Old guy bought it from his neighbor in 2009 and managed to put a whopping 30 miles on it. Bike had 11307 miles on it when I bought it. It's a 1999 Yamaha V-Star 1100. Looks like brand new. I take it for a test drive, it rides OK, but I can tell it needs some work. KBB on it ranges from $1650-$2500. He's asking $1850. I didn't even try to jew him down. I just took it off his hands. I get it home, park it and immediately go to tag/title it. I only get a temp tag because it still has to be inspected. But this gives me a little over 30 days to play with it too. So I drive it to my Dad's house and park it there for the week as it's still been borderline too cold to ride in April. Then wait until the next weekend to go pick it up. I leave and I'm still noticing that the bike hesitates a lot/bogs down past 1/4 throttle. Not really sure what could be causing that type of issue. So I do some research and try a few things without much luck. I do change the brake pads front and rear so that I can take it in for an inspection. Passes the inspection just fine. I have 90 days before it expires. So, I let the bike sit, the temp tag expires. So no more riding (at least not more than around the block). At this point, I've tossed about $100 in parts into trying to get the bike to run correctly and a can of SeaFoam. Still doesn't like anything past 1/4 throttle and pops like a Honda riding the rev limiter when you let off the gas. So, I reluctantly do what I have been trying to avoid. I pull the bike apart (the top half) and yank the carbs out.
I take them down to my spare room and start to take them apart. I had only been delaying this because they used brass screws to secure the float bowls to the carbs. And they're notorious for stripping out on these bikes. Well, I turn the carbs over and wouldn't you know. The PO (most likely the owner before the guy I bought it from) apparently tried to do this themselves and stripped out one screw on each carb.. Just for me! So, I remove the three that will come out. I take my rescue bit and start trying to remove the screw, no luck! The rescue bit just eats the screw for lunch. So, next! I take a small pair of flat nose pliers and grip as hard as I can and start to twist. VIOLA! I manage to get both of the screws loose. So I'm happy. I go to pull the front cylinder float bowl off and it looks good :
Pull the rear cylinder float bowl off and :
Something tells me they might have managed to get the front one cleaned at some point in time. The rear on the other hand.. Jeebus.. I pull the main jet and it is completely clogged. Well, no matter I have to rejet the carbs anyways to accommodate the massive exhaust the PO installed. I also notice that, somehow, the main jets in the carb are sized wrong. They're one size too small in each carb, at least according to the FSM. So, I order jets that are 1 size larger than what's supposed to be in there and wait for them to arrive. Get them in and finish cleaning up the carbs and reassemble everything and bench sync them. This is about the time that we are having some of the hottest days ever and I don't have a garage. So I'm stuck in my asphalt driveway putting the bike back together. Some of you have met me, I'm a big fella. The sun and I, well HEAT and I, are natural enemies. So it takes me two days to do what I should have been able to do in about 2 hours.
Ok, so now the bike is back together, go to start it up and nothing. Just cranks, no fire. I figure it's just because there's no gas in the carbs yet. So I let it sit for a few, open the choke and try to start it again. It sputters a little and then dies. So I turn the choke off, hold the starter for about 10 seconds and it comes to life! Sounds good, but still sounds close to how it sounded before. I would expect that with one cylinder not firing it would sound a lot different on both cylinders. I let it sit and idle and all of a sudden it dies. Try to start it again, nothing. Now is the point I realize I had the fuel turned off. DOH! Turn it on, hit the starter and it fires right up and idles nicely. So, I take it for a spin around the block. Can't really tell if it's better or not. But, I don't have my permanent tags yet, so I'm not going any further than around the block. After a few loops I'm pretty sure I'm still not running correctly. So I park it and figure I'll wait until I can get it out on the open road.
This brings us almost up to date. Last Friday I head to the DMV bright and early so I can arrive before 8am when they open up to avoid having to wait in line and might not be too late to work. I pull up, park the car. Walk up to the door and I get smacked in the face with 8:30am... WTF?! How did I mess that up? So I go back to the car and wait. I fall asleep and wake up at about 8:28 and there is a line of about 50 people. Where the hell did they all come from?! So I go get in line and admire one particularly attractive woman in a blue dress with a super low neck line and wait for the doors to open. About an hour later I walk out $104 poorer but with tags in hand! To work I go. I have to wait until the next day to actually take the bike out.
Last Saturday, wait for my wife to get home from work at about 1:30 or so. I've kept the kids up since about 7:30am in hopes that they'll go to sleep quickly and nap hard and long. At 2pm I put the kids down for a nap, the wife goes down for a nap and I go for a ride! I start the bike up, ride off around the corner and roll on the throttle and it bogs out. I'm pissed.. But it didn't bog out as early as normal. So I give it a chance. I go to the gas station and fill up the tank and pull out. I roll on the throttle again, it sputters for a second and then BAM! It wakes up and puts a big as grin on my face. Now I know what I was missing. For an 1100 air cooled V-Twin, this thing will move! Granted, it's no sport bike, but I'm too big for those kinds of toys now. I go for about a 70 mile ride and I Love every minute of it. It's been about 7 years since I really got to enjoy a motorcycle and go for a ride. And of course, now that it's fixed I've only had 3 days to ride it since. The rest have been full of rain or my wife has had to work. haha.. Hopefully the rain goes away and stays away soon and I can start riding it to work every day. 44mpg btw.. That's less than a gallon a day for my commute. That in and of itself will save me BIG money.
Anywho, thanks for reading my story. One last picture, the bike is actually blue, not black. I didn't know it was blue until I pulled it out into the sun.
Anybody else here ride? I know that CatepillarAssassin rode street bikes.. But haven't seen him on here in ages. I'm trying to decide if I want to drive it down to FL in August when we go down for vacation. Just not sure I'm ready for that kind of a drive (13-14 hours). And I think my wife would kill me if I left her alone with the kids in the Van for that long.. haha
eGo
