Beau-Kat

This is the second Roadstar I've seen with that many miles. My other friend had a 1999 that he pulled two trailers with. We use to call it the wagon train. He pulled a "tag" trailer behind the bike. This trailer was really just a short tongue, an axle, and two wheels with a place for a 48 qt. cooler and two 2.5 gal gas cans (on a rack above the cooler) mounted directly over the axle. He then connected his bunkhouse behind that. This arrangement kept the tongue weight on his bike's trailer hitch low. He and his wife traveled all over the U.S. with that thing. He did break his frame at least once, maybe twice. He ended up putting 168,000 on that bike before he passed away.

Thanks for the suggestions. The owner said that he does have a switch bypass kit that he has yet to install. But I can't remember if he said it was for his RSV or the Roadstar. I thought of the tank possibly having venting problems, but that wasn't it. And I have already replaced all the fuel lines. I guess I'm going after electrical connections next. Even if I find something dumb that was right under my nose, that I could have kicked myself for overlooking, I'm still gonna be happy to get some resolution to this mess. Flustered!

OK. Here's the story. Owner is a friend of mine. I've known the owner and this bike over 10 years. Owner rode this bike daily and literally everywhere. He says bike has about 150-170 thousand miles on it. Good compression. A few years ago, he bought a (2005? the blue one) RSV and reported that this 2001 Roadstar sat up maybe the last 2 or so years. Key switch operation is sticky and must be jiggled a lot to turn. Just like some of our RSVs. Boot between carb and breather had not been sealing (3/16' gap in front lip of boot at carb) and let a lot of dust, crap etc. inside the carb throat. Installed a new boot and air filter. Thoroughly cleaned a lot of rust out of tank. Cleaned out all fuel lines. New aftermarket fuel pump and fuel pump filter. Cleaned petcock and installed new kit for that. Totally cleaned everything, every port, passage, jet etc. inside the carb. But inside of carb wasn't really gummed up. Float level and operation is fine. Had to free up the stuck slide. Inspected carb diaphragm. ok. Filled and drained the tank several times. Nothing but clear gas comes out now. Good flow. So, bike has nearly a full tank. Bike starts and idles fine. Ride it down the road with good acceleration. After anywhere from 10 to 25 miles, the bikes sputters and shuts down. Doesn't matter if petcock is "on" or on reserve. Sometimes the fuel gauge shows low. Fuel light is on. Key off then on. Gauges back to normal. Fuel pump operates as normal. Restarts. Runs maybe 1/2 mile with good acceleration, sputters and shuts down again. Real PIA. Note: I live in a hilly area. So, sometimes, I don't switch off the key if this happens going down a hill. Nearing the bottom of the hill with a little speed yet, I just pop the clutch and it fires off again. I've drained the tank and carb bowel and associated fuel lines several times, and removed the fuel pump filter and inspected flow there also. Believe the fuel system is good. So, anybody have any experience with this or heard of this happening on the Roadstars? Working on this bike as a favor and I wanna get this bike out of my garage. But also really want to make sure it is dependable.

Where I lived all my life until last spring, Berkeley County SC, deer season opens August 15th and closes Jan 1st. We use dogs to run 'em outa these thick woods and still have a ton of deer. Not monsters like in the midwest, but still enough to constantly wreak havoc on cars on the roads. Why open in August, when it's so crazy hot, I have no idea. But that's the way it has always been back home. Used to hunt a lot, but not at all in the last 10 or so years. Hope y'all are successful.

Been using different weights of Castrol in every engine I have had since I bought my first new VW Rabbit in 1980. As I remember, the car was made in Westmoreland PA and that's the oil that came in that car. Never had an oil related problem in any engine, car, truck, or bike.

P.S. I've owned my Max for almost 16 years. That was a brief period of discovering what my bike could do. I don't ride like that anymore. That was eons ago. And I haven't gotten a ticket since 1977.

