Hello brothers and sisters!

I'm planning my first solo long distance motorcycle trip - from Poland to Spain 2800km in total via a scenic route in July this year.

Planning the route to do 600-700km daily or 8-10hours depending on traffic, my energy levels and road conditions.

Obviously I will have the bike (Yamaha XVS650) checked and prepared for the ride, I don't want to treat it as a test run for mods etc. as we all know it goes wrong in some cases, that's why I want to test all the things before hand running similar distances before the main trip.

I'm planning to use my phone for navigation I have a RAM mount with charger and I would like to use Sena 10S for music and communication with the phone.

I know it's a cruiser, it's underpowered, it's air-cooled but it never failed me and took me on 600-700km rides already but not for 3-4 days straight.

I would Ike to ask you as more experienced long distance riders who might have a chance to ride on similar motorcycles how to prepare? What additional gear should I pack aside from luggage and rain gear? Should I ditch saddle bags and invest in tour pack? What checks to do during the ride or at the start of each day? Oil level, tire pressure comes to my mind as obvious.

Thanks a lot for all the answers with tips and tricks to survive and enjoy such rides.

The guy I bought the bike from didn't know much about it do I decided to change the oil today. Found a great lift from autozone for $70 and special ordered the filter. Used castrol 20w50. Took me over an hour but I learned much. This dude Bernbo on YouTube has some great videos for the 650, but I don't know how to link so Google if you're interested. Few notes: TONS of oil left in the filter housing, be sure to move your drain pan once you loosen that last bolt. I put foil over my pipes and this saved me but there's a shit ton on the garage floor now so...sorry, Wife. Also, be sure to do a bump test while the bike is on the lift, this is just common sense but overlooked in all the videos I watched. Finally, get a thinner funnel than I used, I dumped quite a bit down the side of my crankcase because I thought I could control the flow. I could not. More oil on ground. Again, sorry, Wife. I put 2.8 qts in, but I just guesstimated. Did a quick ride to be sure and parked it in a dry area to check for oil spots in case I missed anything. It was fun and like I said, I learned a lot. Tomorrow I'm changing spark plugs!

The rear tire on my xvs 125 is rubbing off the left side of the back fender. I was wondering if anyone has had the same problem and if it could be the same for the 650’s Thanks 👍

I just rebuilt the carbs on my 04 V-Star 650 and now when i let off the throttle it holds rpm for a few seconds before it idles down making it a pain to shift sometimes. It also doesnt like starting when cold wheather i use the choke or not. I was going to turn my air/fuel mix up some and try to fix the starting issue but i dont want the over revving issue to get worse. Can someone help me to figure out what i should do to get this to run right?

I have a 2004 v-star 650 classic and i cant find much information anywhere as to what kind of oil and how much of it i need for the final drive. If you have any information on it id really appreciate the help. Thank you.

Picked it up last night. Needs some work but still love it! Now if only I had my license! That’s next on the to-do list!