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Cruza

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Everything posted by Cruza

  1. I've had the 950 V Star (Midnight Star) for about four months now and probably done about 2000 km's. I still love it. I have to update my original comment on the 950 scraping round corners. My impression now, after the milage I've done is that the 950 does scrape on corners more easily than the 650. I haven't ever scraped out on the open road, but I tend to scrape when taking 90 degree corners in the suburbs and I take the corner on a bit of a tight radius. Other than that, still love the bike!
  2. For about a year I'd been using a cheap headset in an attempt to communicate with my pillion passenger, but just last week I upgraded to the Sena SMH10. Wow, what a difference. There is a huge improvement in sound quality and reduction in background noise. The SMH10 is also very easy to use, I really like how easy it is to change volume with the dial knob. I have a full-face helmet and so I used the wired mike and not the boom mike. My previous headsets cost about $70 each, bought at a bike show, but were more of a frustration than a benefit. The wind noise, road noise and engine noise were amplified together with voice so that it was difficult to make out voice and resulted in even more ear noise than usual. The Sena SMH10 cost me $350 for a pair, so about twice the price, but absolutely worth it. I now hear my pillion clearly through the speakers without any effort. I can also speak to her and be heard without having to speak loudly, communication is now effortless. I also now hear the road, engine and wind noise without hearing them through the speakers. The cheap set allowed us to communicate with difficulty up to about 60 km/h. The Sena now lets us communicate easily at 100 km/h. If you want to speak to your pillion passenger, and interested in what they're saying......I recommend you have a look at this headset. I haven't tried it for music, phone or communicating with other riders, so can't comment on these features. Battery life on the Sena has also been significantly better. The old headset didn't last long enough for us to enjoy a day ride, but the new Sena has already lasted two rides without being re charged. When checking the battery life it tells me that I've still got over 70%. I highly recommend the Sena SMH10.
  3. I tried and tried to get a picture posted.....but have given up.....but I did manage to get a recent picture into my profile. I was out on the Putty Road near Sydney on the weekend with my wife...my enthusiastic riding partner.
  4. I owned a Star 650 for over two years while I did my L and P plates and added about 15 000 km's to the clock. I was continually looking at what I'd like to upgrade to and it took me ages to decide, but eventually upgraded to the Star 950 after sitting on 100's of bikes. I wanted something a bit bigger.....but didn't want a monster, both because of the increased cost of insurance and registration, increased fuel cost.....and the intimidation factor. I am delighted with the Star 950! The things I didn't like about the 650 were; it needed another gear, the shaft whine that really irritated me, cleaning the spokes all the time, it bottomed out on bumps (wife always rides pillion these days so it was a real problem), it was underpowered for two up, my wife was a bit cramped on the pillion and we had to stop frequently to stretch the legs. The Star 950 has sorted all these issues and is an absolute pleasure! (I must say that I immediately bought a Mustang rider and pillion seat and Cobra sissy bar from the States, I didn't like the original seats and my wife really didn't like the pillion seat) The increase in power over the 650 is massive, what a pleasure to be able to pull ahead of traffic, or overtake without any effort. I was worried that from 650 to 950 I wouldn't notice enough of an increase.....but I'm more than satisfied with the response and power of the bigger bike. I find the gearing and gearbox to be perfect, the engine runs much slower than the 650 and I'm never looking for another gear, in fact I keep realizing that I've still got an extra one! Because the engine is running so much slower at speed, there isn't as much vibration or noise on the open road. We use helmet to helmet bluetooth.....with the 650 we always had a lot of background noise from the engine.....with the 950 it's noticeably quieter and more pleasant in our ears. We used to feel as if we were flying if we got up to 100 k's....but now 100 feels great. The belt drive is silent and efficient. The suspension is excellent, providing a smooth ride over bumps, even with the pillion passenger. The pillion seat and footpegs are significantly better spaced, we can now head out for a four-hour ride, only stopping once or twice and my wife's legs and joints are comfortable. She initially didn't think there was much more distance between the seat and the footpegs....but after a few hours riding it's very obvious because she isn't desperate for a stop. With a happy and comfortable pillion passenger.....riding just got way more fun for everyone. The fuel economy