2000 Yamaha VStar Classic (XVS650A)

November 8, 2002 -- I bought a 2000 Yamaha VStar Classic motorcycle. This is a 650 V-Twin cruiser.

Who buys a motorcycle in November? Well, this is Southeast Texas. The best month here is October, where the low temperatures are generally in the low 60s and the highs in the mid-70s. And it usually doesn't rain much.

This October, having several friends who have recently gotten motorcycles, and also having no Corvette to take the top out of, I got the fever for something a little more "open air." A motorcycle is, after all, the ultimate convertible. I looked at a few new ones, including a Honda VLX (600) and Shadow ACE (750), and at a Suzuki Savage (650, single cylinder) and a Yamaha VStar. Just sitting on them, I guess I liked the Savage the best. It was much narrower and lighter, and would have been enjoyable to ride. But it has a small gas tank and I figured the single cylinder engine got get bothersome after awhile.

The Yamaha felt better than either Honda, although the VLX I'm sure was lighter. Remember, I didn't ride them... they don't let you do that. Anyway, I didn't figure it would be prudent to spend $6000 on a new motorcycle, so I started looking on eBay. Turns out this VStar showed up in New Braunfels (about 200 miles from here) with only 6700 miles on it. I bid on it, and got it for $3551. (Weird number, yes. I was trying to make sure I got at least $1.00 over the current high bidder.) Well, someone else outbid me at the last minute, but then were unable to take delivery in a reasonable amount of time, so the seller contacted me through an eBay "second chance" procedure, where I was allowed to do a "buy it now."

November is also a nice month in Southeast Texas :-) Today (Sunday 11/9) we have blue skies and temps in the low 70s.

Click on one of the pictures to see it larger.

First thing I added were some saddlebags. It's hard to ride to work without them, and when we take day trips there has to be a place for necessities (like Jacquelyn's purse)! I got the bags from eBay. They're really cheap (paid $25 plus shipping), but they look okay. I ordered some "longhorn" conchos from Tandy (you remember them from when you were in Cub Scouts, right?) so they're now custom. Click for an up-close picture.

The bags came with a "free gift." It's a chain wallet. When my sons first saw it (separately), their reactions were identical. "Dad!" No, I won't be carrying it. They were relieved to find out that it wasn't something I had ordered.

Goofy Chain Wallet

Besides riding to work when the weather was nice, Jacquelyn and I went with friends down to Kemah to eat on a couple of occasions. Now that was fun!

Then along came March, and tax day was approaching. Since I owed a bunch, and the bike was "quick cash", I sold it the same way I bought it, on an eBay auction. I sold it for $500 more than I paid for it, so taking into account sales tax and insurance for a few months, I basically rode for free.

No matter... now I have a new (2002) Yamaha FZ1. And since I owe money on it, I can't sell it to raise cash for taxes! (What did I say aboveabout it not being prudent to spend $6000 on a new motorcycle? Hmmmm... well, $6499 must be okay.)

(Strike the above paragraph... I sold the FZ1 after a year for about what I owed on it. Then I went a year with no bike, but now I have another cruiser, a 2000 Honda Shadow Aero. Of course, all of this is listed on my main "motorcycles" page.)

Various Motorcycle Links:

Ride Texas magazine http://www.texmoto.com/

"Mo"(Motorcycle Online) http://www.motorcycle.com/

Yamaha cruisers are now part of Star Motorcycles
http://starmotorcycles.com/

650 VStar "C, C, & D" website http://www.650ccnd.com/

Chuck Hawks’ motorcycle stuff http://www.chuckhawks.com/index5.motorcycles.htm

Pictures:

My 2000 Yamaha V-Star Classic, ebay photos from the auction:

00VStar_ebay_left.jpg

00VStar_ebay_right.jpg

00VStar_ebay_front.jpg

2000 V-Star from Motorcycle Online