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Posted by RaiderBill
- April 28, 2015, 14:44:05 PMThanx pc, yeah thats the touring look I like, looks like me and my mechanic, Tony gonna check it on Thurs.
Posted by pcarrell
- April 28, 2015, 14:20:03 PMYou should check out the gallery for more ideas: http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;sa=userlist
Posted by pcarrell
- April 28, 2015, 14:17:26 PMDrifter1500, a member of this forum, also has a touring setup. It's a pretty sweet rig!
Posted by pcarrell
- April 28, 2015, 14:13:51 PMThose 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.
Posted by RaiderBill
- April 28, 2015, 10:09:52 AMThanx 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.
Posted by pcarrell
- April 28, 2015, 09:21:32 AMMost 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
Posted by Reveen
- April 28, 2015, 07:57:36 AMI'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!)
Posted by RaiderBill
- April 28, 2015, 06:08:37 AMhello Elmo, howudoin? How do U like your Drifter?
Posted by Elmo Hayride
- April 28, 2015, 00:39:26 AMWelcome RaiderBill.
Posted by RaiderBill
- April 27, 2015, 21:59:26 PMThanks 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.
Posted by greenbarn
- April 27, 2015, 21:50:05 PMWelcom, 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...
Posted by CDNRatMan
- April 27, 2015, 17:56:38 PMWelcome
Buy it.....
ok I'll let the 1500 owners guide you from here on......
Posted by RaiderBill
- April 27, 2015, 17:52:24 PMSo 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