2000 Yamaha XVS650 DragStar review from United Kingdom

Had to re-place the rear pillion as my wife complained that the standard one was uncomfortable.

Chrome a bit "suspect"...I keep having to polish it to stop it from rusting.

I started out by looking at new Harley Davidson's, the only one I could afford was the 883 Sportster and at £5000 I was not impressed by the standard of trim or the finish of the HD.

I then considered a Japanese Harley copy and decided that the shaft drive 650 DragStar (known as the 650 V-Star in the US) was my best option.

The UK price was £5000, the same price as the HD883, but compared to the HD the Dragstar costs far less when you begin to add on after-market items such as back-rests, panniers, screens and the like.

I was also lucky in having a friend who imports bikes into the UK from Europe, so I eventually paid a little over £4000 on the road price for a European spec bike, the only difference being that the speedometer is in kph and the headlight dipped the wrong way (easily cured by re-positioning the bulb)