Tips for Buying

[sirrad]

I owned a 650 vstar custom, great bike but always searching for that next gear.
I picked up a 08 Warrior and it was love at first shift.
Took a 650 vstar out a year later and could not believe I drove that before; it was awkward, bulkly, no power, just not fun to drive.
The Warrior does have a issue, the urge to modify never stops.

[pdxwarrior]

7K for new huh? Hmm, might be an interesting idea. I think might have to finance if that were the case though, which might hurt my negotiating a little. Do the new ones come with a warranty? Can you take them anywhere for 'work' or do you have to go back to the dealer your buy from?

As for the 650... mines a custom too. I really enjoyed the bike. I'll admit there was numerous times I tried to shift into 5th, only to find out I was already there! It's been a great bike though... made it back and forth across Oregon a few times and done quite a few rally rides in the area.

I think a bigger bike will do better though on the freeway and will get me that much closer to seeing Sturgis someday!

[thundermutt]

The ONLY thing about mine I never liked.....was the factory seat. Always ...felt like I was gonna slide off the back. I am a little guy,,,5'8"...178lbs.....bought a Stilletto seat....MAJOR improvement !!! It was "cupped" better....under hard...or moderate acceleration...I no longer slide back...and I could only sit on the factory seat for about two hours....and I had to get off it ! With the stilletto....I can ride all day....no problem. Thinkin about putting a gell pad in it too!!! second BIG thing for us little guys ....lowering the rear suspension. I could never sit flat foot at a light , until I lowered her !!!!

[LeaderDuece]

Originally Posted by pdxwarrior

7K for new huh? Hmm, might be an interesting idea. I think might have to finance if that were the case though, which might hurt my negotiating a little. Do the new ones come with a warranty? Can you take them anywhere for 'work' or do you have to go back to the dealer your buy from?

As for the 650... mines a custom too. I really enjoyed the bike. I'll admit there was numerous times I tried to shift into 5th, only to find out I was already there! It's been a great bike though... made it back and forth across Oregon a few times and done quite a few rally rides in the area.

I think a bigger bike will do better though on the freeway and will get me that much closer to seeing Sturgis someday!

I kind of doubt you'd get it for 7, but you never know.

Yes, they still come with the warranty.

One thing I see come up a lot on the YamahaMotorcycleForum.com site is that the 650 buzzes, and you're always looking for the next gear. The Warrior definitely doesn't buzz, although it obviously vibrates a lot with the hard mounted engine, and I'll admit the first year or so I rode it I would look for that next gear. But I don't anymore. If I remember right, at 80 mph it's at about 2800 rpm. Something like that. Anyway, it actually gets into the crazy powerful zone above 3000 rpm. So I had been used to basically cruising around at idle the whole time.

One other thing -we've seen a lot of guys hesitate, get their feelings hurt whatever because they offer 8000, and the dealer won't come off of 8500. I know money is tight, but for 500 bucks I wouldn't walk away from this bike. Just sayin...

[justinn]

I have both.... see attached pic.

The vstar is by far the more comfortable cruiser of the two, but as others mentioned, it is underpowered, especially two up. I can go 300 miles in a day on the factory seat with the vstar, and about a tenth of that on the warrior factory seat. I do have a mustang for the warrior though which gives me the capability of going probably 200 miles without injury

All of that said, the warrior is a far better bike everywhere but cruising comfort. More torques, better handling, cool factor is WAAAAY better, and as a few guys already mentioned.... a mod machine. I ride the warrior whenever I can, whereas the vstar gets ridden when the wife wants to come along.

Justin

[pdxwarrior]

Stilletto seat? I may have to check that out, do you know what brand it is? While I was able to deal with the
stock seat on the Vstar, I did replace it with a Mustang seat. Was a lot better for longer rides.

There's a few in the area new right around 8K, I might be able to talk them down a little. Maybe not 7K, but it
could be worth a try. The warranty would certainly be helpful and offer some reassurances. Of course, I imagine
some changes (read: mod) probably void the warranty!

With the Vstar there's no tach, but I imagine when I'm running 80 down the freeway I've got to be pushing close to
5 grand for RPMs. Sitting at a comfy 2,800 or so would be a really nice change!

[p-wii]

Ummm... do i notice an italian car in the bottom of the pic?
Sorry for the off topic question but thats not seen everyday


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[LeaderDuece]

Yeah... 5 grand is the redline for the Warrior

Sent from my DROID RAZR

[justinn]

Originally Posted by p-wii

Ummm... do i notice an italian car in the bottom of the pic?
Sorry for the off topic question but thats not seen everyday


Sent from my iPhone using Motorcycle.com Free App

lol, yes.... I was bored a couple years ago and twin turbo'd it as well. If you look really close through the hatch, you can see the air/water intercoolers... It's much more fun now

Justin

[justinn]

Originally Posted by pdxwarrior

Stilletto seat? I may have to check that out, do you know what brand it is? While I was able to deal with the
stock seat on the Vstar, I did replace it with a Mustang seat. Was a lot better for longer rides.

There's a few in the area new right around 8K, I might be able to talk them down a little. Maybe not 7K, but it
could be worth a try. The warranty would certainly be helpful and offer some reassurances. Of course, I imagine
some changes (read: mod) probably void the warranty!

With the Vstar there's no tach, but I imagine when I'm running 80 down the freeway I've got to be pushing close to
5 grand for RPMs. Sitting at a comfy 2,800 or so would be a really nice change!

The vstar gets buzzy above 65 or so.... the warrior gets buzzy above 80, so I am pretty sure you will rarely(if ever) notice it with the warrior if you were riding the vstar at 80mph

Fwiw, my right arm falls asleep on the vstar on the extended rides. It doesn't happen on the warrior, although my butt seems to fall asleep.

Justin