NHTSA Complaint #10191224 — 2006 YAMAHA XV1700

IN THE MORNING I GO THROUGH A NORMAL STARTING PROCEDURE OF MOTORCYCLE RECOMMENDED BY THE DEALER AND BY YAMAHA. WITHIN 1 MILE THE ENGINE CHOKED/POPPED, AND BUCKED, ALMOST DIED ON ONE OCCASION ON THE ROAD. AFTER ANOTHER HALF MILE TO A MILE THE ENGINE CLEARED UP AND WILL START AND RAN FINE THE REST OF THE DAY. RECENTLY THE PROBLEM GOT MORE FREQUENT AND SOMETIMES HAPPENED, THOUGH MILDER SYMPTOMS DURING THE DAY. I WAS SCARED THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN IN TRAFFIC ,AND POSSIBLY CAUSE A CRASH AND INJURY. FROM MY DISCUSSIONS WITH OTHER YAMAHA ROAD STAR OWNERS I WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE HAVING THIS PROBLEM. *AK I HAVE BEEN TO TWO YAMAHA DEALERS ABOUT THE PROBLEM. THE FIRST DEALER SAID IT IS NORMAL FOR THIS MODEL BIKE AND WAS QUITE RUDE, SO I DIDN'T GO BACK TO THEM. THE SECOND DEALER WANTED ME TO SPEND MY MONEY TO REPAIR THE ROOT PROBLEM AND SAID YAMAHA WOULD NOT COVER IT UNDER WARRANTY, THEY ALSO TOLD ME TO RUN RING-FREE (A YAMAHA FUEL ADDITIVE) IN MY FUEL TO CURE THE SYMPTOMS BUT THIS WOULD NOT CORRECT THE ROOT PROBLEM. I HAVE USED THE RING-FREE PRODUCT AND THE PROBLEM PERSISTS FOR 3 OR 4 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE RING-FREE HAS HAD TIME TO DO ITS THING. IT THEN GOES AWAY FOR 3 OR 4 THOUSAND MILES THEN RETURNS. I NOW HAVE APPROXIMATELY 12000 MILES ON THE BIKE, I HAVE OWNED IT FOR 1 YEAR AND HAVE WENT THROUGH THESE ISSUES ON 3 SEPARATE OCCASIONS. THE RING-FREE DOES MASK THE SYMPTOMS FOR A SHORT TIME BUT THERE IS APPARENTLY AN INTERNAL ENGINE PROBLEM AS THE ROOT CAUSE.