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Questions from a prospective buyer

10K views 63 replies 12 participants last post by  ecbaatz 
#1 ·
I am looking at buying a 2018 SVTC.

I have a number of questions that I have either not found a definitive answer or no answer at all.

So with out further ado, let us get started.

1. When you purchased it new, did it come with a head set for the rider, or both or not at all?

2. What functions do you need the headset for, i.e. cb radio, intercom, phone, etc.?, can it be used easily with a half helmet?

3. Can any of the power points be used to hook up a trickle charger?

4. What accessories do you recommend to add immediately or wish you had added.


Enough for now, but feel free to give your honest opinion on what is good and bad about the bike. I.e. the heat issue, if it is an issue, ease of use of controls etc.

Thanks,

Eric
 
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#3 ·
1. That is surprising. A 27k motorcycle and you can’t use it completely without buying extras? A friend bought a Harley Tri-glide and at least got one head set.

2. Based on one will have to check on the price of the harley headset compared to the Yamaha.

4. The lowers are pricey but may hold off on them as I live in Northern Michigan.

Thanks for the info.

Eric
 
#6 · (Edited)
I’m about to write a 600-mile review on my SVTC, but the thing I’m most surprised by so far is: what heat?? This bike gives off less heat in all conditions than the only bike I can really compare it to—the Yamaha Roadliner. Buncha B.S. from my perspective...non-issue. I was expecting to have to deal with it, at least through break-in. Nothing. And, yeah, that’s in 90+ degrees...
 
#10 · (Edited)
ecbaatz, super-quick eval (as I said bout to do a 600- mile review):

Handling: heavy walking it around, and off the stand. However, best-handling bike I’ve ridden at speed. I’m taking familiar tight curves at higher speed than on the ‘liner, which is a bike that is known to handle very well. Anybody ever says this thing is “top-heavy,” know to disregard their opinion entirely. SUPER-low center of gravity. 5 mph and above...no worries. Can’t believe how this big machine takes twists and turns. It’s almost as if you don’t counter-steer...it seems to do that on it’s own. It’s actually strange. Not exaggerating...try one.

Suspension: really surprised at how much better it is than the ‘liner, which always got great reviews on this. Soaks up everything...firm, yet plush. SUPERIOR!

Engine : Great torque. Great low-end power. Lacking hp on top. Just what the Dynos say. I will get it tuned after I know it’s solid. But, I for one am glad it’s a v-twin. I want off-the-line and passing power..so far, this engine is as-promised.

Transmission: a bit rougher and clunkier than expected. Not crazy about this. Light clutch is nice.

Ergos: I’m 6’7”. Electric windshield is excellent! Outstanding operation and adjustment. I will require no aftermarket improvement. Seat is going to work, looks like, also shockingly. Comfy. Have the tall backrest on back-order. But the stock seat *is* the best I’ve experienced. Grips SUCK. Tiny, thin. Already put grip puppies on. Grip heater function is quite good, even with the pups. Floorboards are large. Foot pegs are still a necessity, however. Small crash bars limit highway peg placement, but you should be able to make it work.

Storage: well done. Lot of it. Doors seem flimsy, but latching mechanisms seem firm and substantial...we’ll see.

Tech: too much going on yet to review, really. So far, nav, Bluetooth, etc., no complaints. Personally, I didn’t give a damn about any stereo or speakers...surprisingly, to me, the sound is outstanding and I’m enjoying it at speed...who knew?

All the rest: getting exactly 34 mpg, as expected; I will treat touring mode as “two-up” mode or “ bad weather” mode—just plain sluggish otherwise... “Sport” mode seems normal and provides good response.

Exhaust: good, deep rumble. No bark, however. TAB performance coming.

Brakes are outstanding. Better than anything in my experience...
 
#11 ·
Great info, exactly what I am looking for, I know no stock bike will be perfect. Modifications are expected, but enjoy knowing good and bad on what I am getting into.

I have read that the transmission will smooth out and a change in oil viscosity can help as well but I am sure you have read the same thing.

Looking forward to your full review.


