HOPE AND CHANGE – Dr Piston
No, not the kind we get from Washington these days, but some changes we hope you will like regarding this site. After publishing this website for roughly 10 years and acting as the primary support guy in terms of answering questions, I have decided to turn over the reins to the Virago Owners’ Club. The contents of this site have been transferred to the VOC website (www.viragoownersclub.org) where you will find everything that’s here, but also new information of interest as it develops. Your new source for answers to questions will be the VOC’s new Tech Advisor, Marty Powers and you can get ahold of him by simply pressing the “Tech” button on the VOC site. Marty is an experienced Virago guy and between his long experience and his library of service manuals (including the ones I recently shipped him), I think he’ll be a deep source of help and information on all the Virago models ever offered in the US. I wish him success and I encourage you to contact him with your questions.
Some smart fellow said “Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Well that’s true in my case, but I am getting on in life (just turned 79 which puts me in my 80th year) and there are one or too new things I’d like to tackle before I get too decrepit. It’s also getting a lot harder to meet girls.
I’ve talked to so many great motorcycle people over the last ten years, and have made a number of wonderful friends both in the US and overseas. So if I’ve managed to help a few folks, the big rewards have really been mine.
Ride on,
Mac McCurdy
THE WONDERFUL VIRAGO
Ask an orthopedic surgeon what he thinks of skiing and you are likely to hear about torn ligaments and broken bones, but little about the countless accident-free hours happily spent on the slopes. When you are in the business of helping Virago owners, you deal mostly with problems, and slowly a warped perspective about the bike can to take over. At the mention of “Virago”, I catch myself thinking, “Well, what’s the problem this time.?”
But that’s not reality. The term “Virago” should bring to mind a bike that, with good maintenance and care, will go somewhere between a long time and forever. Viragos are very trouble free and the bigger versions are “do it all” motorcycyles–they’ll take take you to the corner store or Alaska, your option.
If you own a good running Virago that you enjoy, you might consider leaving this website about now and go riding. Because you aren’t going to need a whole lot of what’s on here. That is, if you do your maintenance!
PLEASE NOTE………….
The information presented here is my best shot, but I can’t know everything, or have it right 100% of the time. You need to evaluate what you read here and decide that it makes sense to you before taking any action based on it. Corrections and comments are welcome. We are after the truth here, not personal glory.
Note also, that what you do, or have others do to your bike is your responsibility alone, and you need to be ready to take that responsibility fully. If in doubt about anything you read here, e-mail me, and/or do some independent research before picking up a tool, buying a part, or telling the shop to go ahead.
I believe that sources for parts or service mentioned in my articles are solid and current, but you need to contact them personally and check them out for yourself.
Finally, please understand that my assets include a couple of old bikes, a set of metric tools, a guitar, a camera, and a half empty bottle of dark rum. Not much to come after here, I’m afraid. Several attorneys have already walked away in disgust, and yours won’t be any different. Ride safe, Mac