Haket 's Home Page

Yamaha XV125 Virago (aka: my baby)

She cost me IR£3250 including Helmet / Gloves / Jacket. I bought her in March'98 and have done 13500 (great :) ) miles to date (25-Aug-99). It has been the best fun I have had (with my clothes on at least).

I have made a couple of changes to the bike pictured above. I will include some more detailed pics as soon as I get off my ass and scan them in.

Yamaha backrest because carrying a pillion is murder without it.

Custom grips Real sexy chrome grips with rubber ribs.

New rear-view mirrors. The plastic stock mirrors spoil the bikes lines.

Headlamp/Turnsignal visors. Hey, I like them OK !. I bought these on-line from a place in Scotland.

New Rear Tire I needed to change the rear tyre after 8000 miles so I took the opportunity to add a wider tire. The stock is 130/90-15 and my new one is 140/90-15. It also has a much deeper pattern than the stock model.

Removed Yamaha stickers. One from each side panel and the one on the rear mudguard (or fender for the Americans amongst us)

This was done using a hair-dryer to loosen the adhesive and they just peel off.

Things to do !!!!!!

Change footpegs - Highway Hawk make a matching set but I have found that the XV250 brackets are different from XV125 so they have proved hard to source.

New pipes ???. One gripe I have with the Virago is that its too damn quiet. Sure a 125 wont have that much street presence anyway, but I think it could be a hell of a lot better. So my plan is to fit a set of straight through drag pipes, so if anyone has some ideas on this, please mail me.

Servicing

900 Miles First service performed for free from the dealer. The usual Oil, oil filter and check over

1700 Miles £20 - Oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs and check over

2500 Miles £14 - Oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs and check over

4500 Miles £55 - Oil, brake pads, check timing chain I thought there was an unusual noise from the front cylinder but the mechanic could find nothing unusual and check over

7200 Miles £165 OUCH ! - Oil, oil filter, rear tire, chain (heavy duty), 7 rear spokes, plugs and check over. I noticed while doing my weekly clean/checkover that there was a broken spoke in the back wheel, imagine my surprise when I found a second, third . . .up to seven. I never did find a cause but the day before I did about 180 miles over typical irish "roads". This really proved to me the importance of checking your machine regularly.

10200 Miles £75 - Oil, front tyre and check over. Speedo cable snapped a couple days before the service and I replaced it at a cost of £7.

13400 Miles £35 - Oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs and check over

The complete specs can be found on the Yamaha web-site.

One error I think is listed on this page is the fuel capacity. Both there and the user manual list a tank capacity of 7.5 litres with a 2 litre reserve. I think its more like a 5.5 litre tank with 2 litre reserve. I have done 130 miles without refueling and couldn't squeeze more than 7-ish litres into the tank. ( I switched to the reserve after 110 miles).

The Virago must be THE sexiest 125cc machine on the market but now it has some stiff competition with the new 125 Dragstar and Shadow cruisers.

The original small capacity cruiser the Honda Rebel cannot be overlooked but I personally prefer the lines of the newer machines.

There are many 2-stroke 125s around these days, the RS125, NSR125 and Cagiva's Mito come to mind. The Aprilia would lead the pack IMO but being Italian is seems to like chewing up pistons !.

PICS:

Gallery 1: My bike pics

Virago Collection: More XV125/250 pictures

Biker Joke #1
Biker Joke #2
Biker Joke #3

XV250 Chopper This pic is of a chopped XV250. I love the exhausts.
My next bike (probably) The 650cc Dragstar. All the looks of a big custom Harley, half the price.

Dream Bike #1 Oh yeah, the 1500cc Honda Valkyrie. The black and yellow combo is my fav.

Sounds:

Here are a few bike .WAV files I've saved/found/stolen from the web.
Drag Star
Virago 535
Honda Shadow HOME