Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I am getting back into riding after 40 years (at the suggestion of my wife. She also wants to get back into it. ). I have taken and passed the MSF course with a perfect score, see you still do remember things after 40 years. Now I am looking at some used bikes. The first one is a 05 M50 with 1,000 miles and an asking price of $4800 and a 07 V-Star 650 with 300 miles and an asking also of $4,800. I live at 6,500 feet and regularly travel to 9 - 10K feet. OK, so which one would you get?

Well, does altitude affect air-cooled or liquid-cooled? 'cuz if it does, that would be a big factor. If not, which one fits you best? And is your wife riding pillion or are you getting two bikes, or sharing one?

I'm a newb, and there are others with a lot more experience & wisdom to help you than I can offer. These are just the questions that came to mind.

Wish we could find an M50 like that around here for that price. My husband wants one.

Liquid or air cooled doesn't make any difference with regard to altitude. What id does affect is power.

Big Mike, if you're going to be riding two-up at altitude, the M50 is a probably the better choice. The V-Star is a good bike, but it's a bit low on horsepower. The combination of riding two up and high altitude would have that engine straining. The M50 has a few more horses available.

The M50 has FI and the 650 Star has carbs, FI should perform better at high altitude.

gsJack wrote:The M50 has FI and the 650 Star has carbs, FI should perform better at high altitude.

Agree. That's a huge factor.

Thanks for all of the quick responses. These forums are the best, especially for newbies and us older folks who have ridden but its been so long we are just like newbies.

The wife wants to get her own so this would be a single rider bike. She is going to have to wait for for now since she is having surgery, but after that I guess I will have to look at a second bike.

Everyone I talk with suggests the M50 but the V-star also gets great reviews. I am used to purchasing 4 wheels and the year seems to matter. Doesn't appear to be such with bikes, just the miles.

Big Mike,
I'm an old guy also (69). The only riding I've done was about 50 years ago on Wizzer Motor Bikes. Remember those? Anyway, I took my MSF course on a Buell 500cc and aced the whole course, then turned around and bought a Yamaha Majesty 400cc. This has plenty of power for me. It will cruise at 70 mph with plenty of power left if you want to go that fast and it handles like a dream. I also like the 650 Burgman but there aren't many of those available.

Maybe you should take a look.