has surprised me, offering an improvement on the 650, I used to get about 25 km's to a litre, but have achieved 28 km's to a litre on the 950. The cornering clearance seems to me to be similar to the 650, I've scraped a few times, but not excessively. It's maybe got a little less clearance than the 650, but not hugely different. The engine sound is so much better.....my neighbour immediately knew I'd changed bikes just by hearing it running and came out to see......he said he loved the new engine sound.....so do I. At slow speed the engine is definately more noticeable than the 650, I notice people looking around to see me before I get to them, with the 650 that didn't often happen. I've still got the factory silencer fitted. At high speed the engine sounds so much better on the 950, more of a slow-rumble and not the frantic high-revving noise of the 650. Control during cornering has become so much better......I wouldn't have believed it.....but I feel so much more in control on bends with the 950 than I ever did on the 650. I'm not sure of all the reasons why, but cornering is just much more sure. Probably a combination of better suspension and power more available, but it's impressive. I find that if I notice a pothole or something nasty on a corner, it's far more effortless to change track. It's not that there is very much difference in age or wear......the 650 was a 2007 that I bought with 3500 k's on the clock (sold with 18500), the 950 is late 2008 with just over 4000 k's on the clock. I've therefore put it down to better design and capacity. I love the fact that I no longer have what seems like thousands of spokes to clean, the great looking alloy rims are a pleasure! I also like the fact that the tyres are tubeless....allowing me the possibility of fixing a flat on the side of the road with a rubber bung.....if the offender is just a nail or screw. I love the updated styling of the bike and have had lots of comments from strangers......complementing it's looks. The Mustang rider and pillion seats are fantastic, I bought the Touring, two-piece vintage seats. I also bought the cobra mini sissy bar, the cobra luggage rack and a Mustang 9 inch wide sissy bar pad. I find that the new seat gives me fantastic back support, so very much better than the original seat, the slightly extra width of the pillion seat is very welcome to the wife and the wide sissy-bar pad is also very comfortable for her. I haven't had a luggage rack before and it's great to be able to just strap something on in a few moments and be off. Cleaning the bike is easier.....less chrome than the 650, so it doesn't take long to shine up the few shiny bits and give the impression it's clean. All in all I just wish I'd changed sooner.........I love the Star 950 and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an upgrade on the 650 Star......but doesn't want to go too big. You'll have far more power.....without any more difficulty in controlling the bike at slow or high speed. My wife had grown very attached to the 650 and was very sorry to see it go.......but after a few rides on the 950 she's very happy!
  5. Hi All, thanks for the welcome and the advice. Thanks Toutsuite for the recommendation on pegs, I did wonder about pegs so the information is very helpful. Thanks mike 1949 for the Aussie accent, that is Sydney Australia, you're probably as good as me with the accent, I'm originally S African.
  6. I'm new to the forum, thanks for the home for Yamaha owners, I've enjoyed browsing. I rode when I was a kid, 20 years ago, but recently got back into it. I bought an XVS650 Classic 2007 about a year ago and have put on 6500 km. I'm in the Sydney area. I love the surrounding rides, Bells Line of Road, out to Jenolan Caves, Down South to Picton etc. I'll be off my P plate in Feb 2012 and looking forward to it. I'm looking at swapping for the XVS 950 at that stage, but still looking at all the options. The only thing that worries me about the 950 is how many reports say it scrapes too soon. I've only scraped a few times on the 650 and if the 950 has similar clearance it will be fine for me. I look forward to seeing you all out on the road. Thanks again for the forum and all the useful posts.
  7. I know this thread is a bit old, but in case you're still struggling, or anyone else got the same problem. I had the same problem. I'd just bought the bike so I took it back to the dealer. The mechanic fiddled with it for five minutes and fixed it. It wasn't the throttle or cables as I'd suspected. The fuel mixture was wrong and the idle set too fast. After he set them I had no more trouble and I've done about 6000 km over the last 9 months and had no more trouble. The bike would run fine while it was cold, but as soon as it warmed up the engine would run very fast when I pulled the clutch in. I'd struggle with gearing down because it was running too fast for the clutch, If I partially let out the clutch again while it was in gear the revs would drop, but do the same thing again when I'd been riding and stopped again. As I said, they fiddled with mixture and then idle speed and since then all perfect.
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