I never really considered. Like most of you, I used to ride when I was in my teens. Raced Motorcross bikes semi-Professional. Had a couple of street bikes and then got married and sold the bikes. When I turned 40 (14 years ago) I got the bug again and always wanted a HD so I bought a new 883 Sportster. That was before it had a rubber mounted engine. I sold it in four months. Then I bought a new Suzuki M50, then another new HD FXDL (lowrider), sold it and then a Royal Star Tour Deluxe and traded it for my my R*. I liked the HD look without the HD cost and ride. My Low rider did not impress me. It was ok for short runs around town but not for any long rides. I supposed if I had the $$$ to burn, I would get a HD EVO Electra Glide or a Gold Wing to cruise on and maybe Honda ST 1300 or a FJR or wide glide to scoot around town on. I'm really curious to see what Yamaha is going to come up with to replace the Venture! Maybe a Stratoliner with all the goodies now that's what I would want!

I figured I'd end up with a Harley ( I drool over Road Kings) since the hubby has a Heritage that is really nice...

We were kinda looking around for a decent priced bike for me, but honestly never thought Id get one for a year or two. Especially since I'm brand new to riding and could get used to handling a bike on the back roads around our house with the hubby's bike to ensure I liked riding enough to own a bike.

Well, one weekend we went looking for a manual cruise control thing for the hubs, we stopped at one of the Yami dealers around here and my beauty was sitting there...needless to say, I bought her within an hour. While doing the paperwork, there were a few other people that tried to buy her.

The two-tone classic look is what I love, none of the hi-tech stuff is really for me.

The 1700 may be a bit big of a bike to learn on, but I know my limits and use her only to what I'm comfortable with. She'll grow with me, instead of needing to be replaced in a year or two.

Koolau, you can turn your RoadStar into a RoadKing easily...HardBags and Fairing and Stereo/Radio



and to keep it in line with the subject matter...
I was going to buy my brother-in-laws Heritage Softtail ( 1985 ) when I saw my Roadstar ( 2003 2 Tone Indigo Silverado ). That was all she wrote!!! At the time I was riding a 1985 1000 Virago ( the gold and Chrome edition ) and a Honda CB 750

I was riding a new 08 Suzuki Boulevard when I spotted the 07 Roadstar silverado, it was a year older, but brand new and closed out @ $9999.

Bought a 2001 VStar 1100 as my first bike. Put 14K miles on it and sold it for the same price I bought it for. Was looking to step up to a little bit bigger bike. Checked out the Harley's, took some test rides, no hot-dogs (never know what they put in those ones). Read some reviews of the R* vs the FatBoy. Found a deal online which I couldn't pass up on a brand new 2007 leftover. I've never looked back. I really don't care for the looks or specs of the Hondas, Kawasaki's or Suzukis much at the time. Price and reliability was a factor besides overall looks. A day doesn't go by that I look at the R* and wish "what if". I like it just fine thank you.

GNR wrote:
RoadStarRider07 wrote:
I was all set to buy a '98 Moto Guzzi California Special with only 9000 miles on it when I came across a brand new year old Road Star Midnight Silverado for $8999 on the 'net. I owned a Yamaha XS 850 for 25 years as well as other Yamaha products and was familiar with the durability that Yamaha is famous for so I drove 250 miles to the dealer in the Twin Cities and bought the Road Star w/o even taking it, or any other Road Star, for a a test ride. I knew I was getting a great deal and that Yamaha made a great bike so I hauled her home, then took a test ride. I've been very happy with my decision from the first time I let out the clutch.

Do you mind me asking what dealer that was?

Has anyone seen any deals like that advertised lately?

It was Heinen's in Osseo. I don't know if they still have deals as good as the one I got or not. I was at a Yamaha dealer in Des Moines today, they had some leftover bikes that were marked down but not to the extent that mine was. I was told I got such a good deal on mine because it was an '07, the last year of carbed models, and the '09's were ready to hit the dealers so it was in effect 2 models years old but still in the crate.

Great topic!

Everyone here is talking about the cost of HD, what about the LACK of ingenuity?!?! Anytime I pass a bike on the side of the road I think “ahh poor guy bought a Harley”. It cracks me up how it’s always “that was the way it was in the AMF days…they are solid now” ROTFL!!! UH yeah read the PERSONAL accounts of people that are not in denial and have come to terms with buyer’s remorse. My father in-law had an 02 or 03, he BARLEY got it off the lot before he had to get it towed back to the shop.
Needless to say I did NOT consider a Harley AT ALL, not because of the price because they are CRAP!! And people that give me the BS line of they are made in American are full of booshe.
Stepping off the box, it was between a nomad, voyager, venture, tour deluxe and a roadstar. Venture was out because it just seemed dated, tour deluxe was right behind it (don’t like the 1300 v-4 they put in the royalstar line). So it was down to the nomad and the roadstar. Did not even get a chance to test out a nomad or voyager, found my 99 roadie on craigslist and instantly fell in love. It was DIRTY NASTY and needed tuned but you could just tell, THIS is a machine!!! Don’t remember who said it, but if I hear one more person call my bike a yamaharley or say “wow that sounds like a Harley” I will scream. My reply is always “Dang!! And here I thought it sounded/looked good”

ConnerNA wrote:
Don’t remember who said it, but if I hear one more person call my bike a yamaharley or say “wow that sounds like a Harley” I will scream. My reply is always “Dang!! And here I thought it sounded/looked good”

used to crack me up people like what year Harley is that lol...

I used to desert race in California years ago on a 400 KTM, a great ride. I also owned a Yamaha 250 Enduro for the street. License? What license?. Anyway sold them both and got married, divorced, remarried and years later moved to Az while commuting to Cali.
I was looking to offset high gas prices with a motorcycle so I took the MSF class to get back into riding after 20 years away in order to rent bikes and to see what bike I wanted. On vacation in Hawaii, we rented an HD Road King and an HD Heritage Classic. Pretty good rides, but small framed, small power with clunky trannies and plenty of fishtailing goin' on out back, not a fan of the "brand".
Read some great reviews on the 1700 R* Silverado and was planning to get one in 06. During Christmas 2005, my FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL wife tosses me a set of keys to a new 06 1700 R* Pearl White Silverado sitting on our driveway

A great bike, a great choice and a great commuter.

After learning to ride in '65, growing up on a farm it was always dirt bikes, for transport, not for play. I always wanted a cruiser, but living on dirt roads ruled that out.
Moving to Cape Town in '03, I was finally able to get a cruiser, but limited funds led me to a '95 Shadow 1100 Ace - what a fantastic bike! That I had for two years and put 40k miles on it!During that time I realised that:

1. I needed more leg room
2. I didn't want a watercooled bike

I had a long hard look at the Harleys, and rode them all. Great bikes, wonderful after sales and customer service, love their leathers and stuff, pretty expensive, but the bottom line was -
Not quite enough leg room.

I looked at the Triumphs, the Speedmaster & Bonnie America were to small in leg room and displacement, and the Rocket was too dear.

Then I saw, and sat on a year old R*. Fit me just right.

I still came to this site and R* riders and did my research - just as well I did. I made sure with the stealer that if I got SVS, he would do the mods required to get rid of it, which is exactly what happened!

I have slowly turned my R* into an Ultra* for those long trips, and am completing custom work on my "inherited" BMW R1200C - which I will probably sell back to my son, and buy another R* to have as an aped bobber for short hop riding.