Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hey guys,

Welcome to the Yamaha User Group forum! They say that there are three things better than a Yamaha. A great day, a great ride and good company- and that's true...but only when combined.

This is the forum to talk to kindred spirits, ask brand related questions and revel in the glory of Yamaha/Star ownership/curiousity. We know there are better bikes than our Yamaha's, and Yamaha is going to let us have them next model year.

Be you a cruiser, a racer, a tourer, a stunter or a poser- list your ride, who you are, why you ride and what you like best about riding. The most creative response by the end of march gets a donation in their name to TMW and a handy dandy gold supporter bar... if you have a platinum bar already- I'm terribly sorry

Your usergroup moderator,
Ste
Storysunfolding

Well, let's please allow me to start this thread off

I'm a Yamaha rider and own a classic (ie cheapo) 1982 Yamaha Seca 650R. OOO... 650R... take note of that R at the end there, it's a "R"acer model. Ok, ok, it's just a standard by todays R bikes, but back then, it was advertised as "Ride it hard all day long and put it away wet"... Ya, well, it was a different era then...

I've owned this bike is the longest of any of my bikes I've owed. That says something for the Yamaha fun factor it gives.

I've done some customizing to my bike performance wise. It now has 4 individual K&N Pod air filters, K&N Stage 3 Jet and Needle kit (umm, you didn't hear me say that as it's a drag racing kit, but no one knows). oh, and stainless steal braided brake lines too. Puts the torque and power up higher, not that the chassis can really handle riding fast...haha I've had it up to 170km/h and while it's fun going fast, the fun part is mostly lost going fast on a 25 year old rocket with crappy tires! Top speed is around 200km/h I've read and it can do 12 sec 1/4 miles (when new, now, I'm happy if it starts).


Here is my absolute favourite picture of my Seca, taken 2 years ago in March in Alberta. I'm about 200km away from Calgary in the great unknown.



If I would by another Yamaha I'd look at the FZ6 or FZ1. I really like the comfortable riding position and lack of fairings so I can see the engine (and it makes it easier to work on too).

The most creative response by the end of march gets a donation in their name to TMW and a handy dandy gold supporter bar...

- Love it!!

Mike

My first Yamaha street bike was a 1982 Yamaha Vision that I used to travel between DC and Charlottesville Virginia through the whole year (winter included) to visit the most beautiful girl ever. I sold it because I ran out of room with 5 bikes. Luckily one of the others was another Vision .

They are a fickle bike, produced for only 2 years in the U.S. and not many sold the second year. They have a few problems that have been addressed by www.ridersofvision.net so they are fairly reliable after the fixes.

Riding it is something else. The bike does everything you want it to. She hugs corners, pulls away from cars at 90 mph 2 up with ease. A nice grunty Vtwin with an exhaust that sounds like a vacuum... i should have left that out.

I'll never be without a Vision. Sadly there are times that the Vision needs work and I can't ride it, or i need something with more power from the stator or reliability in the winter (it hates cold starts, doable but a strain on my baby). So i found a bike that handles alot like the Vision, a suzuki Vstrom. It's a great bike too... but not a Vision

Anyway- I've been riding for years, street bikes since I was 16, licensed after being told that I needed one and dirt since I was a wee young lad.

I ride differently in different situations but since I'm a commuter I've learned to be very cautious. I'll do wheelies and stoppies... in the dirt on the dirt bike, but never on a public street no matter what bike I'm on or who's around.

I hope to be an MSF instructor as of april 8th 2007, which also happens to be my 24th birthday and the year I start applying to med school after some long earned time off.

I've also enjoyed various yamaha dirt bikes and a 1981 xs400 heritage special II... the name was larger than the bike itself.

No love for the scooters in the poll?

Veda wrote:No love for the scooters in the poll?

Sorry to late to change after people have started

I solded my Yammies... but out of my 4 bikes that Ive owned, 3 have been yammies...and 2 of them actually ran!!!

My one and only bike so far is my 2004 650 V-Star classic.



I bought it new in October 2004 when I was just learning. The picture is from November 2004. I got licensed on it in February 2005. My blue star now has over 28,000km on it.

So many guys have told me I need to get a bigger bike, but this 650 has proven itself over and over again.

I own a Vstar 650...2005...Silverado.....Guess the "SilveradoGirl" thingy may have given that away huh?

I am happy to say that my Silverado is really mine now, not mine and the banks. I received my clear title just last week in the mail, it was a good day!! Now I can start to change stuff, and take stuff apart...I always like to wait until its really mine to do that kind of stuff, and boy, do I have some plans

The Silverado is my first real bike (apart from minibikes and dirt bikes I rode as a kid). I am still learning all about riding, and this place (TMW)seems to give me lots of ideas and help. I have a few seasons under my belt now, but am still a newbie by all stretches of the imagination. I have a blog here at TMW...read a few posts, you'll see, I am new, the littlest things excite me. I just can't help it though. Riding gets me excited period. I love the feeling. It's not a words thing, it's a feel thing...and I like feelin' it

Can't wait for SPRING!!

Yes, Silveradogirl, it's a good feeling owning it outright isn't it? I still sometimes stop and marvel that "it's mine".

My bike is customized in that I have done nothing with it except install a windshield.
Aside from the fact that I have no extra money for bike bling....I actually happen to like the way my bike looks. Besides, there's enough work cleaning the chrome that's already on it.

Congrats on paying it off.

Weighing in with the oldest (so far) Yamaha is...me.



It's my 1979 Yamaha XS650F. She's my first street-bike; I bought her in 1993 for $400 from a friend of the family, when she decided to sell her late husband's bike -- with the caveat that it didn't run, and would I like to look at it? Turned out all I needed to do was clean the sparkplugs, put in clean gas and kick it a few times and it started right up. Her husband was the original owner, and had only put 6400 miles on the bike before passing away. she asked, "I was going to put it in the paper for $500, but would you want it for $400?" -- You bet your sweet baboo I do! In the last 14 years, I've run the miles up to nearly 20,000. That picture is the only one I have on the web right now...taken some time in 2000.

So, I rode my new bike home and commenced to riding the wheels off it. I crashed it the first summer I owned it, I rebuilt it, I got back on it, and re-commenced to riding the wheels off it. I took it to college with me, and when the campus police started harassing me about parking it under my apartment's balcony....well, I just moved it into my living room. That Christmas (Christmas '94) I strung lights on the bike and put presents under it.

I'm a computer technician by trade -- a nerd if you will -- and a father of four. I'll celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary this August, and yes, I said FOUR kids... my 6yo boy, 4yo girl, and 4month old twin girls. And yet, I've still managed to hang onto my bike. I see ads in the paper and on eBay "Having baby, must sell bike," and I say *cough*bull$#it*cough* My XS has been with me the whole time, from living at home when I bought her, to college, to Indiana where my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I spent 5 years, and back to Michigan where we are now. I've only had her on the road about half the years I've owned her, but I make sure she runs every year. I'm hoping that this year is another "on the road" year.

I've been riding since I was 15 -- my first bike was a 1971 Honda SL125 dual-purpose, and I fell off it in the woods a whole lot on my way to learning bike control and stuff. When I got my driver's license I took a motorcycle safety course and got my cycle endorsement, so I could ride my little 125 on the road at 50mph, flat out. Quite frankly, I've been hooked ever since. Every time I ride, I want to tell other motorcyclists "Shhhhh!!! If we tell too many people how much fun this is, someone'll get jealous and it'll be banned!" How has Congress missed this? Heck, I don't care, as long as I can keep riding.

Maybe I'll find the picture of the "Christmas Bike" somewhere in a box...