Week 1 with the V Star 250

The photo above is of a Yamaha V Star 250 key (left) as it compares to a CBR250 key. Suffice it to say it takes a confident and secure man to ride around on the Wee Star. Fortunately I have no reason to be ashamed, and no reason to treat the little 250 any differently than a "full-sized" bike. That would be discrimination!

Being that my typical commute is mostly on freeway it’s only fitting that my first set of observations from the saddle of the baby V Star are things I noticed on the (wide) open road. For example, typically it’s notable when someone passes me on the freeway, but in the case of the Star 250 I found myself notching my belt when I made a pass.

My victims included; a school bus (nearly full, mind you), an RV driven by people looking at a map, and a late-model Toyota Camry being vigorously piloted by a woman with platinum hair and the kind of sunglasses that cover most of the face. Despite her many years, she seemed to be struggling with which pedal operated the brakes and which did not, and her uncertainty made her easy prey for my V Star.

Conversely, I was overtaken by everyone else including, tragically, the woman with the Darth Vader sunglasses who apparently sorted out the whole pedal thing.

Interestingly, the V Star’s lack of outright speed does not stem from shortage of power. Aside from producing a lively exhaust note, the 60-degree V-twin (same as a V-Rod!) actually makes decent power. Plenty, in fact, to pull my 185 pounds up to freeway speeds. Mostly, the struggle for speed is based on gearing.

There is no tachometer, but as far as I can tell 70 mph in top gear means the engine is spinning at approximately 25,000 rpm. It seems like the baby Star has enough thrust to edge up towards the maximum indicated speed of 90 mph, but I didn’t push past about 70 for fear of my fingernails vibrating off the end of my hands.

Along with discovering more of the V Star 250’s accolades, I’m interested to know how it would feel if it was geared a little taller. Or if I choose to take surface streets instead. It's only fair to play to its strengths, after all.

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