Hello all....

I have been lurking on the forum for awhile and reading all i can about the roadstar. My wife has finally given me the go ahead for a new bike as soon as we are done with the kids christmas. Right now i ride a 2002 honda shadow 750 ace, and while it's been a great bike for the last few years...alas i want something bigger for the superslab. While at a yamaha dealer the other day i ran across a used roadstar 1700 that i just fell in love with, but i have a few questions. When he cranked it up the whole bike was shaking....I mean i'm used to shaking on my ace but the whole rear fender and even the front tire was shaking like crazy!...is this normal? Also 1600 vs. 1700 whats the differences? I guess what i'm really looking for is all the gory details of owning this bike...the good..the bad and the ugly...lol. I've narrowed my selection down to either the roadstar or the kawasaki vulcan 1600. If anyone has owned both...please let me hear about it! Also I've read about sticking valves on these bikes....should that be a dealbreaker? Does it happen on all models?.. How many mile will they run...etc....etc...etc. Any and all info would be appreciated so i can make an educated decision when purchase time comes......I just think no bike looks or sounds better than the roadstar and really want this to be my next bike.

sorry for the long post.....

Just DO it!

I've have my '01 1600 for little better than 3 years. I can't get enough of it. I've probably done about 15 mods to it as a result of this site.

There are no issues with it. They shake some at idle, and have just the right amount of vibes while riding it. They're engineered in. It's part of the intentional persona Yami created for it.

The looks can't be beat. No other manufacturer outside of Milwaukee makes a better looking bike. The other Japanese makers missed the mark by a wide margin.

R*s rule! Everyone agreed?

+1 Great bike with a good track record and tons of support.

The Road Star motor is a single pin crank v-twin: It's gonna vibrate a bit. Without seeing just how much the bike you saw running was shaking makes it difficult to say if it's excessive or not. Curious as to what year the bike was.

I own a '04 1700 and if I'd known a bit more about the difference in the 16 00/1700 bikes I would have been looking for an '05 or newer model. Several reasons for this. A couple are: More robust charging/electrical system on the later models and the possibility of SVS being less in the newer ones.

That said, I have had nothing but great performance and durability out of my ride. It doesn't leak, smoke or sputter(well, a little if I goose the throttle). The bike runs strong and the vibration smooths out considerably at highway speeds.

Do the maintenance as you should and you'll get many, MANY miles out of a Road Star. I've heard of more than a few bikes going well over 100K miles with no major rebuilds. A huge plus for most folks is the large amount of aftermarket parts out there so you can trick it out or alter it to make it exactly what you want it to be.

I'm sure others will chime in, but now you've got a starting place with my .02!

-M7

They do shake a little (somebody here the other day called it wagging its tail) but it shouldn't be as extreme as your describing. I have owned the Vulcans and obviously Road Stars and you see where I am. To me the Road Star has the best sound, easiest to work on, and very comfortable on the road. I guess the most important thing I like about them is there just plain cool looking! Now I know that is a matter of opinion, but is important nonetheless. There really isn't much difference between the 1600 and 1700 so I wouldn't let year be a determining factor although I really like the newer wheels vs the spokes that seem to always look dirty. As far as SVS I don't think it is all that common. I have owned at least a dozen of these bikes through the years and have never come across it (knock on wood). My step mothers father has just over 100K miles on his RS and it is still running strong so the longevity and reliability factor is definitely there. Obviously on this forum your going to get unanimous votes for Road Stars, but I truly think it a very quality bike. I am an ex shop owner and have pretty much rode everything out there, I currently buy and sell bikes for a living and go through about 10 - 12 bikes a month. For some reason I always go back to the ole faithful Roadie.

Not much to say that hasn't been said so I'll just say Hello and

I think the others have about covered it well. I luv my '06

And

Like Questcap said just do it.........you will love the bike

Mucho Ditto's. The Roady is a great machine. At highway speeds, the motor just purrs. There are times that I catch the HD guy's doing doubletakes. My bro rides a RoadKing and he says that if something happens to his, he would really consider a Roadstar. Mine is an 06 Roady. Like the other guy said, do your maintenance and you wont have any problems.

The tail waggle gets worse with louder pipes beleave me I know. I love it it's COOL and make people look at it. SVS is a product of poor jetting. You get the jetting right you won't get it.Trudt me I know that for a fact too. Don't ask me HOW! I love my 05 it is my 12th bike and by far the best. I run the snoot out of it and it comes back for more. I plan on running it until I croke because it won't. BTW