Wow! Let me see if I can respond to some of your questions. If it doesn't wobble, consider that a very good thing. Yup on your old school techniques. You and I musta been in the same class somewhere. If it did wobble, there's this trick called the Furbur Fix where you remove the rubber washer under the steering head lock nut and replace it with a steel one. Just Google that to see what I'm talking about. The aftermarket fork brace will be cut straight across the front and rear ends and will be thick and flat on top. The stock one looks flimsier and kinda rounded front and rear. Most aftermarket braces have some sort of logo on them. The stock has no logo. I also prefer mid placement of the pegs on it and my '88 VR. Dual sporting on a 600 pound Max?? You gotta be "tetched in the hade". Might be fun 'til it falls on ya. I always replace my rear tire with another Bridgestone V rated like came on it. Probably are softer compound tires out there, but I like the mileage I get out of mine. Never dropped the pressure a whole lot for hooking up. I don't want too much bite so that you stand it straight up off the line. Also don't want to downright smoke the tire on launch, but do want it to spin a little bit to still leave the line well while at least skipping the front tire along the pavement. By third gear, it will be planted well. Never timed my bike in the quarter, just liked the way it launched either in second or with the Venture diff. Launching in first gear with the stock diff, you can get so busy hanging on and trying to keep the front end down that you'll be deep redlining before you can blink. Then miss second and you stand a good chance of screwing up your engine. Second gear or the Venture diff just make things more manageable. The bike's got a whole lotta OOOMPH! And I guarantee you, you won't miss any of the thrill! Never heard of anyone damaging their bike with the Venture gear. Drops your rpms 500 at highway speeds. The engine seems a bit less busy for cruising then. And it's still a thriller.

For a laugh.

Someone's using their noggin for something other than a hat rack! Great idea and thanks for posting it.

Did Crud hold a pretty true line at 132, or did ya get any wobble? Does Crud have the aftermarket fork brace? I've had my '98 since December of '99. I've had it to 135. Stable up to 110, but after that the dang thing wobbled so badly (common on these bikes with stock suspension) it would nearly buck me off. And be careful getting off the gas at those speeds. It can get wild on ya. Earlier this year I added the aftermarket fork brace and lowered the front an inch with the Progressive spring lowering kit. Hadn't had the opportunity to run it up past about 110 yet. Feels more stable so far. Hope it doesn't wobble above that now. Yeah, that V-Boost oughta be called V-GRIN! Here's bugs in yer teeth to ya. Have fun. P.S. If you're gonna race and want to leave the line hard, I'd leave the line in second gear. You got plenty of muscle under ya for that. Won't smoke the tire so bad and keeps the front planted fairly well. Plus you can stretch it out a bit before shifting. Try it. You'll like it. Or, you can do like I did and install a Venture diff. Better controlled launches, and better highway mileage too. But I moved to the mountains and don't do much highway anymore, so I've since re-installed the stock diff.

This is a good post for me to follow. Thanks for posting the question. Planning on putting my sidecar on the '88. So a car tire would work best for me there...I think.

I like my old VR a whole lot and can depend on it. I like the way it handles! But if you're gonna travel a lot, break downs are a bit easier to tolerate on a newer machine that you can more readily find parts for at repair shops. I usually take the Max or the MM if I am gonna tour and have a time schedule to be where I need to be. If I'm just out to get away and have some fun, I'll take the '88. But if you have a smart phone, ride that old Venture. You can always find help on this forum, pretty much wherever you may travel.

I have the Corbin seat and passenger backrest/sport rack on mine. My wife is petite, so the passenger seat wasn't so bad for her. But her knees did hurt a lot from the high position of the rear pegs. And I once sorta pulled a short wheelie (truly accidentally). No, she wasn't into that. But, hey, I think that did prompt her to finally get her own license and bike. So, maybe it was actually a good thing. I also moved the rear signals to the license plate bracket so I could tour with my RKA soft luggage. Touring on that thing still works out nice for me. Sometimes, I'll swap out the rear diff for one I have from an RSV. Drops the rpms about 500 cruising. Engine doesn't seem so busy then. And, it will still haul freight! You can also get 2" wider handle bars for it. I haven't done that yet, but would like the extra width, I'm sure. If I got a lot of crap to take touring, I'll just take one of the Ventures.

