They might also think of putting a water cooled, fuel injected, high performance twin cylinder engine for better mileage (55 vs 45 MPG), and higher torque.We’ve compiled our second Hit ’n Miss list, and this time we look at the 2018 Yamaha Star Eluder and Star Venture TC. What I hope Yamaha does to improve the bike is add fuel injection, anti-lock brakes, heated grips and seats and GPS as options. What it is is an excellent heavyweight cruising touring bike! When I bought this bike back in 1999, I had a Harley Davidson Classic on order! It was due in in 3 months, but a friend talked me into a test drive on the Venture and I was sold!!! I saved $5,000 over the cost of the Harley and got an excellent bike for my money. As long as you remember that this bike is not a sport bike, or even a sport tourer, You will be fine. The pipes and floorboards scrape but it is better when one up and with the aftermarket (Bub's)pipes which are smaller in diameter. It is an excellent bike for cruising and touring on open roads with the same limitations the Harley classic has which is the handlebar mounted fairing (less stable in the wind), the heavy handling (heavyweight), and the limited ground clearance. What I don't like about the bike is it is heavy (809 lbs) so the handling is rather heavy and slow. I love that Yamaha thinks enough about the bike to provide a 5 YEAR Warrantee!!! The Radio/Soundsystem is excellent and it consists of 18 FM channels, 6 AM channels, cassette tape player, plug in for my Sony I-pod, CB Radio, and I have the Clarion 6 disk CD player!!! I have put on almost 30,000 trouble free miles in the last 10 years and in three years I plan to buy a brand new one to take me through my retirement years!!! With the aftermarket Bub's Pipes, it sounds like a chevy V-8 small block and I should know because I have owned two - a Vette and a Z-28 so I know that sound!!! I like that the bike looks a lot like the Harley Classic - so much so that the Harley Faithful wave to me all the time!!! I love the smoothness and sound of the engine which gets 45 mpg in touring mode! I love the comfort of the riding position and I added the backrest for even more comfort! I love the paint and the colors that looks like a custom job to me and my friends. What I like about the bike is it can tour like a Gold Wing, but cruise like a Harley. This is a lot of power for a touring bike and the bike tops out at 135 MPH!!! The Engine in the V-Max makes 145 HP at the crank, in the Venture it maked 98 HP and 89 FPT. Yamaha stopped production of the Venture Royale in 1989 but brought it back as the Yamaha Venture in 1999. Later the folks at Yamaha thought it was too nice an engine to waste on a touring bike so they added V-Boost and put it in the V-Max in 1985. The 4 cylinder V Engine Porsche designed was later sold to Yamaha who put it in their 1983 Venture Royale Touring bike. Porsche later designed the twin cylinder V-Rod for Harley and it has mixed reviews from the Harley Faithful. What You don't know is that the Engine was designed by Porsche for Harley Davidson!!! Harley passed on it because they were afraid the Harley faithful would not go for the 4 cylinder. I love the look and especially the dash which looks like a 1955 corvette dash. Yamaha obviously borrowed some styling cues from the Harley Davidson Classic and made just enough changes to make it unique. I first saw it in a motorcycle magazine and thought it was beautiful. I have owned this bike since 1999 and have the silver and gold model. Yamaha build quality is outstanding - period!īefore you consider a Harley Road King, Kawasaki Voyager and/or Nomad, Goldwing, Suzuki C109 strongly consider the XVZ new or used. Remember this is a long distance tourer and not a sports bike. I find it is easy to handle at low speeds and fast in straights. Remember this is a big and heavy bike but for my 6'4 115 kilo frame is perfect. Sounds much better than a V twin.Ĭomfort is excellent, performance is exceptional for a BIG bike and economy/range is good when not pushed. Mine has slip on BUB exhausts and sounds amazing. That really got me interested.įast forward I did my research and opted for a low km one owner CT version in pearl white. The smaller capacity turned me off until I discovered it was a V4. I stumbled in my research across the XVZ 1300. I narrowed it down to the Honda VTX 1800, Suzuki C109 and Kawasaki VN 2000.Īll big powerful cruisers but not quite right. When looking to replace my Kawasaki VN1500 Nomad I looked long and hard at all types of big cruisers (didn't consider Harley as they are too overpriced for me).
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