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I just bought a 2003 Suzuki Volusia VL800 that only has 2100 miles on it with only 100 logged in the last 3 years. I am new to cruisers, having mainly rode dirt bikes when I was younger. I love my new volusia, and am having it serviced in a few days (oil change, check all fluids, and so forth), but it seems to be very sluggish and lacking power. I can barely get it above 65 and can just keep it in 5th gear without it feeling like it is going to stall. It idles fine, and doesn't backfire or seem to have any other symptoms. Any advice on what I should do or what the problem may be? Thanks in advance for any input.

The 2 things that come to mind are an air restriction (dirty air filter) or lean fuel condition (clogged jets or fuel passages).... happens easily enough in a bike that has sat for the best part of 3 years.

Have the shop check it out when you take it in for the service. Tell them about the problem and to see if they can find out what the cause is, but NOT to do any extra work until they contact you. Be very clear about that, many shops will claim that you O.K.ed the work when you mentioned the problem and try to bend you over as far as they can. Then they will try to take turns on ya.... it just gets ugly in a hurry... Be clear at the outset.

After a puff and a ponder.....

It could also be a sticky/dragging brake or a bad wheel bearing. Is the bike easy to push around, or does anything around the brakes or wheel hubs get hot after a ride?

Whatever it is, the bike has some problem. It should pull hiway speeds in top gear with no problem.

it is easy to push and the brakes/wheel bearings seem fine after a ride, I'll check the air filter tonight, thanks for the input...I can't wait to get it running 100% so I can fully enjoy my first ridding season

I checked the air filter at lunch and it looks brand new, so I don't think it is the problem...just thought I would update.

Pull the plugs and tell us what they look like?

Are they dark and wet? Grey and powdery? light tan?

Sounds like it might not be getting enough fuel to run at higher speeds. Since it sat for a long time, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that some gunk from degraded gasoline is partially plugging the fuel system. This could be anywhere from the petcock, to the carb float system, to clogged main jets.

Just an update, I'm taking my bike in for service today and I'm going to have them take it out for a drive to evaluate the issue. Thanks to all who posted, I'll update with the results...

Got my bike back and it runs like a champ!! They cleaned the carbs and flushed the fuel system as well as doing a complete service check. I can't believe the difference, I was easily hitting 65 mph in the time it used to take to get up to 35 or 40 and I can easily hang in 5th gear at 40-50 mph where as before I would stall in 5th gear if I didn't keep it wide open and could only get to about 65 mph. I'm not sure how fast I could run now, but I had it around 95 on the interstate before I decided that was good enough! Thanks for all the input on the forum, it was great to hear some advice from other motorcycle enthusiasts. Safe Riding -- Pepper