Old News 2005

28th October 05     UK Bikes in Dutch VSCN magazine.

Picture of the front and rear magazine covers of the Virago Star Club, Nederland. The photo's were taken at the International rally held by the Outriders at Northampton this year.

Front cover (right) is Pete Saunders' XVS1100 from C12 Thames Valley Vultures .
Rear cover (left) is Darren Tibby's XV535 from C5 Yorkies.

Now they can both claim their bikes are 'internationally recognised'.......  Mal Tibby. VSOC #4580

24th July 05     XVS Torque Settings for Rear Drive

Just found out that there was a service bulletin about the XVS series bike that it appears many of the dealers did NOT get....

If you are replacing your REAR tire on the XVS1100,

PAY ATTENTION ! ! !

The Yamaha Service Shop manual, as well as Clymer's, and others, will tell you that when you replace the gear drive unit to the swing arm you should torque the 4 gearbox mounting bolts to 90Nm (Newton Meters) or 65 FT Lbs. DON'T DO IT ! ! If you go by those specs you will most likely strip the mounting bolt holes in the gear drive housing and cost yourself about $480.00 PLUS labour for the replacement! ! !

Ask me how I know? I just blew the gear drive on my 2002 away by following the Yamaha service manual! LUCKILY, since I am a retired mechanic, as well as former Yamaha Dealership manager, and with the help of the local "official" dealer, the entire job is being covered by the warranty!

SO, EVERYONE!! Get out your service manuals and CHANGE THE NUMBERS on the torque specs on the 4 bolts that hold the gear drive housing to the swing arm....the CORRECT SPEC IS 51ft lbs. This is right from the mouth of Yamaha and their "clandestine" service manual update bulletins!! !

BTW...The cost of a new final drive section in the UK is £816. I know, I've just done this to mine!!!!!!!!!

(Forwarded from Gyrodek )

14th May  05     Bought a Bike and took it to Spain

Hi. Just out of interest... last week I bought a Virago 535 (1996) with just 1024 miles on the clock. I thought great cant go wrong !!!! Wrong!! I bought it in the UK on Ebay. Flew from Spain to Luton, picked up the bike & set off for Poole for the ferry.

Well it wouldn't go over 60mph - no guts, no pull. Smooth & didn't miss a beat, I thought, oh is it restricted?

As it was running ok otherwise I carried on 1200 miles to Alicante in Spain (2 days). So, finally got around to stripping off the carb - reason because of the low usage the pistons has seized in the carbs, God knows how I got home. But as they were really solid & so brittle I had to break them to remove them & then polish up the bores. New diaphragm assemblies & bingo - guts return & speed.

Moral of this story is little usage & low mileage isn't everything.

Happy & safe riding Bill Winterburn (billpatwinterburn@hotmail.com)

8th April 05     Reps! Having Trouble Keeping in Touch With Members?

If any Centre reps need a way of advising all their members of ride-outs or meets at short notice, I can recommend this sms service if they don't have "group sms" capability on their mobiles.

I use it for another bike club I'm a member of and we get 90% turn-out to events by using this communication medium. It also has a simple phone book, so you can sms individuals or whole groups and if they reply to a sms, it comes back as an email. You can buy message credits in banks of 150 and it keeps tabs on how many you've used and got left.

Info & free software at:- http://www.textmagic.co.uk (a Cambridge company)

regards

Martin (Centre 10)

7th April 05     New Kuryakyn Dealer on the Net - Very Good Prices!!

Hi. Some of you might remember me when I was associated with the club up to recently. I was an active member of Centre 17 and held the position of Webmaster and previous to that Membership Secretary.

I currently offer CD manuals at silly prices to VSOC members via your website.

I am a newly appointed Kuryakyn parts Dealer situated in the West Country and would like to offer your members the opportunity of purchasing these quality parts at prices that just will not be matched anywhere else. If you are not familiar with this manufacturer please see www.kuryakyn.com for their range.

I trade at the moment on the internet, mainly through Ebay, where I have met with some success, mainly with Harley-Davidson parts. Please view my auctions at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/FATBOYZDINER_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

If you are interested in pursuing this further please e-mail me at fatboyzdiner@blueyonder.co.uk with your contact details and I will send you a 2005 catalogue free of charge on the understanding that it remains the property of Fatboyzdiner and will be used as a reference for ordering parts from me.

I keep a limited stock of these parts for Viragos/Dragstars/Wildstars at present, with more stock arriving weekly. Anything not in stock can be obtained normally within one week.

Regards,

Phil Hodges