Rebuilt the slaves on my Vmax and MM. The cylinder bores were pretty clean and not too crapped up or damaged. So, so far so good. But it is a bit of a pain to do the job because you have to get that middle gear gasket too. Most folks would probably buy a new slave. In any case, it can take a while to bleed the system and get a full clutch handle back. Good luck.

Hah! Old man on a hot machine (just like me). Hat in yer mouth. Camera in yer hand. On the VBoost. Now that's a circus act. Ride on!!!

Probably go over well in places like Louisiana or Mississippi...for mosquito control. Other than that, I can't see a use for it.

Found this way back in my files that I saved when I was searching for a spark issue with my former 2002 vstar 650 Classic. Didn't know how to attach the word file. So here it is. Might be relevant, might not. Rusty VSTAR 650 NO SPARK Check the pickup coil. It determines when the 2 ignition coils should fire (1 coil per cylinder). The pickup is inside the engine. The 2 wires from the pickup coil exit your left side engine cover where the 3 white stator wires exit. The pickup coil connector is under the gas tank, near the seat. You might be able to get to the connector just by removing the 2 tank bolts and pivoting the tank up an inch or two. The connector only has 2 wires (the stator connector nearby has 3 white wires). Disconnect the pickup connector and measure the coil resistance. It should be 180-220 ohms. You measure the connector half that has the wire going back towards the seat.I bet your coil is open. Have experienced this myself. In fact, every 20k miles on this bike (have 40K now). Buy Honda . You need to check if your coil ground is constantly switching. Try to take the connector off the coil, jump power to the hot terminal, then arc the ground terminal to ground quickly. The plug should spark. If it does suspect your crank sensor or ignition module is going bad. Make sure your voltage at the positive terminal is maintaining its 10 to 12 volts with the coil grounded. If not your power side resistance is too high causing a voltage drop. I seriously doubt having the choke out caused it to die. Most carbs anymore have enriching circuits and at larger throttle openings don't make a bit of difference. If your bike is fuel injected, the "choke" is actually a fast idle control, nothing else. You might check the pickup coil, the thing that replaced the points 30 years ago. It should be on the end of the crankshaft and will most likely be a retangular shaped thing made of plastic with a little metal tit sticking out next to the crankshaft. I expect your bike has two, one for each plug. Once you've found it, pull the spark plugs out, plug them into the plug caps, make sure the metal portion of the plug is laying on metal, turn the ignition on (not start, just ignition) and with a flat screwdriver, momentarily touch the metal tit. When you touch and remove the the screwdriver, the plug should fire. If you have two pickups, one should fire one plug and the other one the remaining plug. Pickups are notorious for the insulation breaking down internally. They will work when cold, but stop when hot. Other times they die totally, but usually you'll get some missing as a warning a few days before they go. If your bike has two, I could see one failing but not both. If neither one fires a plug, you better check the wiring connections on the ignition system. If you wash your bike a lot or it sets in the rain, you could have corroded connections. If everything is ok, they it could be the cdi box. They seldom fail unless you've hooked the battery up backwards or something, but I guess it's possible for one to go bad on it's own. It's unlikely that both coils would go bad at the same time - so rule that out. If the ignition switch went bad, all of the electrics would go out - so rule that out. That would leave the pulse coil (on the engine), CDI, kill switch (handlebar switch), side stand switch, or wiring (broken wire or unplugged connector). All of which will have to be tested - there's no simple answer. I would check the side stand switch first. Check for spark with it unplugged, then check for spark with it still unplugged and jump the 2 wires together on the wire harness side (I forget which way it works). Update/question: So took the bike into the shop: stator was the problem. They tested all the fuses and connections, kickstand