Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127810
FIRST RIDE.. 1997 Yamaha Royal Star Tour Deluxe (Left) The Tour Deluxe Is the newest member of the Royal Star line. (Below) A passenger seating kit Including a seat, backrest and floorboards will be available from Yamaha. The fourinto-four exhaust system has been replaced with a slightly more muted four-Into-two setup. By Mark Hoyer Photos by Ron Perry \0 0\ 0\ ,...-< o N !i:l E Q) ::Z o 22 """l'I1!ftl!• •~ far away s, the clock quietly past mi night. We sat in the Laguna Niguel Ritz-earlton Library, a place where welldressed, rich men sat quietly doing what they thought men of their station were supposed to do while luxuriating in the good life: smoke cigars and drink cognac. We, the motojournalists, Yamaha staff and a few ad agency people, distinctly less well-dressed than the patrons who actually belonged there, were also drinking. One or two were smoking cigarettes, but we were all in deep .discussion about the Royal Star constellation and its newest member, the Tour Deluxe. After various pia titudes were offered about what fine stories some of our publications had done (liquor and flattery they do try everything), there was just one small bone to pick. "I can't believe the way you guys just blew off the fiveyear warranty," one of the Yamaha staffers said about us, the press. "We're all so passionate about this motorcycle," he continued fervently. "And we believe in it. It's more than just a motorcycle, it's the Road Star roadside assistance program, the warranty, the quality of the finish. It's everything, the whole experience. This line goes beyond anything any motorcycle manufacturer has ever done and I can't see a time in the near future when anyone is going to match it." We all agreed that the warranty and product support were unprecedented in the industry. But journalists are, at the very heart of the matter, there to find the interesting story. The publication's value is that it gets read, and to be read, the story must be interesting. "Man, I'm telling you, you can't write an interesting lead about a fiveyear warranty. It deserves mention, and it was mentioned. How far should we have gone? The cover? Yamaha offers fiveyear unlimited-mileage warranty!" A well-manicured lawn is consequential in the overall pre entation of a house, but in the end it's the house that counts. Yes, it's important that the grass is there, but if you try to watch it grow.... Riding is what matters. And that's what we were gathered to do, to ride the 1997 Royal Star Tour Deluxe, the model billed as the one ta'king the touring element of cruising a step beyond the smaller, leather saddlebags of the Tour Classic. As such, the Tour Deluxe hits the road with a number of features both cosmetic and functional - that differentiate it from the other members of the Royal Star line. Functionally, the most important with regard to its intended touring purpose was the addition of the hard, colormatched saddlebags. The lids for the w~ather-sealed bags are secured with locking, chrome latches on either end, necessitating the use of both hands for