My Black 99 Road Star is 10 years old. It has 2450 miles on it. You are reading that right. Apparently I haven't ridden very much. It's the black one with the ivory pinstripes, a light bar, solo leather seat and a couple of other little chrome parts. Nothing outrageous. It looks very retro/classic. Kind of Marlon Brandoish.

So my tires were cracking causing me to buy some Metzlers. I take them to the dealer and got them put on, and when I show up to pick the bike up, they tell me I missed a recall (by about 4 years). Apparently I needed some gear replaced in the transmission that required a complete tear down. So they say "now is a good time to do something to the motor" and I say "What?"

Well I just picked it up. It has a "chip" and the high compression pistons from Yamaha.

Two things: I had never scraped my running boards in 10 years. I scraped them twice in the parking lot just checking the Metzlers out. They make a world of difference. You don't even have to slow down to turn any more. They make that heavy bike feel like a Honda Magna. I haven't really hammered the throttle yet (break in) but I can feel the new thump in my crotch, and it seems like it has a ton of new torque off the line, plus it suddenly has an extra component to the deep rumble I already had from drilling that back muffler plate out when it was brand new. It has always sounded good, but now it sounds ominous. There was a Harley guy there when I started it and he looked absolutely jealous. Big eyes.

So my advice is do the Metzlers and do the pistons and the chip. They tell me it is a "sleeper."

Yep... I put the Metzlers on my `06 Roadstar. Man, what a difference! The bike handles like a sport bike, easy to turn in and a real smooth ride. They should put them on from the factory....

Jhouse. That is LOW mileage! That's almost new. Got Metzlers on my 03 and I love' em too. You got me on the "chip" thing though.

Greyphart

The "chip" is one of those adjustable aftermarket controls for timing and such. My kid put one in his 05 Mustang and changed it's personality entirely. It moved the redline from 4200 to 6000 in my bike. And it only uses premium fuel now.

Me too what is this "chip" thing and how and where is it

This is it. That's my kid's Magna in the background.

The chip goes right in front of the battery. It probably replaces some ignition board/circuit. It has switches on it like a garage door opener so you can set about 6 different parameters on it.

You can probably completely screw it up if you don't know how to set it. I left it to the mechanic who had done a bunch of them. It seems fine after one day. It cost about $280 just for the part. But the install is about 5 minutes.

Nice ride...
And...

Thanks everyone. I love your "advice" for guys over 50. I'm 54.

I'm sure I'll probably get challenged to race my kid now. He's 18 and was really proud that his bike had more horses than mine. He has to get his carbs rebuilt first though.

Just curious. Why do you want to run this bike up to 6 grand?