Leatherat

Nice looking ride! The 650 Dragstar does really look the ticket! It's a real shame they're not more powerful

Well done on the test pass, that's great news. You bored with that 650 yet??? Ain't the Beacon roads great! Just got to make sure you rein in the urge to be all Rossi about it, a lad at work was helicoptered off the mountains after getting a bit ambitious and becoming part of the scenery! Stay safe,& be lucky!

I believe, although I stand to be corrected, the foot pegs were fitted as standard on this (1998) bike, I certainly never had boards, although I wouldn't have minded them to be honest. The scraping might have gotten on my nearves though as the pegs were pretty easy to ground, as the chamfeured undersides will testify. The new bike is less easy to ground, however it's a lot more powerful, a lot louder and as much fun, but in a massively different way. Technically both girls bikes though :lol:

Well..... you did ask! This is the current fave though!

'ERE....STEADY ON! That rather sounds as if you 're saying my dragstar was a trailered show bike which I can catergorically state it was no such thing! I put a lot of miles on that machine and used up most of the western world's supply of Autoglym products.......so there!

By saying they rust very well, I mean just that, they are very good at rusting. Leave the dirt on the chrome and it will rust very quickly. The wheels are particulary bad, it's rare to see rustless rims. ACF50 is good stuff, don't pay someone else to aplly it though, do it yourself its not difficult and you'll do a more thorough job and if a bit is misseed its at risk of corrosion so it needs doing well.

That's one to be proud of! In my experience, they do rust very well so I would suggest Wash/Dry/Polish after every outting. I used AutoGlym Super Resin Polish on every part of mine (except the tyres/seat grips etc) and it kept the shit off at treat. Oh, and if you want custom pipes, avoid the Italian Gemini drag pipes on Ebay, they're alright but theres better out there, you really do get what you pay for.

No I wasn't there last night, unfortunately it coincieded with my brother in laws birthday party, and what with discresion being the better part of valour and me wanting my tea on the table rather than in the dog each night I thought better of missing it. However, you will usually find me there in a yellow vest.

Good lad! Come and say Hello at Weston bike night http://westonbikenight.rblr.co.uk/ It's a loooonnnnnggg way from Norfolk, but hell of a "you'll never guess where I've been!" story for down the pub (Bring a quid for the bucket though)

Man! you think this is bad???? You were lucky not to have been shreaded for not posting an introduction as your first post, It's usually like a cat being dropped into a cage full of dogs! Having re-read this thread in its entirety, It seems to me that the only one getting pissy is you Shaun. AndyDTr08 did make a comment of 'quite rightly too' but it was explained that this was probably meant as a general observation rather than directed at you personally, to which you replied ' Point taken'. As far as I can see, none of the other posts are in any way inflamatory or derogatory towards you, not withstanding Kirrepete's last post, which due to an ignorance of the law not being admissable as mittigating circumstance is factually correct, and ulimately a respose to your agressive stance. Enjoy your bike once you're licenced, lighten up and don't be a stranger.

Hmmmm, tips........... well, to be accepted as a full member of the Power Rangers you will of course require the correct uniform, skin tight (especially the bit around the gut and moobs, and excepting the bit around the arse) Leathers available in many lurid colours from good motorcyclists outfitters. You'll need to master the art of the wheelie, being able to keep the front wheel around head height for the length of the A1 ought to suffice, Oh and practice bending your girlfriends knees up past her ears (a lot of fun this bit!!!!) and sharpen her arse to a point as this will enable her to get her feet on the pegs whilst her bum is on the snatch pad. My final and probably most useful bit of advice is to learn to spell LICENCE..........magistrates will look upon your excessive speeding case more favorably if they think you're fairly intelligent. Enjoy your new machine and stay safe .

This is the one I had on mine, and these guys are offering it at a very reasonable pric! (Mine was £140.00!) http://www.bradfordmotorcycles.co.uk/viewproduct.php?id=91&name=HIGHWAY_HAWK_-_CUSTOM_STATES_SCREEN,_LARGE Here's another option........... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-S-STYLE-CUSTOM-SCREEN-YAMAHA-XVS650-DRAGSTAR-/290565192799?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item43a708fc5f

Drink Up Thee Zider, Drink Up Thee Zider, for tonight we'll all Merry Be We'll knock the Milkmaids over and roll 'em in the clover, the Corns half cut and so are we!

So, your screen looks like this one..... in that case, heres some pics that might help....... Once the screen was lined up with the forks, the gap around the headlight in the last picture reduced to about 1.5 - 2 inches and the brackets were almost touching the top yoke. Setting up this screen was a real ball ache. The screen itself is very good quality, but the mounting kit is shite of the finest order! I placed the sliding part (you'll know what I mean) halfway up the brackets and the 'P' plates bolt holes facing inwards (get it?) With the clamps fixed aboiut an inch outward of the risers and the screen in line with the forks, this meant the brackets were pretty much touching the top yoke. I found this arrangement gave me the best results. BTW without the screen is fine around town, but the screen will come into it's own when you head off down the motorway, the screen will be in your periferal vision but you will becme acustomed to that very quickly and it is worth the hassle as it really does make a huge difference. Good luck, and let us know.

