Before I got this bike, I wondered if the 250 would be too slow for me. The weird thing is, about 95% of the time, the Virago 250 never felt slow or underpowered to me. Maybe because of the good mid-range torque, or maybe because the engine is so responsive, or maybe because I subconsciously cut it a little slack for being only 250cc. I was almost never at full throttle, and it always seemed like I was just an easy twist away from speeding. On my CB160 at age 16, I had it wide open most of the time. I am a lot heavier now, so my Virago 250 was only about 10% faster than my CB160 was. Vibration was very low – the mirrors are clear on the highway. I modified the exhaust many times, but it sounded best with the stock exhaust (drilled). With higher gearing (17/38), at 70 mph it sounded similar to an Italian V-twin.
I live in CT and commuted to NY on a Virago 250 for several years. I like the underdog and intentionally bought the Virago 250 for the 70 mph commute as an experiment. I went 14,000 miles, modified the bike, and reported it all on virago250street.wordpress.com
(I have a Rebel 500 & Kawasaki 650 twin now.)
virago250street 