Yamaha V Star Custom reviews

I own a 2003 V Star Custom and I have 5100 miles on it. I bought the bike new as a left over. The bike is all I need. It has good pick and handles good. I live in New England and it handles the mountain roads very well, you need to shift more. The back tire is one of the biggest, even the new Harley Sportster has a smaller tire. Bike is great at 55 to 60, you can do this all day long. The negative so far has been a replacement of the fork seals at 3,000 miles at a cost of $225, the 500 mile check up which includes valve adjustment came to $310. The maintenance schedule call for valve adjustment every 4,000 miles. I tried to have Yamaha pick up some of the cost of the fork seals as I told them that they were either put in wrong at the factory or the seals themselves were bad, no luck. If the bike truly needs valve adjustment every 4,000 mles this is going to be an expensive bike to own. I have retired and plan to do a lot more riding. The dealer here gets about $200 to adjust the valves. Love the bike but I have owned other bikes where the valve adjustments were every 10,000 miles. They were not V twins. I am going to listen carefully to the valves and see if I can go to 7,000. To date I have spent over $500 dollars and have 5,100 miles on the bike and if I do the valves it will go up to $725. This seems a little high. I should have checked the maintenance schedule before I purchased the bike. I have some good manuals. I am thinking of adjusting the valves myself, this could be a bad idea. Have fun out there. Show less

Best all around motorcycle I have ever owned and I have owned a lot of motorcycles even larger. With 69,000 miles it still runs like the day it was new and as smooth as can be and I cruise the highways two up at 85 MPH plus. Except for general maintenance and regular tune-ups I have not had to replace anything and this honey starts with the touch of button and awesome to ride anywhere. This is one of the most under rated motorcycles to most people and I wouldn't be shocked if this motorcycle gets 200,000 plus miles. It might not be the fastest quarter mile bike but very reliable and the babes love it, I call it the babe magnet without question and great on gas 55 MPG Plus. Very light weight at 484 LBS. dry, very easy to handle and a pleasure to drive 500 plus mile per days with the Mustang seat. You can never go wrong buying one of these Yamaha V Star Customs they are built to last and a complete joy to drive anywhere, pure fun and joy that I will treasure always, thanks Yamaha! Show less

I am excited to say I got my 2003 v-star custom with only 310 miles on it last week and before I even had my license. Thank- goodness I passed the BRC. don't have much to report on it. But when I first sat on it I knew it was the one for me..plus the color was perfect....I got the purple. Had to keep it in the star family. My better half has a 2005 tour deluxe that could out do a harley in looks and value any day... Be safe. Show less

I bought a 2003 650 custom with 1600 miles on it. The dealer had done the tune up. She rides very well, nice sound and comfortable. The longer rides tend to leave my rear end a little sore. I have yet to get used to the foot peg placement which I find a little awkward but all in all it is comfortable. Once the wife gets her motorcycle safety course completed I think she will get this bike and I'll move up to an 1100 but I will be staying with the V Star family. Show less

I bought a 2003 V-Star in August 2003. I traded in my Suzuki Marauder 800 and have not regretted it a single bit. There are those that complain about the speed, or lack of, on the V. If that is the case, buy a Warrior! My V-Star carried my wife and myself home from Little Rock at speeds of 75-85 miles per hour the whole trip and never missed a beat and this is about a 100-mile trip. If you're looking for a reliable cruiser, and that's what it is, a CRUISER, you can't go wrong with the V. Show less

There really isn't much I can say that experiencing for yourself won't tell you. I compared a lot of different bikes and finally chose the 1100 XVS custom.When we traded up from our 750 it's like day and night. just like the shoe says you just gotta do it." Show less

I don't know what I did to my bike to make it run as good as it does but it does go. I read other reviews and people aren't extremely pleased with it but I am happy with mine. Some people also say that they can only do 90-95 miles an hour but my V-Star will run 105. But the bike has great ergos and is comfortable for miles and miles. The only complaint I have about it is that the pegs hit the ground rather quick when I lean it hard into a corner. It is also very pleasing to onlookers because of the color I chose which was deep purple and it makes heads turn, I get a lot of request from girls about giving them rides and the passenger seat has seen plenty of passengers. The only thing I have changed to my bike was the air filter and that was all. It now breathes more freely thanks to a K&N. It also looks great in the sun and going down the highway and when I want it to it will light up the rear tire with the flick of my wrist. It would be a great first bike for anyone who wants to get into this sport and learn. Show less

I have owned my 650 Custom for almost 6 months and 4600 miles. I may want a larger cc bike, but I don't know why except for ego. I want to ride an 1100 or 1300 just to see what the difference in ride might be. On Sat. & Sunday I rode from S. West GA. to N.C., 890 miles round trip. Travelled secondary roads 50% and interstates 50%. The bike performed very well at all speeds, including 80 mph on some stretches of interstates. Averaged for the trip 46 mpg. No mechanical problems, just a small amount of air loss in the tires. Oil level was the same as when I left. Yes, I want a Harley and I will own one in the near future. But for the money, this is a great great bike. I would recommend it very highly to anyone 5' to 5'9" tall, less than 200 lbs, or just getting into biking like I did last May. 5 stars all the way. Happy Safe Riding Show less

I've had 4or 5 other bikes all diff. brands. This is a great bike just big enough for cruising, on those great back roads, or a trip to the store. The only thing I had done was changed the exhaust and had the carb.jetted. That made a HUGE differnce in performance. I would buy another in a heart beat. Show less

My husband bought me a Yamaha 650 Vstar Custom as a gift, I am a beginner and have only been riding for about two months, I make a lot of mistakes and this bike has been so forgiving of me, In practicing for the skills test to obtain my class CM license, I tried using a smaller bike and found that I was able to ride the test course better on my Vstar, so took and passed the test on it, I would highly recommend any woman looking for a beginner bike to consider the Vstar, Show less