Why I Ride | Yamaha Virago XV 1100

I have owned a motorcycle for almost a year now. While I have had lots of experience on dirt bikes throughout my childhood, this is my first street bike. 

It is a 1986 Yamaha Virago XV 1100 with 34,ooo miles. 

The bike had been well taken care of and previous owners repainted the bike and replaced everything with oem parts. The Virago 1100 has a large air cooled V-twin engine and has a shaft drive instead of a chain or belt. 

Why I Love To Ride.

Riding is exhilarating. Speed, open air, adrenaline, following the curves of the road. A bike is a way for man to truly connect with machine. It reminds us that we are alive. 

Famous motorcycle rider Burt Monro once said:

 You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime. 

" Burt Munro was a New Zealand motorcycle racer, famous for setting an under-1,000 cc world record, at Bonneville, 26 August 1967. This record still stands; Munro was 68 and was riding a 47-year-old machine when he set his last record. " - From Wikipedia 

The World's Fastest Indian is a movie about his life. A must watch movie, if you ask me.

Here are a few more pics of the bike | Yamaha Virago XV 1100 

 This image is from the day I first got the bike. I had just driven it back to my house and unloaded it off the trailer. I had to fire her up to show my friends the exhaust. The bike is pretty loud, having a set of Jardine pipes.  

I consider loud exhausts for motorcycles to be of extreme importance. Riding can be dangerous, especially if you are not experienced or well trained. You have to know what to look out for. But with all the distractions and texting going on, it is smart to make yourself known via loud noises such as exhaust.