General Information
Year
2004
Make
Yamaha
Model
VStar Classic 650cc
Color
Black
History
Meet Lucy Belle, aka Miss Thang, Luce, The Lady and any other term of endearment that seems apt in the moment.
Lucy came to me in Feb of 2016 in fulfillment of my dream to ride again for the first time. I'd not had a bike since my teens many moons ago and that was a Honda 125cc that I rode mostly off road in the woods when I lived in Michigan. My dream however was the open road and wherever adventure took me. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up!
When I declared on Facebook to my friends that I was determined to get my MC License, another female rider and beloved of mine also named Lauren go figure, sent me a note sharing that she was intending to sell Lucy in order to move to overseas to study abroad. Lauren had been holding off listing Lucy publicly for sale because she wanted her to go to someone who would care for her with tons of TLC. I'm very happy that turned out to be me!
The moment Lauren sent me a picture of Lucy I remembered just how sexylicious the bike was for having seen her in person on a couple of occasions. Needless to say I fell in love the moment I set eyes on that pic.
Lucy cost a bit more than I wanted to spend at the time for a starter bike and was more powerful than I first thought to get into. The sexy bizness of owning her won out though so I determined to make the deal a go. Turns out that my beloved Lauren was also tossing in a whole lot of extras that I wasn't aware of into the deal namely a cover, rain gear, helmet, jacket and a few other thingz. On top of that, Lauren shared that the funding from the sale would be helping her get to Europe to further her education and that alone was worth a great deal to me. I'm also happy that I went with a bigger bike than I had first thought as I'm already looking for more power within a year of owning her for longer road trips with riders who favor a bit more speed than I for cruising. A 650 however is plenty fine for cruising around the San Francisco Bay area including managing traffic lickety-splitting.
Saving my pennies, I called Lauren the day after finishing the CHP MC Safety class which found me passing my road test. I planned to get all licensed up with the state a day later and was XXX-Cited to find myself in the saddle. When I called I found Lauren ready to let go of Luce so I grabbed my gear, hopped a bus and a Bart and headed over to her home in Berkeley, CA.
Previously, I had asked Lauren if I could test ride Lucy, and while she schooled me on the MC tradition of not riding someone else's a bike before purchase that she followed, she said yes because we are family. When I arrived at Lauren's she took me down to the garage where Lucy had been kept and shared that she had been garage stored for all but 2 or 3 days during the time that she owned Luce. Great! Lauren asked me if I wanted to pull Lucy out of the garage and I told her no so she fired Miss Thang up and put her curbside for a look over. I spent a few minutes listening to Lucy purrrrr, sat on her for feel & size, asked a few questions and then satisfied shut her down. Lauren asked me if I was ready for my test ride but I had already made up my mind and shared, "No, I'll follow the tradition of no buy, no ride so let's go inside and seal this deal because the first time I'm going to ride Lucy, I intend her to be all mine." Lauren smiled, said "Alright then!" and we went inside to do the paperwork.
Soon after, I was loaded up with a few of the items that came with the purchase with a promise for Lauren to deliver the rest, a box full of goodies, at a a later time. I decided to take Lucy up through the Berkeley Hills for our first ride where we could be more alone together and instead of navigating city streets or expressway for my first time on such a large bike. Prior to that moment the largest bike I had ridden was the 250cc Yamaha that was provided by the CHP Safety Course. Eeps! Steeling my resolve I geared up, fired Lucy up and literally rode away at sunset. I'd say into the sunset if I hadn't had to head east to get home. <grins>
Winding my way up through the neighborhood streets I reached the top of the hills at Grizzly Peak. Truth be told I pulled out often letting impatient cars pass me by for this first go through the winding roads that I now have ease and pleasure handling. Finding a nice pullout with a view of the lights of San Francisco I decided to stop for a moment and let the moment sink in. I was realizing another one of my dreams and the world felt like one huge adventure waiting for me to say, "Hell yesssss!!!" to again like I've done so many times. After a bit I pressed on and arrived home only to head out again to see about grabbing some oil to give Lucy her first transfusion. Really, I just didn't want to be done riding for the night. Silly me, would you believe I stalled Lucy at a stop light at the bottom of a hill and couldn't get her going again for a dead battery that by all reason shouldn't have been dead after my ride home. After a couple of failed push start attempts for having muscled Lucy up the hill a bit before turning her and trying with momentum downhill, I decided to push her all the way up to the top and try to roll start her down hill, all 500+ lbs of her! Wow.
