Motorcycle Forum banner

1996 Yamaha virago 535

22K views 28 replies 7 participants last post by  starguard 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Personally I would avoid buying any bike on ebay. Go the craigslist route and take your time checking things out instead of being stuck in a time crunch and not meeting a reserve on an auction if you don't bid high enough. Also I would recommend a V-Star 650 over the Virago 535 as they worked the bugs out on the 650 V-Star
 
#4 ·
My friend has a 535 virago as he's first bike. Pros are low seat height, good gas mileage, he finds that the sweet spot of the bike comes between 45-55. Cons are small gas tank and a longer trip at thruway or highways speeds (70-75) it becomes uncomfortable very quickly.

The bike your looking at itself looks very nice. The mileage on the bike is low to for the year. But you are buying it off e-bay so you cant look at it before you put up your bid. It might look good in pictures but you don't know how it sounds or if you will be a good fit for it. I do agree with Jesterrace craigslist is a better option for buying a bike. Or if you can find a shop that deals in used bikes to. I only basing this on my friends opinion of his own bike.
 
#5 ·
well what happened was, i emailed the seller, and asked him if we could talk via email, since he's local he agreed to let me come see the bike, and would make a deal with me outside of ebay, so i went and saw the bike today, its in excellent shape, and he had forward controls put on it to give 4 more inches of leg room, also added harley rear shocks (so he says), but I wouldnt know the different, anyways, my dad rode it, and went through the gears and gave it an ok, just seeing if there was any further opinions on it
 
#16 ·
My V-Star has been getting around 50mph. Your bike should be getting better mileage, maybe.

There should be a valve under your take with three positions, Run, Off, Reserve. You should be cruising around in the "Run" position. When the bike starts to sputter, you move the valve to the "Reserve" position and start looking for a gas station. When you done filling up, move the valve back to the "Run" position. After about two or three tanks, you'll have a good idea how far you can go per tank.
 
#19 ·
Yea.. thats one of the drawbacks to the early Model Yamaha Virago's. From what I've read about them they have extremely small fuel tanks with a very limited range of travel :(

This was a major issue which lead to the development of its replacment called the V-Star. The V-Stars series bikes from what I was told have much bigger tanks and far better gas mileage.
 
#20 ·
After my last ride, I took it out again and got it up to 93 miles before bringing it in, and it didnt sputter this time. I read from other forums that it should have a fuel capacity of exactly 100 miles /160 Km before refueling is required.

Despite its limited range, I am really starting to grow very fond of this bike :wink:
 
#21 ·
100 miles? that is a horrible range. I thought that the Virago 250/V-Star 250 didn't have much range. The only thing worse than that is the 50cc Jog scooter that I used to have, it got 80MPG but had only a 3/4 Gallon tank. The Viragos are pretty bikes though (both the 250 and the 535).
 
#26 ·
Now that I've managed to ride this bike more often, I'm beginning to realize that its not as powerful as I first thought. I figured that a 535cc engine would be able to keep up with the biggest and baddest things out there. Its good for neighborhood riding, but on the expressway, it seems to only be good up to 55mph. From there things start to get very hairy. Some guy on a large cruiser bike waved me off at 55mph, then cruised right by me like I was standing still. Everyone else cruised right by me as well. Even the 18 wheel rigs did so.

I really like this bike alot (its my first one), but I feel that in the future, I can surely see myself passing this bike off to one of my younger relatives while searching for something bigger and far more powerful.
 
#28 · (Edited)
You know, I think I'm starting to understand this thing now...

I rode today for about 60+ miles on the main tank before it started sputtering again. I switched it to reserve and it ran normal again for about another 30+ miles before I reached the gas station!

This thing does have two tanks, (a main one underneath the bike, and a seperate reserve tank on top, right behind the handlebars)

When it starts to sputter, I flip it to "reserve" and it strarts running normal again. When I take it into the gas station and fill it up, only the top, or "reserve" tank gets filled all the way. I'm sure there is a hose under this tank that leads to "and feeds" the main tank on the bottom, but it takes quite a while for it to drain down there. Thats why if I leave the gas station with the gas switch turned to "ON" the bikes keeps stalling, but will run fine on reserve.

I believe I have to wait a while for the main tank to fill, then fill it up again for the reserve tank to fill.

Right now its Thunderstorming outside and I was forced to bring her in for the day. I'll take her back out tomorrow and see what happens!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top