, I wouldn't ride 250 miles at 80mph. It's ok to redline for awhile, but not for 250 miles. What I'm saying is only you will know what your bike is capable of running at, not other people that ride other bikes. Have a good trip and ride safe.

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:24 am
by Sev
If it hurts your bike to go that far that fast there was something seriously wrong with it before you left.

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:28 am
by MotoF150
I ride with a friend that owns a 05 V Star 650, we go a constant 70 - 75 mph expressway speeds for hours at a time and im the one that wants to stop and rest with my bike, he with his V Star doesn't wanta stop, the V Star is a far more comfortable bike than my POS Suzuki M50. Yes the V Star can handle the long high speed trips better than many bigger and more expensive bikes out there. In my opinion you own one of the best cruiser bikes for the money out there

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:05 pm
by paul246
My wife had a 2003 650 V-Star. It had no problems running freeway speeds, all day if necessary. It had a windshield on it too, still easily able to run at those speeds.

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:53 pm
by mellis95
I have a 2000 V Star 1100 Classic. I know it is bigger, but the highway is no problem. However, I did read in my manual that Yamaha sets an engine speed limiter at 6,800 RPM and also keeps the bike from exceeding 175 kmh. (94.5 mph, according to my calculations) Check your manual and see if it mentions anything like this for the 650. I imagine you should be okay.

Matt

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:24 pm
by runsilent
Here's a comparo test that includes the V Star Custom, should be close to same for Classic. Top speed 95 mph, should run all day at 70 mph.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v443/ ... h=imgAnch5

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:02 pm
by -Curly-
the question is, is it going to hurt the little Star to maintain 70 mph speeds for 250 miles ?
The only thing that will hurt is your gas mileage. Plan on stopping sooner than usual.

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:31 pm
by jonnythan
I'm going to be putting about 130 miles on my XV535 tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:26 pm
by jonnythan
I put about 150 miles on the XV535 today, about half of which were highway miles at 70+ mph. Beautiful ride, plenty comfortable. You'll be fine :)