Virago fixer upper - comments?

[PEIslander]

Hey all,

 

I may be able to pick up an old 1100 Virago with starter and carb issues. Has new rear shocks, battery and solenoid. I am looking at it as a winter project and will sell it come spring. What sort of problems do these bikes have besides starter issues? Any comments or advice is welcome.

 

Rick

[Orrin]

Depending on the year, starter is only major problem I can think of. There are some Virago tech forums you might want to check out. I had a 95 Virago 1100. Liked the bike a lot, but sold it and made money. These bikes are ROCK solid good hadling bikes and lots of fun. They have a big following and you should not have any trouble selling it. I would go for it if the price is right.

[RedRider]

Hey all,

 

I may be able to pick up an old 1100 Virago with starter and carb issues. Has new rear shocks, battery and solenoid. I am looking at it as a winter project and will sell it come spring. What sort of problems do these bikes have besides starter issues? Any comments or advice is welcome.

 

Rick

 

I picked up a Virago 750 for my son to ride this fall. The starter is noisy, but works fine. They are a little cold blooded, so use the chock for longer than with your Venture.

 

There is a Virago website that has decent information. I don't have the link on this computer, but it is an easy Google.

 

Have fun working on it. Parts are easy to get.

 

RR

[gibvel]

http://viragotechforum.com/phpBB/index.php

[rod]

Some of the old Viragos had Hitachi carbs and parts are hard to come by for these. The good news is a good cleaning will usually solve the problems. There are several fixes for the starter on Viragotech forum. Bad solder joints on the TCI are a problem with some older Viragos but they can be fixed most of the time. Good luck Rod

[yamahamer]

ROAD ONE FOR YEARS AND STARTER WAS ONLY PROBLEM I EVER HADE. VERY FUN BIKES TO RIDE. SOLD MINE TO A FRIEND AT WORK FOR HIS WIFE 2 YEARS AGO STILL RUNNING STRONG.

[PEIslander]

I'll be checking out the bike on the weekend and will go from there. The owner isn't mechanical and has had it to a couple of shops for service and he hasn't wanted to spend much $$$ on it. It sounds like he doesn't have the support of the 'other half ' and wants to cut his losses.

:cool10:May be bad news for him and good news for me.

Rick

[Eddy]

My wife has a 94 750 cc Virago with 26,000 miles on it and it runs great. I wouldn't be a bit afraid of it!!!

Eddie:cool10:

[Bartley]

Had a 1984 Virago 1000 with all the fancy gold trim & stuff. Sold it last year with 72000 miles on it. The only major thing I did on it was pull the carbs and had them cleaned at 60k. Other than that, just swapped out the plugs every few years, regular oil changes with the cheapest 10/40 M/C oil I could find. The stock mufflers rotted out so I threw on a set of Samsons I bought off ebay. The bike ran like a scalded dog. Never used a drop of oil. Both my sons learned how to ride on that bike and one was still using it alot the last number of years. The only reason he sold it was because of the small tank...pity. He liked touring, and the tank was just tooooo small. But what a great bike it was..and still is. He sold it to a girl. She loves it and it still runs great!

[SilvrT]

I read the title of this thread and thought it said Viagra fixer upper. Gawd...even my eyes are goin dyslexic!