Gus wrote on 05/26/16 at 08:49:54:


Google says the V-star 650 weighs in at 471lbs dry and 514lbs wet
verses the savage/S40 at 381lbs wet
the V-star is a much bulkier bike

All of you guys are right of course. When I say she could keep up  with me I meant in touring mode .Like a Corvette is much faster than a sports
sedan when driven at legal limits anything on the street can keep up with it..Both bikes have about the same power and would probably be in the same quarter mile class based on rider. Once when I was young none of the bikes I own now, would have satisfied me. Yes I am thrilled that my wife rides and there is a certain amount of pride when the guys ridig thier big Harleys say "You got here on that" when we are a thousand miles from home.

Right, the Savage/S40 is a starter bike! Try to tell some of this crowd that. Be easier to push a rope over a fence��

The Savage and Ninja 500 are both considered starter bikes, but truly, neither is, unless you just want bigger / faster, which comes at more weight and slower handling
I've never ridden a Sporty, much less a big twin, though i am jealous of the way they'll roll 70 with the motors just ticking over, but I've ridden big tourers, big sportbikes up to the 2012 GSXR1000, and a few large Metric cruisers, and I cam say with certainty that I could live happily with the Savage for my whole riding career, if it just had a real 5th gear, and the same goes for the Ninja 500, if it only had a readily replaceable bar
I've thought about an older Vulcan 500, if i find one, as a sort of medium between the two, or, if I was flush with cash, the Ninja 650 currently produced (with a readily replaceable bar)
I still sort of want a big dual sport, though

I too covet a big dual sport but they are so tall that it makes it difficult for me to hold up. As far as the ninja 500 goes there are ways ti fix the bar problem. I bought a kit which is still made, to raise mine an inch, which seems miniscule but was more effective than you mght think And yes to Desert Rat an S50 would be lighter and a decent alternative to the v-tar.

I had the Motorcycle Larry risers, too, never did get them put on, too busy riding  
I have short arms in relation to my torso, so the forward lean was a bit more for me than it might be for others, but it was more the hips than the arms that kept me off, I needed taller bars for less lean to take some stress off the hips
DSs don't have the higher pegs even a semi sport does, and the height doesn't worry me much
I've ridden a C50, and it felt like A$$
heavy, clumsy, not a chance I'd buy one

I had an older VS 750 Intruder (S50 with buck horns) and it was a nice bike with plenty of power. The S50 is a nice bike and is light weight for a V Twin. Oil changes are easy on them since it uses a spin-on filter located in front the the motor. The only pain I had was changing the battery, I had to roll the back wheel onto a couple of boards to get enough clearance to get the battery out.

The only bike that I had that required the exhaust to be dropped in order to change the oil filter was the V Star 1100.