Eric
 
#14 · (Edited)
Cliffieg,

Are you having the dealer do the 600 mile service?

If so I would have them use the Yamalube 10w-40 conventional oil so that the break-in continues undisturbed because this motorcycle comes from the factory with Yamalube 10w-40.

Once you hit 1,000 miles I would dump the oil and change over to Redline 10w-40 in my case.

This is what I did, factory oil for first 600 miles, dealer did the 600 mile service used 10w-40 Yamalube, when I hit 1,000 miles I dumped the oil and changed the oil filter again changing over to Redline 20w-50 because I had some left over from my Harley Davidson I traded in for the SVTC. I ran the Redline 20w-50 up to the 4,000 mile service, engine ran great, I had purchased a contract with the dealer to do all services for 3 years unlimited mileage so it went to the dealer at 3,999 miles on the odometer and got the oil and filter changed, I requested Yamalube 15w-50 synthetic.

I did not like the Yamalube 15w-50 and had other issues with the dealer and no longer use the dealer for any maintenance. I dumped the Yamalube 15w-50 synthetic again because I did not like it and how the engine and transmission felt with it at 5,341 miles so I only put 1,342 miles on the Yamalube 15w-50 oil, I changed the oil filter and put in in Redline 10w-40 and have run that ever since.

If I was to this all over again I would do the 600 mile service change the oil and oil filter using Yamalube 10w-40 and run that until the 1,000 mile mark. I would change the oil and oil filter again and would go with Redline 10w-40 from that point forward. The 10w-40 Redline synthetic works very well in this Yamaha V-Twin and I have posted several gas receipts where I hand calculated the mileage for a lunch run filling up before we leave and filling up on our return and have multiple runs in the high 40 MPG range with a best run of 49.95 MPG on a 159 mile lunch run.

Changing the oil at 600 miles and 1,000 miles along with the oil filters will help to remove more of the wear in metals as the engine and transmission/primary are breaking in.

Also changed the spark plugs over to NGK Iridium direct replacement spark plugs over the factory standard spark plugs.

I only run Top Tier fuels as well mostly Chevron but some Mobil and Shell.
 
#18 ·
Another question.

Saddle bag guards and rack on the trunk. Pros and cons of both.

I like yeh rack on the trunk but worry about possible leakage into the truck. However the added benefit may outweigh that. And leakage is my big concern on the saddle bag guards especially as I am not sure the added protection is needed. Looking to see what those of you have the mileage on them think.

Thanks,

Eric
 
#21 ·
I don't like trunk racks and I am glad it did not come on the SVTC I have also found no need for saddle bag guards on the lids. I have not seen any saddle bag guards for the sides like some motorcycles have, if you are worried about tip over protection the black piece on the bottom of the saddle bags is there for tip over protection as the motorcycle will tip over and rest on them and if they get damaged from rough surface from a tip over they are a replaceable part, they are bolted on.
 
#39 ·
Mine didn't have a battery tender cable and I had the 3rd installed awhile back due to the location and the fact the wires started to melt. I have used the 3/4 helmet with a wired cord to hear my xm and make phone calls. Test your CB as mine has never worked. Get used to the fact you will probably know more about your bike than the dealer working on it.
 
#44 · (Edited)
I do have to ask one question Tony, you like your dealer great I don't care but great you like your dealer, but you say you do all your own service work yet you also say that you watch your dealer work on your bike.

Which is it? Do you do all your own service work or are you just doing the bare minimum changing the oil, filter and maybe changing the spark plugs?

We all know you don't change your own tires because you just recently went to your dealer and paid them $500 dollars to replace your tires.

I change my own tires, my last set cost me $279.99 from WingStuff because Bridgestone had a $60 dollar rebate on their tires if you bought the combo front and rear. if you bought just a front or just a rear the rebate was less.

You also posted in the past that you contacted Yamaha about the 4 year YES warranty and you posted that it covered the entire motorcycle including the infotainment system yet you blew out a speaker and found out the YES warranty does not cover that but either your dealer ate the repair or Yamaha went ahead out of goodwill and authorized the dealer to replace at Yamaha's cost.

