New to Vulcan Family-Anything I Need to Watch For?

Welcome - Nice looking Steed!!!!!

The one thing you need to watch for on any Vulcan is looks of befuddlement from disenfranchised Harley Owners when they realize how much they over paid for their bikes . . . They usually try to cover it up by throwing in a "Wannabe" comment or something similar - But you don't care cuz you're smiling all the way to the bank . . .

Napom said:

Welcome - Nice looking Steed!!!!!

The one thing you need to watch for on any Vulcan is looks of befuddlement from disenfranchised Harley Owners when they realize how much they over paid for their bikes . . . They usually try to cover it up by throwing in a "Wannabe" comment or something similar - But you don't care cuz you're smiling all the way to the bank . . .

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Thank you for your praise. I know what you mean about the Harley owners. They used to laugh at me, a 6' 1" 250 pound guy riding a Honda CB250. Now I am on a bike more fitting my size. I am going to show it to my girlfriend's bother just to rub it in his face and see what he says. He has a newer Police Edition Road King.

I used to work with a guy who lived and breathed Harley. When I bought my first bike (2002 Honda CB250) he said that he wished I would have bought a Harley, but every one needs to start somewhere. He was a great guy.

Congrats on the new ride - looks like a custom paint job for sure. These are great bikes, only comments I have are:
1. Upgrade the stock seat - they suck.
2. Don't ride it like a Harley - these bikes like to run. You will see people wanting a 6th gear but it's not really needed. I do regular interstate and back road riding, on the interstate I don't hit 5th until 75 mph. Rarely get out of 3rd on back roads. Again, these bikes like to run.
3. Put some aftermarket grips on (Kuraykyn) they are a larger diameter than stock and offer greater comfort on long hauls.
4. Plan some great rides if you do the basic maintenance on the 900 it will not let you down. Change the oil, grease the swing arm bushing (under the bike near the middle you will see 2 zirk fittings). Again, they are bullet proof.
Enjoy!

boy_welder2000 said:

Hi all, I bought a 2008 Vulcan 900 Classic LT on 12/27/14 and was wondering if there is anything I need to check for or do before I start riding it. It has 3800 miles on it and the only mod I know of is V&H pipes. I did ride it home (roughly 30 miles) when I bought it and everything seemed to be ok. I am looking for ideas to do while its too cold to ride (mid 20s right now). Thank you for any info.
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Buy a service manual and go through the bike.
Adjust /set the cables/freeplay, go through the brakes, tires, an oil change,
tighten all the coolant lines. Pull the tank and look for chafing wires. Check belt tension. Basically get to know the bike.

Suggest a battery tender- $20 invetment in extending the life of your battery.
Seat for stock is not bad. Might consider a luggage rack.

The 900 LT is one of the great values out there new or used....

Like the color too!

Great ideas guys. Please keep them coming.

I rode to my brother's house (he owns a Heritage Softail) after I bought my 900. The first thing he said was, "you bought a Harley". I laughed and said, "no I bought a better bike for a lot less money".

I agree with the seat suggestion. Very few find the stock seat comfortable. If you find a great deal on a good aftermarket seat, you should pick it up. You can sell it later if you don't need it. A lot of us do look for a sixth gear, but this is a great bike. There is an aftermarket pulley set that reduces the rpm, but I'd ride it for a season before I changed those out, you might not feel the need for it.

I can only add to all the good advice,Some of the 06/07/08's have been known to have a bum stator at or around 7-13k miles. If yours needs one, get the stator and reg/rec. from Rick's you will save major bucks, and they seem to be of better quality.
With that said I love mine

Yeah... Mine is a 2008 900 LT and sure enough, bad stator. If it starts making this weird up and down whining sound...you know yours is about to go out.

Other than that...just ride.

Ride it. Enjoy it. Carefully maintain it. Be safe. Only advice you need.

I was looking over the bike today and to put on a battery maintainer. I found a V&H FuelPak. So also looked at the air filter, which was a pain to get off due to the pipes, and found a K&N filter. My question is, will the FuelPak help or hurt the MPGs?

boy_welder2000 said:

I was looking over the bike today and to put on a battery maintainer. I found a V&H FuelPak. So also looked at the air filter, which was a pain to get off due to the pipes, and found a K&N filter. My question is, will the FuelPak help or hurt the MPGs?

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Not sure on the V&H Fuel PAK, I have a cobra fi 2000. But if it is done right you might drop a few mpg for the extra ponies. I'm getting around 48-54mpg on the highway 55-70 mph, with an all time best tank full at 61mpg Not that far off from stock as far as I can tell.
As others have stated these 9's do like to rev, I know mine does

one thing to watch out for..... CARS.. because they don't always see us, so they say...



You bought a great machine so Enjoy the ride, you'll learn as you go along, but stating that after 34 years of riding, i'm still learning...

Just a little maintenance tip based on my experience. The 900 sits a bit low to the ground, and if you go up over a curb (or any other bump) you can catch the swingers bushing grease zerks on it and shear them off. In my case, the one that broke off was easy to remove. The guy at the dealership suggested replacing the zerks stainless steel hex head screws. And he supplied the screws and installed them free of charge. Just remember to save the grease zerks for when you want to shoot a bit of lube in there.

durox said:

what SC900LT said!

don't be afraid to rev the engine. max torque @ 3700RPM, max HP @5700. limiter ~7400.
so you can ride 35mph in 5th gear, but you 'should' be in 3rd really

coming from 250cc I'm sure you know how an engine sounds and feels when under revved...

RPM: 3700 (max torque)
gears:
1-22mph
2-32mph
3-44mph
4-55mph
5-63mph


be safe and enjoy!

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Ah, so that's where the rev limiter is, wow that's high for a V-twin cruiser, jeez....
Good to know, damn I was worried the engine would damn near explode at 75mph/130kph, hahaha.

Very much agreed on the whole HD thing, I hate them. Its funny schooling them 8 ways from Sunday on my bone stock '07 900 Custom hahaha.