I guess I am an older guy
However, the roads. Re the most customized bike on the road in the USA today. It is such an easy platform to to work on that more toady owners do more of their own maintenance then on most other bikes. Their power plants are very well respected for performance and reliability as well as they just look so damn nice. Not to bash any other brands, but I think the average toady rider would be friendly with any other rider more so then those of certain other brands that would rather just corral with owners of the same brand. I am asked almost everyday what model Harley is mine and it surprises the heck out of folks to find out that it is a yams. Also, not only are there a boatload of Yamaha accessories for the bike but almost any other parts company have load of great add ones for this bike. I bought mine with plans of simply fixing it up and selling it, like I do with so many bikes, but then fell in love with it.

One last thing: places like the RSC exist making owing one a whole lot easier.

I've been riding motorcycles since I was 11 yrs.old and owned ,h-d's,kawa's,yammie's,bultaco's,maco's,huski's,honda's,suzki's.
The last bike I've tinkered with was a vf750c,Honda,my wife and I where out on a road trip to Owensville,Mo.
drove about 45 miles on it and just had to get off to stretch so we pulled into (J&W Cycles),walked around on the other side of the parking lot,about 10 minuets went by and I told her,lets go in and just look at what they have,talked to a sales rep. and told him I didn't have any money now,he told us to look around and could get on any of them i wanted to,I looked at some Vic's and kawa's,got on the 03'roadstar and the butt grove matched,The O'l lady said now that looks more like you,
Checked the price and told sales rep.if it's still here in a month.
"I'LL BE BACK!!!"
Watched it on the internet for month,it was still there and i went down on a Saturday and checked it out again..5,695$ was the price,talked him to throw in the bags and wind shield,total cost 5,700$Picked it up the next Wednesday.
Smile on her and my face now.....Priceless. .

Curt wrote:
Us old guys choose them because old men are smart and can't see wasting money on a big name when we can have something better cheaper.
=======================

2X That for sure!

I bought my 06 silverado with leather bags & tall windscreen in 09 with 4,700 miles on it like brand new for $6,500 ,PO just installed a brand new Sealed AGM Maint free Deka ETX20L battery too!

The only thing it was going to need was a new rear tire.

I was also looking at HD's of same approx size/yr/miles/accessories/condition and they were approx $14,000 + - couple $k depending on miles/accessories/cond.

I know i sure don't have an additonal $6,000-8,000 to throw in the garbage just to have it say HD on the bike.

I understand and try to support the buy American thing but sometimes it's just not possible as in the 2x+ cost diff between HD & the R* that i could not afford even if i wanted to spend 2x+ more for a HD.

I am satisfied with the R* and feel it's good machine esp cosidering how affordable it is and what ya get .

If maintained with proper oil for the R*'s FT cam'd motor (to help prevent premature cam/lifter wear) and proper trans oil/srv'c it will go well over 100K+ miles with no major trans or engine repair/failures.

But again,the motor/trans on the R* are pretty darn bullet proof IMHO other then older R*'s like the 03 or was it's 04 & older R*'s that had the issue with a washer or lockring that would come loose jaming up the trans which Yami took care of with thier MFG backed reacall.

Scott

scottw wrote:
Curt wrote:
Us old guys choose them because old men are smart and can't see wasting money on a big name when we can have something better cheaper.
=======================

2X That for sure!

I bought my 06 silverado with leather bags & tall windscreen in 09 with 4,700 miles on it like brand new for $6,500 ,PO just installed a brand new Sealed AGM Maint free Deka ETX20L battery too!

The only thing it was going to need was a new rear tire.

I was also looking at HD's of same approx size/yr/miles/accessories/condition and they were approx $14,000 + - couple $k depending on miles/accessories/cond.

I know i sure don't have an additonal $6,000-8,000 to throw in the garbage just to have it say HD on the bike.

I understand and try to support the buy American thing but sometimes it's just not possible as in the 2x+ cost diff between HD & the R* that i could not afford even if i wanted to spend 2x+ more for a HD.

I am satisfied with the R* and feel it's good machine esp cosidering how affordable it is and what ya get .

If maintained with proper oil for the R*'s FT cam'd motor (to help prevent premature cam/lifter wear) and proper trans oil/srv'c it will go well over 100K+ miles with no major trans or engine repair/failures.

But again,the motor/trans on the R* are pretty darn bullet proof IMHO other then older R*'s like the 03 or was it's 04 & older R*'s that had the issue with a washer or lockring that would come loose jaming up the trans which Yami took care of with thier MFG backed reacall.

Scott

I too try to support the made in the USA brands. Funny enough, my Valk was made in the USA. And had significantly more USA content then any HD at the time. I think,only,a few models left in in the HD line up actually have the made in the USA sticker because so many parts are made overseas, and that is in part why their margins are so high.

I Ride a Road Star because I can get my walker up close to it and swing myself on it Because I am so OLD

I'm part of that "older" group (57 soon)that's on a RS because I was told by the mechanic I used with my Venture Royale that it was probably the best metric cruiser on the road and probably what I was looking for. Short story, I found my '01 Silverado and he said probably won't see much of you around here anymore as my '90 Venture was a regular customer for little things constantly popping up even though it was a very comfortable cruiser. Very true, I've visited him him only twice since after my accident almost 2 years ago BUT I know he's still in business from others who use him as he's a down to earth good guy and honest Joe. I need to drop in just to say Hi as he always has cold Coors Light on hand and welcomes the visit ! That's how I ended up on my RS and passed up two Heritage HDs I was eyeballing hard to score.
The icing was finding this site as I was a member of Venturers.Org which was priceless for understanding my Venture and I thought there had to be a RS site as well, need I say more ! Thank You All.......

I'd like to say that it was the wisdom of a old fart, but, I kinda lucked into mine.

I was actually thinking of going HD and was saving up. I couldn't wait and was actually looking at a couple off smaller Shadows to tide me over. Figured I could pick one up fairly cheap and sell it when I had the rest of the money for the HD.

Well after several weeks of making calls and finding that they'd just been sold or someone was coming over tonight to look at it, etc., I notice the RS that had been advertised the entire time.

It was quite a bit more than the "tide me overs" were, but I noticed that it had come down in price.

Long story short - made him an offer, he took it, and I haven't looked back ! ! !





BD

...'cause we'd rather ride 'em than hsve to work on 'em.

Economics. I had decided I wanted a Harley. I talked to friends who had Harleys, I looked locally and it boiled down to one thing....I could get more bike (1/10 if the miles and more options) as a Harley by purchasing a R* at half the price of the Harley. I simply like to ride, I like to be comfortable when I ride and I want reliability. I felt that lower mileage on the R* would give me more time in the saddle without major problems than what I may get with a higher mileage Harley.

People may think we try to make them look like Harleys, I simply feel that form follows function.


When I bought my R* I actually said "I hope this cures the Harley itch.", it has.

RCStephenson wrote:
When I bought my R* I actually said "I hope this cures the Harley itch.", it has.
My Roadstar, it cured my bike envy. I have a VStar 1100 Silverado for the wife, she settled on it as well.