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the only shifting issue I had with my bike (which I've since sold;-() is in extreme heat it seemed to shift harder.  but your issue, if I were to take a blind stab, might be clutch related.  Is your cable properly adjusted?  is there anything a little off about your clutch--does it ever try to grab or slip?  If not the clutch, is everything with your shifting linkage adjusted right?  do you know if anything with either the clutch or shift linkage has been recently changed? If your oil is all good and nothing else seems off, those 2 things (clutch and linkage) would be what I'd look into.  Hopefully your tranny, which is essentially bullet proof, isn't going out!  Let us know what you learn.

BTW, nice that you Florida guys can do a 200 mile ride in winter!!

I know that this is a Kawi Forum but just want to sneak in a little input on the Royal Star.
When i bought mine the clutch was grabby and with combined  weight it was a regular b..ch in parking lots. I installed a Barnett spring conversion plate on the clutch pack and made for a smoother take off. Tom ,if you ever have to go back into that clutch I sure would recommend this upgrade.
You may want to check out your valve clearances also. With a total of 16 valves on that engine the chances of having a tight one is good. Mine had 3 but not overly tight. A special tool is required to remove the shims though, and trying to figure out what thickness you need is a real mind strain.
i would recommend  checking out this forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/vrider?gid=2002968634     (its free)
Rob

sorry guys I keep going with the Royal star stuff   Thanks Rob.  I almost went with the Barnett upgrade when I did mine but read where it's hard on the hand to hold the lever at red lights  .  If she starts slipping again I'll go with it.  also, don't care to pull my valve covers to check the clearances just yet...yep lazy.  Should do it this winter along with a carb sync

Tom, you're certainly welcome on here anytime!   Drifter or not.

How do you like the Star by now??  I'm entertaining looking at something better for the Wife and I to ride 2-up.  I need something super smooth , vibration and air-buffet- free.

The Royal Star is a good bike for me as a back up for my Honda Valkyrie.  It's got taller gearing than the Valk, about one gear taller, so it's very good for highway cruising 70-80 MPH.  I'd have to say it's a little underpowered for a 1300, but the v-4 is very smooth, say compared to a Harley v-twin, and for 2-up very comfortable back there.  Wind buffeting isn't bad, if you buy a tour classic or Venture (full fairing), but the standard that has no windscreen would need upgraded.  One thing to watch if you're shopping is these bikes have a small clutch for the size of the engine, so I had to replace the clutch pack (less than $50), as it was slipping in the higher gears if I pushed her.  My bike is a '96 and had less than 20K on her when purchased.  Oh, the Royal Star forum, IMO, isn't so good for help with stuff and after 60 days they want $12 per year to be a member, which I ain't paying   Good luck.

Stumbles isn't the word for what mine would do mine would actually cut out suddenly and as fate would have it quite often I'd be sitting at a red light and just when it changes green it needs to go on to reserve and so you know the story

Hey welcome to the forum.  Nobody's an idiot here, or perhaps we all are .  Okay, I'll speak for myself on that, as well as on gas gaging and consumption.  I used (sold my Drifter ) the odo, as probably most do, for tracking mileage and when to fill up.  First few tankfuls with a new bike I'll use the petcock (when it hits reserve) to know what the bike's range is, depending on what type of riding I'm doing (highway, city, mix), to see what kind of mileage the bike gets.  For my Drifter I generally got around 100 miles for a tankful, plus or minus 10, before it hit reserve.  That meant I was getting around 35 mpg. if it took 2.8 gals to fill after 100 miles (and most times I'd try to head off going on reserve if I could).  Hope that helps.

Ouch I'm glad you're okay. Yeah take it easy and do sign up for that course you won't be sorry you did

I thought they were right around 500 lbs .  You have the right idea, to take it slow and easy in an empty parking lot, maybe set up some cones or something and work on turns and other maneuvers, including soft and hard stopping.  The Vulcan Drifter is a very easy bike to maneuver--not to offend--and you should be able to handle her in short order.  I found the center of gravity to be fairly low, along with the seat height, so that turns and other maneuvers at slower speeds weren't an issue.  One thing for me is my other bike is an 800 lb Valkyrie, so my reference for comparison makes the Drifter seem like a light-weight.  since you've been out of the riding scene for 30 years, it might pay to take a course in motorcycle safety, as pretty much EVERYTHING (you, bikes, roads, other drivers, laws, etc.) has changed dramatically since the 80s.

Well I got a buyer last night and so I'm going through withdrawal and seller's remorse here. But at least it went to a good home it's for a guy who is just taking up riding again after many years so I think it'll be a good bike for him. If you guys don't mind I'll keep my membership on this forum and maybe even chime in once in a while.  I told the guy who bought my bike that he should join this forum and gave him the web address.   Keep on drifting!

