Yamaha XV Bikes

firebane

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What is the general consensus on these bikes? I am looking at a couple bikes this spring and they have shown up on my radar.

One is a untouched xv750 with lots of possibilities and another is a xv920 already modded but has starter issues which I know about.

My concerrn is around the power delivery of these bikes. I am familiar with riding twins but not in this cc category.
 
Great low end torque, they all have starter issues, but it’s not too bad if you have a good battery and it’s tuned right.


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After riding these for roughly 15 years: They can be made to perform, but especially in the states you're better off with a sportster and buying a Buell engine or Screaming eagle parts as it's a lot less hassle.

Strictly speaking: a 750 is a slug, a 920/981 can be made to perform quite decently and once you're into an 1100 engine with 700 or 750 heads to bump up the compression, a home made exhaust, different carbs and a programmable ignition, you're hopefully someone, who can do all this alone or you could easily have bought something nice. But at least then it's finally at the kind of horse power the factory claimed for a TR1 (981cc XV1000).

I've been working on building a genuine 90hp engine for about six months now and there's not a lot of stock XV left...

Generally speaking, they are nice poser bikes or in stock form good commuters. The starter system s*cks, so if you really everyday it, you should have a spare starter and starter-clutch (if you're running Gen2) at home and one in the office.

Oh and unless this may not sound like it: I love mine and have nearly done 100,000mls on it. But unless you're so deadly spent on them (I probably have parts kicking about in the workshop worth two grand or more), look somewhere else and get something that works from the get-go or you'll most likely be disappointed.
 
der_nanno said:
After riding these for roughly 15 years: They can be made to perform, but especially in the states you're better off with a sportster and buying a Buell engine or Screaming eagle parts as it's a lot less hassle.

Strictly speaking: a 750 is a slug, a 920/981 can be made to perform quite decently and once you're into an 1100 engine with 700 or 750 heads to bump up the compression, a home made exhaust, different carbs and a programmable ignition, you're hopefully someone, who can do all this alone or you could easily have bought something nice. But at least then it's finally at the kind of horse power the factory claimed for a TR1 (981cc XV1000).

I've been working on building a genuine 90hp engine for about six months now and there's not a lot of stock XV left...

Generally speaking, they are nice poser bikes or in stock form good commuters. The starter system s*cks, so if you really everyday it, you should have a spare starter and starter-clutch (if you're running Gen2) at home and one in the office.

Oh and unless this may not sound like it: I love mine and have nearly done 100,000mls on it. But unless you're so deadly spent on them (I probably have parts kicking about in the workshop worth two grand or more), look somewhere else and get something that works from the get-go or you'll most likely be disappointed.

This is what I thought. It seems though people love them that they aren't really a great bike. Will be thinking on it and doing more searching.
 
Have a look at my blog and follow the "TR1" tagged posts, that'll give you a good idea, what I did in the last two years to my own TR1 to keep it on the road as an admittedly heavily used daily and my Turbo TR1 to get that towards competitiveness.
 
I can’t attest for any other types of bike, my Virago is the first and only bike I’ve had for 6 years and the only time it’s let me down: a ground came unplugged.

Other than that, 100% bulletproof and I kick the crap out of it everyday. It was originally a 82 750, put a 85 1000 motor from a VERY rough parts bike.. super reliable, just know the tricks to make the starter a smaller problem.
 
I love mine. Good daily rider with a decent amount of power. Of course mine is only a mildly modified 1100. I did want to change it up a heap but the 1100 is best left as a cruiser unless you engine swap the standard XV frame.
 

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Another way to approach the question is to start from a different spot and ask what you want from a bike - or from this bike in particular.

Most bikes built in the last decade or more are stone axe reliable and very capable of doing what they were designed to do. We (well speaking for myself here) tend to get caught in in wanting the most power from the lightest package that is easy to commute on and is as fast as we might ever want and looks cool as all get out. Most modern bikes fit that bill but very few old ones do, so we have to make compromises. In the real world we want lots of HP but we don't need a whole lot. We want killer state of the art brakes, but that's not what we need. We need brakes that are adequate for how we ride and the speeds we ride.

This is all about having fun and part of that fun is about being safe and comfortable and part of it is about feeling cool. If a Virago ticks those boxes for you, have at it.
 
teazer said:
Another way to approach the question is to start from a different spot and ask what you want from a bike - or from this bike in particular.

Most bikes built in the last decade or more are stone axe reliable and very capable of doing what they were designed to do. We (well speaking for myself here) tend to get caught in in wanting the most power from the lightest package that is easy to commute on and is as fast as we might ever want and looks cool as all get out. Most modern bikes fit that bill but very few old ones do, so we have to make compromises. In the real world we want lots of HP but we don't need a whole lot. We want killer state of the art brakes, but that's not what we need. We need brakes that are adequate for how we ride and the speeds we ride.

This is all about having fun and part of that fun is about being safe and comfortable and part of it is about feeling cool. If a Virago ticks those boxes for you, have at it.

I've ridden aot of different bikes and they all have provided something different. I know that bikes are not always a forever thing and my budget really dictates what I get into.

The one thing I know is that I don't want some thing or that lacks acceleration as my commute can involved a lot of roads that are high soeeds and need to feel comfortable doing so

I have no issues working or tinkering do things like the starter is no big deal to me. I just want to make sure that the bikes can provide that.

From what it sounds I would be better off with a 920 vs the 750 if I went this route.
 
920 and check out Nanno's blog. So many tips regarding how to get these bike moving well are on there.
 
I have a TR1 and previous bike was a SV1000S and FZR600R before that. The TR1 is obviously much less powerful, but I actually find it has plenty of power for acceleration. It’s top speed is much lower and I think I would find it lacking (and wanting a sixth speed) for long commutes (used to do 2x110km a day to work on the Suzuki and FZR much of the time at 140-150km/h), but for driving around town it’s great.


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TR1 is the European 981cc version of the chain-drive XV920R. Other than that it has the gen 2 starter system and that's pretty much it.
 
Well not sure if it will be around in time but a xv920 just popped up that is a chain drive. If its around I will be checking it out. It had at least 52,000km on it says the PO and the starter issue unfortunately.
 
der_nanno said:
TR1 is the European 981cc version of the chain-drive XV920R. Other than that it has the gen 2 starter system and that's pretty much it.

As a curiosity, the bike I have that was used for magazine reviews, is a 981cc with gen 1 starter.


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