I have a 2005 V Star 650 and I i have the same gear whine that you speak of. I drove 2 other 650 V Stars and they also had the gear whine. I have 19000 miles on mine and the whine is as loud as ever. I was also told by the dealer service dept tha the whine would go away as I got more miles on it. My question is, how many more miles will I need on it to get rid of the whine? If 19000 miles is not enough to lose the whine, I don´t think it will ever go away. It is bad enoug that I will never buy another Yamaha. I was looking at a 1600 Kawasaki Vulcan and test drove it. It is much quieter and that is well worth the extra money. I wanted to trade in my V Star but the dealer said that he would only give me $4100.00 in trade and I thought that taking a $3000.00 hit in one year is a little extreme. I´ll definately trade next year though. I can´t stand the gear whine much longer.