Either way you were wrong about the 4 year YES warranty.

To clarify the Star Venture/Eluder comes with a 1 year full factory warranty and Yamaha is giving you a 4 year YES warranty for a total of five years of warranty coverage but the YES warranty does have exclusions in it.

As far as dealers go, there are very few good service departments, maybe your dealer is a good one maybe they are not, who knows.

Now let's look at reviews that are not controlled 100% by the dealer on their own web site. Lets take a look at some not so good Yelp Reviews on Team Charlotte Motorsports:

You can pull up yelp to see the reviews on their site.

1. BAIT & SWITCH Got a verbal quote from a salesman" R" on a new bike, agreed to price. I gave R my credit card info so he could charge down payment for the bike , I then spent half the day securing a loan through my bank, got an insurance policy, the next day, I called R to make sure everything was good to go and asked if he could fax me a copy of the bill of sale. Imagine my disbelief when it was almost a $1000 more than we had agreed to on the day before. I called him and asked why the difference and he changed his story about the price he quoted me. I now get to cancel the insurance and the loan that I had gotten. I hope this helps someone else avoid similar troubles.

2. I purchased my motorcycle from Team Charlotte Motorsports a while ago and continued taking it their for service and parts purchases over the years. This past week I called them as I was due for another service. I spoke to someone on the phone and realized they had new ownership. As usual, I asked for an appointment and the person on the phone told me there was no need for an appointment and to just come early in the morning. I asked several times if he was sure as I would have to coordinate a ride and everything. He assured me that it was ok and that they would get me in. That Saturday as previously discussed I came into the store 15 minutes after they opened their doors. I walked in and told the gentlemen I had spoken to someone on the phone and had been told to come in. He proceeded to tell me they were booked out for the day and asked me why I didn't make an appointment. I told him I attempted to do so and that I couldn't come back, I told him I had gone ahead and gotten someone to give me a ride and this was a big inconvenience. I requested he tried to talk to his manager and see if they could do something. He walked over to his manager and the manager, looked at me and said, sorry, we're booked, you're more than welcome to come back next Saturday.

Needless to say this place clearly doesn't put customers first anymore, it is sad to see an establishment that you have gone to over the years completely put aside customer service for "ease of their own gains". They just lost a good customer. Sucks for them as I was in the market for another fun ride again.

3. 9/17/2016Updated review
After talking with the owner of the company, he was able to correct the situation. We left dealership today with situation resolved to our satisfaction.

9/15/2016Previous review
Poor customer service. They don't stand behind their product. I will never do business with them again and I'd advise you to do the same

4. As a rider, when you walk into a bike shop. You want everything to go well as if you were a car owner waiting to get things fix in your ride. I was told my bike would be looked at within a week as said. I was happy about that, except the week long wait for a simple part that would take 35 minutes to install from Yamaha O.E.M part. What upsets me is the lack of follow up with the customers after they were told that this was my only ride to work after a two week wait. If I was a shop manager, I would have rushed the part, knowing the persons ride is the only option at this point and worried about making the customer happy. In business, the customer is #1 and everything else follows in its place. I will be going back to Mathews fun machines for parts and service. The first impression is only one time and Team Charlotte motor sports better wake up to it.

5. 9/21/2019
Really thought this place was different than the rest by the friendly staff etc etc. Bought a 2013 Kawasaki ZX-10R from them. They got 10,500k from me in one day for the bike and extended warranty. Get home and ride the bike 20 miles and notice it has 3 oil leaks and was assured the bike was went over by the service dept. I drove an hr and a half to pick it up. Called the next day to inform them and all I get is bring it in and we will look at it. Thanks for costing me another trip to Charlotte when I should be riding my bike.

6. 9/19/2019
Called and ask if a specific tire was in stock was told yep it was and to stop on by to get them installed. We show up and no tires in stock. We had to order the tires for them to be installed at a later date.