Well I'm still driftin' for the time being.  Somehow can't get anyone hooked, though I've had nibbles on my girl (most want to trade for a car).  I seem to recall the PO couldn't sell her either, until I came along.  I couldn't understand why no one would want to scoop up such a gorgeous motorcycle at such a reasonable price.  Now it's happening to me.  One big issue for me is where would I store it if it doesn't sell by winter?  I could ask a buddy to let me park it in his big garage, but then I'd like to be able to start and ride it occasionally.  Anyway, I think it'll sell this summer...which BTW finally arrived here in W. Wash!  I'll keep you guys posted if my bike sells or I end up keeping all three (that's one over the legal limit with the mrs.).  Meanwhile, get out there and log some miles on whatever you have to ride!

Yeah my experience with Harbor Freight stuff is it's pretty much a gamble. Some of the stuff holds up okay and a lot of it just, well craps out just like your chain breaker. But of course they'll let you bring it in and get another one off the shelf which might do the same thing

Yep, the Valk is my freedom machine...can't part with her.  Besides, with 85K on her she's not worth much for resale, even though she'll keep on going longer than I will.  As far as the Royal Star, looks like I'm going to get it and keep the Drifter until she sells (if she does;-).  Here's what I'm after today...

  Well contrary to my wishes the deal fell through yesterday, so for now I still have a Drifter. I know I'll have seller's remorse if it does happen but right now I'm kind of ticked that the guy flaked on me. Rob that thing was a monster that you had. the bike I'm after is much smaller and lighter it's the first gen Royal Star.  The thing is the guy is willing to trade me for my little dirt bike and cash, but I can't come up with the cash without selling my Drifter, and I still have my Valkyrie so if I just withdraw the cash and keep the Drifter it would be really impractical for me to have three bikes (that is of course my wife talking  ).

Yeah not the happiest message for summertime but that's what I'm up to. I'm probably going to end up with a Yamaha 1300 Royal Star. I might still chime in on this forum because I still love Drifters, I just won't be one

yeah great job!  Now get out there and clock some miles on her, or kilometers

 Hey thanks for telling us how that went. I'm glad it worked out. I'm glad you got rid of the Harley logo too 

Yep you just got to wait a few days and before you know it it'll hit 90° or whatever that translates to in Celsius     the other option is buy yourself a dirt bike that does have knobbies only be careful cuz I did that after a snowstorm in February and landed squarely on my back!  The neighbors are like "do you want us to call someone?"

 that's a lot of good info and feedback thanks. I should note that my chain hasn't been stretching at all because I haven't had to adjust it to take up Slack, which actually shocked me because I think I've had it on the same setting for like 2 years now, I even remember putting it back to the exact same spot after my last tire change. Pretty remarkable and speaks as you say to the quality of the oem chain

For what it's worth I don't think the chainwax is what ate the O-rings. Been using it on this Drifter going on four years and the O-rings are intact, and my last two dual Sports were o-ring chains and the wax never harmed them either. (I suppose different brands of chain wax will affect o rings differently but the brand I'm using says it's okay for o ring chains--can't recall the brand but I've used a couple of different ones at this point)

Hey how's everybody doing this spring? I got a confession to make guys I don't do much maintenance at all on my chain and sprockets. I now have 26k on my bike and when I cleaned up the sprockets today and the chain it could pass for new no kidding. Last time I did a full-fledged cleaning was 6000 miles ago about a year ago and in between that I just spray chain wax on it about every 700 miles or so. It's really working well I was ready to buy a new chain and sprockets and then decided nope don't need to. I don't know if I made a thread like this previously but what are you guys doing for your chain and sprockets maintenance? If you're in limbo about it I would definitely recommend using the spray chainwax I've been using that on The Drifter like I said and I've been using it on Dual Sport Bikes before that it works great. kind of cakes up a little bit but some degreaser and one of those chain cleaning brushes and comes right off doesn't hurt the chain at all and Road Gunk doesn't stick to it either unlike with grease or oil.

Okay yeah I did a thread about this a few years back and you can see the discussion if you search "chain lube". Evidently most everybody makes use of chainwax nowadays.

Well you're going to be the go-to guy from now on on electrical I hope you know that. So don't sell your Drifter because we'll still need you for a few years around here

Well congrats on finally getting the thing to fire up!  now chase down the tail light problem--start with the fuse --and then get out there and put some miles on the clock!

post script: I never open an electrical can o' worms unless I have no choice.  This debacle you faced is such a good example of that (not saying you had a choice), where just a seemingly small thing like the # of ohms left you dead in the water for weeks.  What a nightmare!

Sorry Mitt as usual I got nothing but hoping you get this thing solved. If your weather is anything like ours locally it really sucks I have your bike down

I'm with you I want my mods to be reversible also. Really good thinking on how to modify your air box and not mess with the OEM. I just changed over to a K & N since rejetting and the thing runs beautifully all throughout the RPM range. By the way did you ever get your bike running? I know on the other post you were still fighting with the electrical.

My latest upgrade was to finally get a saddlebag mounted on my bike check out the vid

https://youtu.be/CSO7-oU0Xx8

Great looking job! And that seat really puts the icing on the cake.