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My girlfriend, Rose, is looking for a weekend cruiser.

Looking at a Yamaha V-Star 250. About $5K all in.

She is 5'11" 130# (yes tall and thin) and does know how to ride.

I say it's too small.

Thoughts?

What year?

Here is my baby.

I don't think its a bad bike for her. She may be a bit tall for it, but there is always the 650 to upgrade to.

Here's mine. 2010 HD 48

I used to ride a drz400s dual sport which is still for sale but a couple weeks ago i stepped up..

I've had (almost) as many bikes as cars. I've ridden my Honda V-45 Sabre 750 coast-to-coast (I actually have a matched pair of them now, but the second one has never been out on the road with me, except on a trailer). I used it four-seasons in my college days and ran it through snow-storms that had Subarus running at half the speed limit. I have been riding for decades (and boy are my arms tired! ), and I've ridden everything from a 100cc trail bike up to a Harley V-Rod. I've also owned a GL-1000 Gold Wing, a Kawasaki Z-1 (currently in pieces, and awaiting a top-end rebuild and turbo upgrade, along with some severe bodywork (read as: new tank, custom gauge-pod, side-covers, and custom tail-section; this is old-school stuff, when fairings were for touring bikes and 'plastic' wasn't something you wanted covering your engine ), and a ZX-11 (fastest production bike in the world ever for several years -brag,brag,brag). All of those open-classers weighed 600 pounds or more, and the 750 Honda came in at 534 pounds curb. I weigh about the same as Rose, and am a little shorter. The 250 is WAY too small for her, I agree with you. If she already knows how to ride though, then she may well know what is comfortable for her so far as the bike's capabilities, and may not need that 'room to grow' that other prospective buyers might need to consider. I spent a few weeks with a little Honda 250 Hawk, and that thing was a blast to putt around on, although it could barely achieve 65 or 70 MPH. I wouldn't say no to something like that again. I also have a little Kawi 550 GPz, a skinny little bike that feels like a ten-speed bicycle that can hit 0-30 MPH in under one second flat, and we have a pair of ZX-6Es (not mine, although I ride one of them from time to time, the other one stays locked away) in the family too. Yamahas are the only one of the Japanese 'Big Four' that I've never owned, but that was more an issue of opportunity than anythings else. They are usually the best-sounding bikes on the road, IMO, and I have nothing against them. I don't tend to like cruisers much myself, and I have ridden several of them over the years -I prefer to be sitting up straight, maybe leaned into the wind just a little, with me feet planted under me -I can tolerate having them behind me, but in front of me? No. But that is just preference.

Whatever she gets, you should post up some pictures for us when you have the time. Are you planning on riding with her, either on your own bike or two-up?

^^^THAT told me nothing and was just a waste of my time reading the it!^^^^

Asylum wrote:^^^THAT told me nothing and was just a waste of my time reading the it!^^^^

...And thanks for replying to my airbag post! Okay, I'll be more direct, even though you asked for thoughts, which is what I shared.

If she is that tall, a 250 will probably be too undersized for her to ride comfortably, but who knows. I can't offer any opinion regarding the Yamaha quality, but depending on what she wants to do with the bike, a 250 may not work -if she intends to tour with it, it will be too light for comfortable highway use as the wind will buffet her around too much, and it will be straining to maintain highway speeds. If she just putts around town, a 250 should be fine if it fits her right. Does that help?

I think I'm going to push her towards the 650.

Too bad there isn't something in between

Personally, I think that is the better option. What is the price difference between the $5,000 250 and the 650?

I think it's about a Grand but not sure.

I know she wants new with a warranty.

Slinky wrote:I used to ride a drz400s dual sport which is still for sale but a couple weeks ago i stepped up..

LOL I personally have no problems with a Ducati but I love that meme....

This is my hubby's bike It's pretty much all decked out and sits in the garage all the time. It's prob gonna end up there most of the time too, he's thinking about getting a Harley in the next couple of years. I've thought about taking classes and learning to ride so I can use it lol

3X00-Modified wrote:

Slinky wrote:I used to ride a drz400s dual sport which is still for sale but a couple weeks ago i stepped up..




LOL I personally have no problems with a Ducati but I love that meme....

Haha yeah they are expensive to maintain when taking to dealers to service.. the 6k mile service would cost me $1000-$1500 for just checking a couple things and changing the oil.. going to do it all myself to stay afloat, thats why they make riders into mechanics haha

I just had to have one, their sexy AF