I picked this bike up in near-stock form back in the summer of 1999. After owning a big 1500A Vulcan that was just too tall in the saddle for me I decided to sell it and trade down to a second VLX so I could customize it just the way I wanted and still have my initial stock 97 model for everyday use.
This bike came with 1426 miles on the clock and had some custom "Ride to Live/Live to Ride" embossed items including the air cleaner, mirrors, and master cylinder cover. I added the pinstriping detail, headlight visor, tail light, forward controls, rear lowering, fork bag, handlebars and risers, and the initially obvious extra long front end that yields 50º of rake and 10" over stock fork length. Total cost including the bike purchase itself is still under the out the door cost of a 650 V-Star or 883 Sportster (nothing against either bike mind you, I´m just throwing out some figures).