After a 1/2 hour push up hill, out of breath and nearly strength, a fella pulled over in an SUV and I thought, "Nice!, someone is going to offer me some help for the last few feet." Guy rolls down his window seemingly oblivious to my plight and asks for directions. Seriously!?! Remembering that I'm a lady 1st and foremost I told him I didn't know which was true, rather than offering instructions of where he could go. Continuing on I crested the hill, took a moment to rest, let Lucy on a quick roll popping the clutch and she roared me home the rest of the way! Lesson learned and a fantastic bonding moment had because all I really wanted then and what I want now is for Lucy always to get me home and she has. I've since changed out the stator and rectifier which turned out to be the issue and my first major repair because the charging issue continued to occur after that.
Lucy came to my beloved friend Lauren from Henry whom I also share an acquaintance with through community based in old leather MC. I'm not 100% sure that Henry was Lucy's first owner but I'll find out some day I'm sure next I run into him.
Miss Thang and I have bonded nicely including having completed a 2000+ mile ride over 6 days with my MC family as well as lots of love through a couple of tear downs. In short, I'm in love with Lucy and riding and plan for us to be together for years to come if not add a couple of sister bikes to my garage.
Thank you for reading if you've made it this far and I hope you've enjoyed my share!
Love,
Luscious! & Lucy
Lucy came to me in Feb of 2016 in fulfillment of my dream to ride again for the first time. I'd not had a bike since my teens many moons ago and that was a Honda 125cc that I rode mostly off road in the woods when I lived in Michigan. My dream however was the open road and wherever adventure took me. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up!
When I declared on Facebook to my friends that I was determined to get my MC License, another female rider and beloved of mine also named Lauren go figure, sent me a note sharing that she was intending to sell Lucy in order to move to overseas to study abroad. Lauren had been holding off listing Lucy publicly for sale because she wanted her to go to someone who would care for her with tons of TLC. I'm very happy that turned out to be me!
The moment Lauren sent me a picture of Lucy I remembered just how sexylicious the bike was for having seen her in person on a couple of occasions. Needless to say I fell in love the moment I set eyes on that pic.
Lucy cost a bit more than I wanted to spend at the time for a starter bike and was more powerful than I first thought to get into. The sexy bizness of owning her won out though so I determined to make the deal a go. Turns out that my beloved Lauren was also tossing in a whole lot of extras that I wasn't aware of into the deal namely a cover, rain gear, helmet, jacket and a few other thingz. On top of that, Lauren shared that the funding from the sale would be helping her get to Europe to further her education and that alone was worth a great deal to me. I'm also happy that I went with a bigger bike than I had first thought as I'm already looking for more power within a year of owning her for longer road trips with riders who favor a bit more speed than I for cruising. A 650 however is plenty fine for cruising around the San Francisco Bay area including managing traffic lickety-splitting.
Saving my pennies, I called Lauren the day after finishing the CHP MC Safety class which found me passing my road test. I planned to get all licensed up with the state a day later and was XXX-Cited to find myself in the saddle. When I called I found Lauren ready to let go of Luce so I grabbed my gear, hopped a bus and a Bart and headed over to her home in Berkeley, CA.