switch etc. Replaced the plugs and the stator assembly. Hurray - starts and runs like a new bike. Only $600 some bucks down the tubes... Now for the question: Since getting the bike back, I'm having (possible) carb issues. Bike starts, runs, idles fine. However; I can't get it to go over about 65 mph. Just won't rev high enough in top gear; low end is ok, but the top end just has no power. Any ideas? Obviously it could be a plugged main jet - not sure where that would have come from, but I've run two tanks of gas through it, one with sea-foam and one with some other injector cleaner, it got incrementally better, but nothing to write home about. Any chance when the replaced the tank they pinched the vacuum line? Would that cause a similar issue? Any other thoughts? I'm not a carb guru - pretty much stay out of those complicated things, and a pain in the neck to get off of the 650 to clean or tear apart. Suggestions? Test the coil like this. You have a power lead and a low side looking fior a ground. figure out which is which then with key on ground the low side. every time it touches ground you should get a spark. It's that lead being grounded that collapses the field and induces the power for spark. This grounding is done through the CDI box. The Capacitor (the C in CDI) allows the field to collapse faster thereby inducing more power to the plug. If when you ground this wire it sparks i'd look in between the CDI and the coil for damaged wiring, Zerozzen, The pick-up coil is not the pair of spark coils. It's more of a Hall-Effect sensor. It sits next to the crank with the stator coil. They are sold together now as one piece. But if you look at an older model you can buy the pick-up coil separately and splice it in. Most Yamaha shops will do this for you if you are so inclined. Anyone have any experience or concerns installing an aftermarket pick up coil? I think I have isolated my no start / spark issue to a bad pick up coil. I thought I could save a few bucks with this one I found on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/290680556988...84.m1438.l2649 This is a pick up coil only part without the connector. I will obviously have to splice into the oem wire and utilize the old connector. I'm a little concerned about any potential oil leaks. I'm assuming I'll have to fish the wiresfrom the new pick up coil through the rubber grommet/connector and make the splice outside the case. ??? I wish I could have found something like that a few years ago when I had my 650. I bought a used stator off ebay and after tearing the bike 1/2 apart and putting in the used part I was good for almost a week before THAT one failed! I ended up buying a new stator from Babbitsonline and was back in business. Lots of good tech info to be had at http://www.650ccnd.com to help you out! I don't remember the specifics, but I know on some models (pre 2005?) you can buy just the pick up coil, but the later models it was part of the stator assembly. At 39 bucks, it's sure worth a roll of the dice! Let us know how it turns out for you.

Thanks for the update, Skid. Praying for ya here too. Rusty

P.S. Be careful changing the oil. Easy to strip the bolts. Luckily, I never stripped mine. And, buy a spoke wrench and check your spokes occasionally.

Yup. Same problems here. I had mine for 10 years. Pinion teeth stripped at 11000 miles ($500 for new rear diff w/o labor). Maintained it well and put about 16000 total miles on it then sold it to a friend and told him I'd still maintain it for him. He rode only 700 miles and the pickup coil went out. He bought the part and I replaced it for him. We moved so I haven't been in contact since. He has my number, and hasn't called, so I guess all is well. On the bright side, the carbs are very easy to service while still on the bike.

Not sure on that one.

Thought this was cool. Until the comment about the gearbox alteration broke my budget. Ha! http://thekneeslider.com/yamaha-vmax-powered-t-bucket/

Funny. Don't know why the link won't work for you. I just clicked on that link and it worked for me. Maybe if you cut and paste the url into your browser. Anyway, I'll be interested in what you will end up finding out about your bike.

Check out this link. But I didn't read it all the way through. Maybe there's something in there for ya. http://www.starbikeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12250

Good info. Thanks.