*update* from bad to worse. We "ordered" the tires last Friday and when we called to see if they were in, they were never ordered. It was an apparently a glitch in the system which is understandable. They were ordered again. Because the tires were not in stock like we were told we had to pressure the manager to honor their guarantee for a free install if the tires were not in stock. My problem isn't the mistakes because that happens it is the lack of accountability by management to address the inconsistency of information and service. All management has to do it say hey guys we have gotten complaints about customers getting different and inconsistent information, let's work on doing better. When I spoke to management I got excuses instead taking responsibility for bad customer service on his part. It's really sad they choose to operate this way because there are very few sport bike shops in Charlotte.

7. 7/24/2019Updated review
Disappointing- I don't expect to be flat out lied to, maybe I expect too much. But the other guys are generally honest, and 'wholesale price' on my trade was 2k higher at most other dealers.

7/19/2019Previous review
Disappointing- I don't expect to be flat out lied to, maybe I expect too much. But the other guys are generally honest.
 
#47 · (Edited)
No , I don’t do my own tires, I don’t have the equipment to change it on the rim. I have considered just bringing the tires to them and re-installing myself, but I chose to have them do it and watched while they did.
Yes, I DO everything else and that includes the valve check/adjustment. It’s not difficult.
Regarding their “reviews”: every dealership has unhappy people at times. The stories are only one sided and do not tell the whole story.
Bill Shenk the current owner bought this site in 2018 if I remember correctly. He has turned it around from what it was.
I find it very indicative of your motives when you select “Yelp” with only 23 reviews as your “source” in stead of Google which has 441 reviews to give a more accurate broad base.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tea...p_lurev_0x8856a1f280514b19:0xf87681175017693e

So, in your cherry picking of reviews was there more negative than positive? Never mind, that would destroy your narrative.
 
#52 · (Edited by Moderator)
You shouldn’t have sidetracked it in the first place, but that’s just who you are.

Here is what I found online for the infotainment center.


https://www.venturerider.org/manuals/2018infotainmentmanual.pdf

Hope this helps.

???
NOPE!
I was wondering if you installed any flags on your bike and if you did, where.

I was thinking that you could drills some 1/4" holes for some rods on the truck rack and use that. But as usual with me being a nuke, I was wondering if the constant motion of the flags on the rack would weaken the trunk lid. Probably overthinking as usual.

Eric
 
#54 ·
https://www.starbikeforums.com/forums/2-starbikeforums-rules/1-forum-rules.html

"Respect for fellow members is of utmost importance here. You must agree to treat others with basic courtesy at all times. This community expects that all members conduct themselves in a manner that promotes a variety of races, nationalities, creeds, religions and sexes with the focus on total respect of each member of our community. Personal attacks will not be tolerated; terms such as “stupid, idiot, moron etc.” and the like will never be tolerated. Continual harassment and or “baiting” of a member of the community or members of the staff will also result sanctions and possible banning from the forum."
 
#59 ·
For the trickle charger, I connected a charger pigtail directly to the battery. It is very easy to do and you can have the connection end hidden out of site. Even though I live in Florida, I opted for the heated grips. The bike comes with a heated seat so why not the grips. So all in all, this is what I have installed...Taller windshield Heated Grips GPS
Fog Lights Sirius XM Radio. As of yet, I have not subscribed to XM Radio and I personally think the GPS sucks. Maybe it works fine if you pair it with your phone but I do not have a Smart Phone.
 
#60 ·
Hey @razzkar it sounds like you have the Eluder or the Deluxe model not the SVTC, because it comes with heated everything.
Regarding the NAV system, I’ve never had any operational problems with mine. Some weaknesses YES. Specifically you can’t save a address by NAME only by the address. Also, limited to only 10 way points AND why should I have to tell it every time what country I’m in?? Or what state I’m in for that matter. It should KNOW this just like a Garmin does.
Other than those issues, it works great.
Regarding “music”, I haven’t needed to use XM or even radio for that matter. I have about 7 days continuous play of music on a 32GB USB stick plugged into the right front port.
As long as the properties of each song are populated correctly, the system will search and play by ALBUMN TITLE, SONG, ARTIST, GENRE etc...
Might wanna try that.
 
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