Previously, I had asked Lauren if I could test ride Lucy, and while she schooled me on the MC tradition of not riding someone else's a bike before purchase that she followed, she said yes because we are family. When I arrived at Lauren's she took me down to the garage where Lucy had been kept and shared that she had been garage stored for all but 2 or 3 days during the time that she owned Luce. Great! Lauren asked me if I wanted to pull Lucy out of the garage and I told her no so she fired Miss Thang up and put her curbside for a look over. I spent a few minutes listening to Lucy purrrrr, sat on her for feel & size, asked a few questions and then satisfied shut her down. Lauren asked me if I was ready for my test ride but I had already made up my mind and shared, "No, I'll follow the tradition of no buy, no ride so let's go inside and seal this deal because the first time I'm going to ride Lucy, I intend her to be all mine." Lauren smiled, said "Alright then!" and we went inside to do the paperwork.
Soon after, I was loaded up with a few of the items that came with the purchase with a promise for Lauren to deliver the rest, a box full of goodies, at a a later time. I decided to take Lucy up through the Berkeley Hills for our first ride where we could be more alone together and instead of navigating city streets or expressway for my first time on such a large bike. Prior to that moment the largest bike I had ridden was the 250cc Yamaha that was provided by the CHP Safety Course. Eeps! Steeling my resolve I geared up, fired Lucy up and literally rode away at sunset. I'd say into the sunset if I hadn't had to head east to get home. <grins>
Winding my way up through the neighborhood streets I reached the top of the hills at Grizzly Peak. Truth be told I pulled out often letting impatient cars pass me by for this first go through the winding roads that I now have ease and pleasure handling. Finding a nice pullout with a view of the lights of San Francisco I decided to stop for a moment and let the moment sink in. I was realizing another one of my dreams and the world felt like one huge adventure waiting for me to say, "Hell yesssss!!!" to again like I've done so many times. After a bit I pressed on and arrived home only to head out again to see about grabbing some oil to give Lucy her first transfusion. Really, I just didn't want to be done riding for the night. Silly me, would you believe I stalled Lucy at a stop light at the bottom of a hill and couldn't get her going again for a dead battery that by all reason shouldn't have been dead after my ride home. After a couple of failed push start attempts for having muscled Lucy up the hill a bit before turning her and trying with momentum downhill, I decided to push her all the way up to the top and try to roll start her down hill, all 500+ lbs of her! Wow.
After a 1/2 hour push up hill, out of breath and nearly strength, a fella pulled over in an SUV and I thought, "Nice!, someone is going to offer me some help for the last few feet." Guy rolls down his window seemingly oblivious to my plight and asks for directions. Seriously!?! Remembering that I'm a lady 1st and foremost I told him I didn't know which was true, rather than offering instructions of where he could go. Continuing on I crested the hill, took a moment to rest, let Lucy on a quick roll popping the clutch and she roared me home the rest of the way! Lesson learned and a fantastic bonding moment had because all I really wanted then and what I want now is for Lucy always to get me home and she has. I've since changed out the stator and rectifier which turned out to be the issue and my first major repair because the charging issue continued to occur after that.
Lucy came to my beloved friend Lauren from Henry whom I also share an acquaintance with through community based in old leather MC. I'm not 100% sure that Henry was Lucy's first owner but I'll find out some day I'm sure next I run into him.
Miss Thang and I have bonded nicely including having completed a 2000+ mile ride over 6 days with my MC family as well as lots of love through a couple of tear downs. In short, I'm in love with Lucy and riding and plan for us to be together for years to come if not add a couple of sister bikes to my garage.
Thank you for reading if you've made it this far and I hope you've enjoyed my share!
Love,
Luscious! & Lucy
2004 Yamaha VStar Classic 650cc (Black)
Modifications
Drivetrain
Electrosport Stator & Rectifier, K&N Air Filter
Interior
Grip Wind Deflectors
Exterior
Retro-Reflective on removable leather foot peg covers custom made by your truly Luscious! Lauren.
Audio
Superspots LED 3000 Lumens Headlight, now that's entertaining!
Wheel and Tire
Custom Taylor33 X-Treme Intensity Reflective Rim Tape in purple
