HOW DO I GET AROUND THE PIPES ON A VSTAR 1100 CLASSIC TO GET THE OIL FILTER COVERS OFF

Oil drain plug is located near the bottom of the engine, left side toward the front. The oil filter element is located on the right side of the engine under the cover toward the front. Changing the oil filter usually requires removal of the front exhaust pipe. There is an aftermarket filter relocation kit that replaces the filter element with a spin on filter that mounts on the front of the bike.

Previous owner probably had the bike rejetted for the pipes and is over rich. Is your friend's bike stock?

Sounds like it may be drawing air around the intake somewhere. Let it idle and spray around carefully with wd-40 until it speeds up. This will reveal the leak.

i think the oil filter is at the front behind a round finned cover, if you find the drain plug it should be right above it, it shoud tell you how much oil it takes right next to the filler