vstar 1100 ?

[hammerinjim]

I'm looking for a bigger cruiser, and finding lots of vstar 1100's out there. A friend of mine had one and had lots of problems with his in the first 10,000 miles - so many that he unloaded it. I'm wondering if this is common, or he just had a lemon.

[awsmsrv]

I had one for a year & a half & put 14,000 miles on it. Traded it in for my 2006 RSV. Never had any problems with the V Star.

[hammerinjim]

Thanks for your response. Hope you get to ride these fabulous roads on the east coast some day!

[aharbi]

I have a 2005 V-Star 1100. It has never let me down. Its my favorite mid size flower-sniffin cruiser. I can ride it all day long doing 50mph getting 50mpg. Its "old tech" carbs, coils, shaft drive, no gas gage (watch the tripmeter), easy to work on. Its a fun bike. I've taken it on several 1,000+ miles overnight rides.

[Beau-Kat]

I've had 750 and 535 Viragos and a VStar 650. Liked them all. The 650's rear pinion-driveshaft teeth stripped because of poor lubrication. Had to replace the entire differential. But, the 1100s don't have that problem because that area on them is lubed by diff fluid.

We sold the VStar 650 a couple months ago with 16,500 miles on it. Now, after the new owner put on about 750 miles over this very hot summer here in South Carolina, it's back in my shop with a failed pickup coil. Verified by testing ohms. Spec is 188-220 ohms. I read infinite, or open, for this one.

I googled the problem and seems it is a common problem on VStar 1100s and 650s.

Fortunately, this 650 is a 2002 model and I ordered the pickup coil by itself. I understand owners of models 2004 and up (I think) can only order the pickup coil and stator combo, which is pretty expensive. Don't know if the same combo purchase is required for an 1100.

Just something that may be worth the research.

[hammerinjim]

Thanks to everyone that commented.

 

I finally got to ride the 1100 vstar Saturday. Plenty of power, but this one handled funny, so I kept looking and found what seems to be a great bike, and a good fit for me in a 2003 honda shadow saber.

[aharbi]

Honda shadows have always been bullet proof. No valve adjustments! Shaft drive, carbs.