20th Annual Outback Riders Toy Ride 2012

I’ve just attended what was one of the most impressive turnouts for a toy ride I've ever witnessed. A local MC, the Outback Riders have been hosting the ride for 20 years, and each year it keeps getting larger. I ‘m not sure what the official count is this year yet, but I can say it took almost an hour for the bikes to pack in the parking lot. This annual ride along with the combined efforts of the Empty Stocking fund, and the Salvation Army, greatly impact the lives of countless children in this area. I urge each and every one of you that have found your way to my blog, motorcycle enthusiast or not, please attend at least one toy ride in your life time. As a participant it is certainly a moving event. The riders, standing shoulder to shoulder in a sea of bikes, gathering with one unifying purpose in mind, helping the children, certainly leaves one awestruck. However, unless you have experienced both sides of the coin as I have, I don’t believe you can fully imagine, or grasp the magnitude of the impact an event like this has. As a recipient of the warmth, kindness, and generosity shared, and extended by the thousands of men and women that make this possible, I am forever a changed man. We all certainly want to do our best to give our children everything they want. However, often in life, circumstances arise that are out of our control. I have no words to express the utter hopeless feeling you have as a parent when you realize Christmas is just around the corner, and you don’t have any presents to give. Then, you find that friends in the community, and perfect strangers alike, all band together, standing with you, to provide a wonderful Christmas for your children. I simply have no words to express just how deep my gratitude is for these exceptional men and women. So, for those of you that have considered participating, and are wondering just what all of this is about, I ask you to reflect on the wonderment of Christmas as a child. Now realize that without the care of the many, many people involved in the Outback Riders, Salvation Army, the Empty Stocking fund, and other groups like these, those wonderful memories you have, would not be possible for some children on Christmas day. If you are familiar with this area, or know of a similar event in your community, I urge you to please, please participate in any way you can. I sincerely hope each and every one of you has a joyous holiday season, and ride safe….

Vstar 950/650 side stand

This is the Vstar 650 stand.

Here is the Vstar 950 stand installed on the Vstar 650.

Front shot of my Vstar with the 950 stand.

This is a previous picture with the original side stand.

Vstar 950/650 Side Stand Swap

Well here I am again, and I owe another debt of gratitude to the friendly, and helpful members of the Yamaha Motorcycle Forum. Recently, a discussion revealed the Star 950, and 650 side stands were interchangeable. Though the 650’s is about .5 inches longer, it’s not enough to hinder its use on the 950. Why is this important you may ask? Well, for those of us striving to shroud our bikes in a cloak of “blackness”, the 950’s side stand helps. For some reason, when Yamaha built the Midnight, or Raven 650 as it is sometimes called, they decided to use a chrome stand. However, all of the surrounding parts are black. Go figure? The reverse is true on the 950. This is where the swap comes in. After finding that the stands were compatible with one another’s bike, a 950 owner and I arranged to trade stands. Paying our own shipping is the only out of pocket expense, and time is minimal. One bolt and a couple of springs… about 1 minute, maybe less. I never realized what a, dare I say, eyesore a bright shinny chrome stand can make on an all black frame and bike. Needless to say, if you have a black bike, I recommend the trade. Now however, I’m wondering about removing the rest of what little chrome is left. I guess only time will tell. For those of you 950 owners that may have found your way to my 650 blog, for you the swap is basically free chrome! I will post a couple of picture later on of the before and after. I think you’ll be surprised at the difference that small change has made. Until then, ride safe…..

Shinko Tires

After my recent purchase of a Shinko tire for the wheel swap, I must say I'm quite pleased with it. I considered other brands, but inevitably went with this one simply based on price. So far, I have about 100 miles on it, and it still looks brand new. It handles perfectly, and again, the price can't be beat. Many of the other brands extended upwards of 100+ in price, while I only paid half that on Ebay for the Shinko. As you've probably guessed, I find most of my deals for the VStar on Ebay. I will need to replace the rear wheel soon, and will definitely match up a Shinko for the rear. However, I will try and keep you informed on the quality of the tire, as I know tires are vital for those of us that enjoy two wheeled therapy. The overall verdict thus far is two thumbs up for the Shinko.

