I last had a bike in 1975 a Honda 360 purchased at Anderson's on
Telegraph. It was stolen while I was in college at Northern Michigan
University. I tried to buy a Norton but not having any income they
wouldn't give me a loan.
Back to the present: I hop on the net and go to the Honda site. What a
crappy site. Nothing loads properly, for me at least. So, the next day
I drive to town and tell the dude I am going to buy a bike and am
looking at the 600 or 750. I ask him about the chain.
Back to the past...I'm cruising on I-75 to NMU on my 360 and somethings wrong
but I don't know what. I pull over and start looking at the
bike...Hmmm??? I am not mechanically inclined. A guy on a Moto-Guzzi
(quite a cruiser ) stops and asks "What's up?" I tell him somethings
wrong and he says "Hmmm..." Gets on his Guzzi and blasts off. I
find
later that the chain was loose and the rear tire needs to be pulled
back. I learn how and do it on a regular basis.
So I ask the Honda guy about chains and moving tires and he doesn't
know but he's thinks and replies, "You may have to do that." I get
financed for the amount at 6.9%. I say great I'll be back and head of
to the credit union to get a better rate. They give me 5.5%. Great!!
So I'm about to head home and break the good news (Yea right) to my
wife but I do myself a favor and decide to head across the river to
Wisconsin and check out what the Yamaha dealer has.
I see a gorgeous pearl white motorcycle as I walk in the door. I think
Wow! What a nice lookin' bike but know I can't afford it cause it must
be a Yamaha Super Duper ZXL 5000 Ultra Special Deluxo so I just walk
past and sit at the parts counter to wait my turn. A few minutes pass
and a fellow asks if I need help, I just tell him I'm lookin' for a
small bike 600 or 750 and am here to see what he has. He points behind me
and
says "That's 650 but I'm not a salesman, just the parts guy."
I go over and sit on the 650. It's big and it's nice. The
salesguy/owner comes over. What luck!! All the salestaff was off for
the hoildays. Always get the owner to wait on ya, he doesn't need no
stinkin' commision. I again tell what I'm after and what I had been
looking at. He points to the Pearl White VStar 650 Classic with saddle
bags, custom seat with (do they still call them that) sissy bar, foot rests
and
windshield that I saw when I entered. I ask HOW MUCH???? He says let
me give you my best price he does and I say SOLD.
Did a lot of running around for the next couple hours but I had the
deal closed by days end.
I hadn't been on a bike in 30 years so I asked him to deliver it. No
problemo. He cruises up my driveway 13.4 miles from the dealership
around 7 and says " 1 down, four up."
I knew I would want to take it right out so I specifically didn't buy
a helmet. My driveway is a about 150 ft so I putted up and down, up
and down. At slow speeds the mosquitos were killin' me. Never have I
seen them as bad as they are this year...you wouldn't believe. I had
to work the next day so on the way in I stop at the Honda dealer to
tell the salesguy I went with the Yamaha cause it didn't have a chain
and as consolation buy a helmet. He wasn't there but as luck would
have it the owner waited on me. I told him why I went Yamaha and he
said, "That blah, blah 750 has a transmission. I said "I didn't
know"
and bought a full face HJC. Cool
So the next day I take it out. I only have to motor a half-mile on the
state highway to get to the essentially deserted side roads where
only rednecks, deer, turkeys and porcipines are problems. Man it was
swell.
I have read almost every VStar 650 custom post in this forum and I
agree with the guy that posted that over 60mph the vibration
disappeared. I'm six feet and tip the scales at 173. The bike is
perfect. It'll do just what I want and just what I need.
