NEW GUY

[pcarrell]

The right one will come along........

[RaiderBill]

I think your right Greenbarn, I'll keep looking, I do like these bikes tho.

[greenbarn]

I talked them down to a selling price of $2499, but with my trade in and their fees and taxes I would have to pay $2859. out the door, huh? exactly. $600 in mechanical safety inspection fees, and there is a broken tail light and missing license plate lens, and 399 dealer fee, plus tax, title and tax comes to $1400 and only $1000 for my trade, strike three.

They said they did give a 10 min. 10 mile warranty on the bike, if I bought it I would have 10 mins or 10 miles to return it and cancel the deal, lol.

Sounds like you don't want to deal with this place anyway.  I wouldn't want to.  Final cost ABOVE asking price ..... AFTER TRADE IN?    rip-off...

[pcarrell]

Ok, 49, lol. I went to test ride the bike today, they wouldn't let me. they say they have a company policy against people test riding used bikes. strike one. the bike has a choke and they say it's carbed, I thought these bikes were all FI, strike 2.

All of the 1500's are fuel injected, and the 800's are carbed.  The 1500 does have what looks and functions like a choke.  It's really a fast idle for warming up the engine.

I talked them down to a selling price of $2499, but with my trade in and their fees and taxes I would have to pay $2859. out the door, huh? exactly. $600 in mechanical safety inspection fees, and there is a broken tail light and missing license plate lens, and 399 dealer fee, plus tax, title and tax comes to $1400 and only $1000 for my trade, strike three. doesn't look like I will buying this Drifter. They said they did give a 10 min. 10 mile warranty on the bike, if I bought it I would have 10 mins or 10 miles to return it and cancel the deal, lol.

That doesn't sound like it was that great of a deal after all.  Too bad!  Maybe you could still find a Drifter if that's what you want.  One occasionally comes up in our for sale section and Craigslist and Ebay are always options.  Cast your net wide and surf the web.  I found mine in Chicago, and I live in Indianapolis, so I was a couple of hours out.

There are several that are close to you, though prices look to be a bit more that the one you were looking at.  http://daytona.craigslist.org/search/mcy?query=Drifter

[greenbarn]

Check with GreenBarn he has a huge box of parts.......

Hey, I've got one of those for sale......

http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?action=classifieds;sa=view;id=89

Problem is, it comes with the entire tail light assy, which you may not need....

The lense is about $46 at Ron Ayers:
http://www.ronayersmotorcycles.com/fiche_section_detail.asp?section=389829&category=Motorcycles&make=KAWASAKI&year=2003&fveh=8989

I have used Ron Ayers quite a bit....   But I have found sometimes other places might have stuff cheaper.  It's kind weird- part "A" might be cheaper at vendor "X", but part "B" might be cheaper at vendor "Y"....

[RaiderBill]

Ok, 49, lol. I went to test ride the bike today, they wouldn't let me. they say they have a company policy against people test riding used bikes. strike one. the bike has a choke and they say it's carbed, I thought these bikes were all FI, strike 2. I talked them down to a selling price of $2499, but with my trade in and their fees and taxes I would have to pay $2859. out the door, huh? exactly. $600 in mechanical safety inspection fees, and there is a broken tail light and missing license plate lens, and 399 dealer fee, plus tax, title and tax comes to $1400 and only $1000 for my trade, strike three. doesn't look like I will buying this Drifter. They said they did give a 10 min. 10 mile warranty on the bike, if I bought it I would have 10 mins or 10 miles to return it and cancel the deal, lol.

[49Reo]

Welcome aboard, Raider. This is a great site, lots of good intel here. But I feel it is only fair to warn you: this bunch of characters are HOGS for pictures; they will hound you no end to post pics. Other than that, this is a great group to be a part of.

Oh did I mention that WE LIKE PICS ??   

[CDNRatMan]

 Check with GreenBarn he has a huge box of parts.......

[pcarrell]

Troll is right.  A lot of parts can be had from regular sources, because many parts are normal Vulcan parts, often from the Kawasaki Classic F.I..  Many of us also have our favorite online place to get new parts.  One I've used many times and been happy with is Ron Ayers ( http://www.ronayersmotorcycles.com/fiche_select.asp?srt=mfg ).  Pricing is good, shipping is reasonable and fast, and so far they've had every part I've ordered in stock.

[Troll]

stuff like that is easy to find. The tail lamp assy is a normal Vulcan part. Dealer or eBay

[RaiderBill]

Where is the best place on line to look for parts for this bike? Specifically I need the lens/cover for the rear license plate light and such parts as those

[RaiderBill]

Thanx pc, yeah thats the touring look I like, looks like me and my mechanic, Tony gonna check it on Thurs.

