Bobber Project Baseline -- 2000 Yamaha Road Star 1600

The first post in this blog details my former rig, 2006 Ural Tourist LX sidecar motorcycle.  Original plan was to sell the Ural and purchase a used Yamaha V Star 650.  The V Star 650 has the softtail feature which I felt was a quick and easy start to my goal of building a bobber that looks right.  That was the plan.  Sometimes plans change.

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley" -- Robert Burns

I posted the Ural on Craigslist and few hours later received a call from a nice, older, German gentleman in St. Petersburg area who just happened to have a trade.  A trade that kind of fit my criteria.  A v-twin with softtail.  It was a 2000 Yamaha Road Star 1600.   Close enough.  We traded even.

Here is the Road Star in all its chrome and glory!

The right hand bag is open, filled with spare parts the trader had on hand

It runs nice and has less than 20,000 miles, estimated.  Hard to tell how much as the odo says 9,600, but the title I was handed said 14,500 miles.  So somewhere along the way, the console speedo/odo was replaced.

Note: in Florida if you trade bikes, don't fake a selling price in the transferred title. Just tell the DMV clerk it was an even trade and they don't charge tax, just noting the original (my) bike's title number in the application. Cheap!

Immediate plans:

• Ride it more to get the feel of it (been 7 years since I've been on two wheels)
• Remove the windscreen (hate not having wind in my face here in FL heat)

Next steps:

• Start the de-chroming process by removing chrome covers, bars, etc.
• Remove the bags
• Determine if can recoup some costs by selling the chrome bits to fund the next step
• Figure out what's left and then start the bobber planning

That's it for now.

Comment below.