"How to" VStar 650 Wheel Swap

Success! Yes, the wheel swap is finally complete. First off, sorry for the slight delay with my last post on the process. We have had severely inclement weather lately, including thunderstorms heavily laden with lightning. Well, my highly conductive metal shed is not the safest place to work while there is enough voltage surging through the air to power a small city. Hence, the slight delay in my completion. I have however, finally finished the task at hand. The wheel, though not a direct swap, is much closer than some of the other conversion methods that encompass changing bearings, or drilling out fork legs. If you remember, I installed a wheel cover on the rear, giving the illusion of a solid rear wheel. Thus, adding the front wheel from the 1100 completes the look of custom wheels. So if you are interested in swapping the front wheel, and using the wheel cover as I have done on the rear, you’ll save yourself literally thousands of dollars. The last time I checked, I had a hard time even finding a company that would make custom wheels for the Vstar 650, and the price was in the 2500-3500 dollar range. The wheel cover, including powder coating it black, and the front wheel with the additional spacers, and paint was roughly a tenth of the cost of custom wheels. So if you’d rather spend the extra coin, and go the 3500 dollar route, you can save yourself some time, and quit reading here. However, if you are like me, and would rather save your money for other mods later, I’ll give you a quick rundown of what to do. To start with, the wheel I used was from a 1978 Yamaha XS 1100. I was lucky and found one on Ebay for a tad shy of 100.00, including shipping. As I’ve already posted, the wheel had both rotors, and good bearings. The price for wheels may vary some, but if you shop around, I’m sure you’ll find a good deal for less than 150.00. I also purchased on Ebay a Shinko, 100/90-19 wheel for about 55.00 with free shipping. The needed spacers, and washers, I picked up at Lowes for less than 10.00. Paint included one can each of self etching primer, gloss black, and clear coat, all were rattle cans that I picked up for about 5.00 a can. That brings my total to around 180.00 for everything. That’s it for financing the project, so now on to the work related element. If you have minimal mechanical skills, you can do this. As mentioned earlier, it’s not quite a direct swap, but with a few simple spacers you’ll be in business in no time. I guess I won’t go into detail for my measurements as they are different than a stock Vstar. I will mention though that my estimation for a stock bike would be around a half to three quarters of an inch per side. Don’t hold me to that though, it’s just a guess. I purchased an inch and a half and used a grinder to cut down the bulk of it, and then fine tuned them with my Dremel equipped with a grinding wheel. So the front wheel setup includes the stock VStar spacer, the stock VStar speedo drive, and the two spacers I made, and that’s it. Not too bad so far is it.The brake was another story though, but still not too bad. The XS1100 Rotors are thicker than the Vstars, so if you can get them “turned” to shave off the tad bit of excess that’s what I would do. I already had the brake on the wheel, and the wheel installed before I realized this. No matter how I spaced the caliper, it continued to scrub. I used the Dremel to shave off a very minute amount of the caliper to prevent the scrub, and called it done.

In brief here are the simple steps, (excluding installation of the new Shinko tire):



A) Purchase wheel, rotors, spacers, and your choice of paint. There are other XS1100 years that fit, but make sure to purchase the ones using a 298mm rotor. Check me on this, but I believe there are a few years of V-Max wheels, as well as older Venture wheels that may also work.

B) Remove Stock wheel assembly, rotor, and unbolt the caliper. You may want to completely remove the caliper, or simply place it on a box or stool next to the bike leaving the brake line attached.

C) Install the XS1100 wheel using the stock VStar spacer, axle and speedo drive.

D) Center the wheel, and take an initial measurement for the spacers. Go a tad on the safe side when making the initial cut, and fine tune the measurements as needed. This step involves installing and removing the wheel several times insuring the spacers slide in place perfectly. At this point, it’s now safe to paint the wheel.

E) After installing the wheel and rotor, place the caliper on the rotor, and hold it in place where it will be bolted to the fork leg. Adding washers as needed, space the caliper over until it aligns securely with the rotor.

 F) Make sure everything is tight, don’t forget the pinch bolt holding the axle in place. Now, take your bike out and be proud of a job well done.



This is the method I followed, it may not be the simplest, or the best, but it’s what worked for me. I am no mechanic, and don’t claim to be. I’m just a guy that enjoys working on my personal VStar, and sharing my experiences with you. If you embark on this, or any of my other projects that is totally at your discretion and you are responsible for the safe completion of your project, not me. I am simply providing you with information that you may find beneficial, but ultimately you are the one accountable for what you do with that information.

Not Finished Yet, But Much Closer!

Well I had the tire mounted today, and I have to say, I’m very pleased with the looks of it. Though both tires are the same size, the thinner wheel makes a difference. The tire/wheel combo on the XS1100 wheel stands about an inch taller than the tire/wheel combo on the VStar. I didn’t get a chance to pick up any extra spacers or washers today, but will most likely do so first thing tomorrow. I did however “test fit” the wheel using the current spacers. The brake caliper will need to be shimmed over a tad to prevent having the wheel drastically off set. Otherwise, everything seems to be coming together as expected. I know you are probably wondering why I didn’t paint the wheel before I had the tire installed. The wife has already asked me this earlier, so I guess I should explain my somewhat backward logic once again. My premise is this, if I spend time getting the paint perfect, and then have it scratched while the tire is being installed, I would be none to happy. However, if I simply wait, as I have done, and likewise get the wheel and spacers all in check, then run a quick ring of 2” masking tape around the tire, I can go to work with the paint, no worries. Thus, I do not have my nice new paint all scratched up before I even get finished with the install. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. There is one more point I figure I should mention. As I was looking at the spacing earlier, I was reminded that I have swapped for wider triple trees. I imagine if my VStar still had the stock width triple trees in place, this may have been a little closer to a simple bolt on and go project. I will add however that some extra spacers will be needed either way. So, if you embark on this project yourself, keep in mind the spacing will be different for a stock VStar than for what I’m discussing here. Alrighty, that’s all the news I have to share for now. With the weekend upon us, hopefully I will get this completed soon. Until my next update, ride safe….

More on the Wheel Swap

I removed the rotors on the XS 1100 wheel, and went ahead and pulled the wheel on my Vstar. On a hunch, I removed the speedo drive, and spacer. It was just as I had hoped, both fit the XS1100 wheel perfectly. Without having the tire mounted on the rim, I did a quick comparison between the two wheels. It looks like there will be about a half or maybe three quarters of an inch difference on either side that I will need to accommodate with spacers. Hopefully I will have the tire mounted ,and balanced tomorrow and can narrow down the spacing to a more definitive measurement. I will continue to update with progress reports as I can. More to come later, ride safe....