[pcarrell]

You should check out the gallery for more ideas: http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;sa=userlist

[pcarrell]

Drifter1500, a member of this forum, also has a touring setup.  It's a pretty sweet rig!

[pcarrell]

Those V&H Longshots are nice.  If you get some minor backfiring on deceleration and between gears, don't worry.  There's a quick cheap fix for that called "marbling".  I had to do it on mine.

[RaiderBill]

Thanx guys, I may buy the Drifter just to be a part of this website, lol. Thanx pc, thats exactly what I want outta my bike, nice tourer set-up. Went down to look at it today, it's raining here in Daytona and is supposed to rain thru tomorrow, but got to hear the bike start. It has V&H pipes on it, longshots I believe, sounded great once it got started, had a little trouble idling till it got warmed up, but warmed up in about 2 mins and then she idled fine, but raining to hard to get a test ride in, talked to my mechanic and he said Thurs would be a good day to put it on the dyno and check it out. So now I am waiting with great anticipation until then.

[pcarrell]

Most of the "issues" have been covered already, so I'll just pile on with a welcome.  It sounds like a great price on the new scoot.  I have about 60,000 miles on my "Nadine", and I've only had to do the clutch spring (pretty easy afternoon in the garage), and now the neck bearings, and regular mainetence.  The one question I didn't see addressed was the tour pack question.  I made some custom brackets with basic hand power tools one Saturday and was, within a couple of hours of work, able to mount and old Harley Shovelhead tour pack.  You could actually mount any box you like.  I just got a good deal on this one and thought it looked pretty good.  I added a custom backrest to it for comfort.  Now I just need to do some hard bags and a fairing and I'm full touring!  He's some pic links for you.

First is a vid to show a couple of angles of the tour pack:

Here's a page that shows the brackets.  Some of the pics are of the box hanging on the garage wall, so turn your head: http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/library/Drifter/Tour%20Pack?sort=3&page=1

[Reveen]

I've had my drifter for a year now and the only gripe I have is the whole seat situation. There are only a few "bolt on"  seat options unless you plan on doing a little bit of modifications. That being said, the mod to switch from the two-up seat to a solo seat from a Vulcan Nomad is so simple, even I managed to do it with practically no idea what I was doing. The best part is, I can go from solo seat and no bags to dual seat and bags in less than 5 min (if the wife is wanting to ride with me).

Other than that I haven't come across any other Drifter-specific problems. Be aware, people will always want to talk to you about your bike, and you will definitely turn a lot of heads. I can't even count how many random people have struck up conversation about my Drifter in the past year (it's a good thing!)

[RaiderBill]

hello Elmo, howudoin? How do U like your Drifter?

[Elmo Hayride]

Welcome RaiderBill.

[RaiderBill]

Thanks Green barn, I will takes notes with me, and include those points. I love the look of these bikes but I like to tour and hope I can make the Drifter accommodate that.

[greenbarn]

Welcom, RaiderBill.  The ACE is a nice bike.  A guy I work with had one, a 2000 I believe.  He sold it to my oldest son, and ended up buying a 1100 ACE tourer....

On "your" Drifter:
+1 on the "buy it"  that's a great price - if it's in good condition.

How many miles?   Troll needs to step in here, but I think he's pushing a million... or maybe it's 100,000.

Achiles heals:
neck bearings tend to go bad- check out how smooth the bars turn.  You'll feel it in turns for sure.
clutch - there's an inherent problem with clutch slippage.  There are several "fixes" you'll find on this forum and other Vulcan forums.  If yours has a problem, it will slip in higher gears with hard accelleration.

Both of these problems are minor/cheap if you do your own work.  I'd guess "moderate" would describe the cost if you had a dealer do it.

Parts that fit other Vulcans are abundant.  Stuff that is unique to the Drifter (seats, fenders, etc.)  are harder to find.  Be prepared to find used stuff (if you need anything) or make it...

[CDNRatMan]

Welcome

Buy it.....

ok I'll let the 1500 owners guide you from here on......

[RaiderBill]

So I am new here, because I am searching for info on 1500 Drifters. I am considering trading up from my 2000 Honda Shadow 750 ACE to a 1999 Drifter 1500 with 44k miles, asking price is $2600 dollars, it has saddle bags, a windshield and fringe everywhere.
Is there anything specific I should ask or look for when talking to the salesman or test riding this bike? Is there anything special about maintaining these bikes, expense or difficulty in finding parts? has anyone ever put anything like a trunk or tour pack on one of these?
Any help would be appreciated, even if it's not something I have asked here, especially if I haven't asked and am missing something.
I posted in the guest section earlier but couldn't figure out how to reply to questions asked there so here I am now a registered member
How many miles can one expect from these bikes?
I am going to look at this bike tomorrow morning.
so far I like what I am seeing in this forum and what I am reading about these bikes