Make way....make way....did somebody call? Dragstar screens eh? I understand there are some hardy souls amongst us who are able to withstand the hurricane type blasts of 70+ mph, but for us lesser beings it's an essential piece of kit. As for the fitment of said screen, well it all depends on so many variables I'm afraid. 1. Which screen have you got? 2. How tall are you (when sat aside your steed, you need to be looking over the screen. If you position it so that you are looking through the plastic, you will shit yourself when it starts to rain, Imagine being in a car with no windscreen wipers, it sort of happens with your visor down, but you can at least flick the visor up to have a glance at where you're going, you can't do that with the screen). 3. Aesthetics. I like the screen to follow the line of the forks, it just looks better to me. I have found that by positioning the screen around 1.5 inches from the headlight (all around) and lining the screen up with the forks, the top of the screen is about 2 inches below my line of sight when staring straight ahead (I'm 6'2" tall). This provides me with the maximum protection from the elements and directs the wind over my helmet with just a slight buffering right on the top of the lid. I'm not sure what if any help this might be as it really is a case of sucking it and seeing, but I would urge anyone without a screen on a dragstar to vigorously consider fitting one as the ride ability of your machine will be greatly improved. That said, I'm not going to be fitting a screen to my Harley as in my opinion, it just wouldn't look the part, the dragstar looks like a small Heritage Softail with the screen on, but the sportster would just look Gay. Anyway, I'm off to be fed grapes by some gorgeous young thing whilst reclining on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle.

Well done chap! I can't help you on the bits for the 'cat, but get out and enjoy it before the winter sets in. Go careful and be lucky.

Well........technically, your question was not whether the XVS650 could be restricted 'that's all!!' The question you posed was as follows................... The question of whether the XVS650 can or cannot be restricted was perhaps misconstrude, when people talk of restricting bikes they usually mean restricting the power output to 33bhp, which in this case is clearly irrelevent, because as a holder of no more than a CBT certificate you are not in possesion of a licence which will enable you to ride the 650 regardless of it's power output. The law clearly states that as a learner rider you are restricted to a machine of no more than 125cc which is capable of producing no more than 11Kw. You state that it is your intetion to take the Direct Acsess licence, which again makes the whole restriction debate irrelevent as once you become licenced through that route, you will have full acsess to any size machine you care to purchase (personally, I would steer clear of the XVS650 as it really isn't man enough for the job in hand, but that's personal preference). As for this being a tough forum, I think you may have just run up against some of the more prickly residents and asked a smewhat daft question so I hope that this thread hasn't tainted your veiw too much.

I loved my old classic, it is far and away a much better bike than the Custom, just look at the class of riders who choose the classic.....ME! A few months back someone else was looking for a fuel cap, they had no luck finding a pattern part so I enquired whilst I was at the local Yamaha dealer. They are still availible but will cost you £99.00!

Well?????????????

Yeah agreed, a third party wouldn't stand much chance in a 100mph+ incident no matter what they were driving, but I guess these people think if it comes on top they will be the only casualty.

No, definately MPH! http://www.encyde.se/forum/archive.php?topic=500.0 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/262430/Terrfying-death-race-at-186mph.html

Yeah I know, but I saw 175 on the speedo and I'm sure that's mph. Daft bastard, he'll never get good fuel economy or tyre life riding like that!

Hey Shaun, you need to get yourself fully licenced then you can come and play properly! Have a look at this That's Ttaskmaster on his way to work, he got halfway there and remembered he'd forgotten his sandwiches so had to gun it so as not to be late!

No you don't need to remove the cover, the shaft just slides out as you take the rear wheel out. You will need quite a lot of height as the rear wheel will have to be pulled out under the mudgaurg, (eaisier on the Custom than it is on the Classic) and be ready to catch the drive shaft as it comes loose from the gearbox, it will pivot down and hit the floor/ your shin/ bollox or anything else that gets in the way Putting the wheel assy back into the frame is best done with help, getting the shaft in the right place isn't difficult but two people makes the job easier. PS. whilst you have the rear wheel out, remember to check the wheel bearings, last time I had a tyre changed I found that although the bearing itself was fine, it had begun to spin in the bearing housing (Shit soft alloy) which if left would have caused....well not really worth thinking about! The remedy was a couple of well placed centre punch dots a liberal dose of locktite type stuff. As for oil and filters.........I always used a semi synthetic 10w/40, no specific brand, but always genuine filters. The Yamaha oil filter was £22.00 as oposed to a chinese copy off the net for £2.30.........maybe the copy filter was as good as the Yamaha version, but I seriously doubt it and certainly wouldn't want to risk it for a score!

or interesting!