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/127864
FIRST RIDE By Mark Hoy er Photos by David Dewhurst KEYWEST,A.,OCT .I8-l9 ne could n' t help thinking th at the guys on the Harleys had an un easy feeling after figuring ou t that they'd O just waved to a man on a Yamah a - so rt of like chec king out a wo ma n wit h flowing . blond hair and nice legs... only to have her turn around and show you his beard. But actually, the V-Star turns out to be a r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... trl ... OJ .£l E OJ > o z 14 n ice-looking lad y who happens on ly to need a little shav e. So you're okay, dudes, becau se Yamaha's new V-Star - the first Vtwin in the Star line - is an authentically coo l cruising ride that happens to come from Japan. Though only displacing 649cc, Yamaha is aiming at the mid d leweight-cruiser market with the two vers ions of the V-Star and d efinitely not at the entry-level zone inhabited bv the Shadow VLX and its ilk, claiming a 'po wer output more in line with the ma ch ines of the 800cc cla ss , as well as boa stin g an overa ll length for th e Classic model that is lon ger than Harley-Da vidson 's Fat Boy. But whil e the V-Star is billed as a mid dleweight cru iser in the general market. wha t it really is at this po int is an entrylevel Star, a bike meant to get its owner on the road to eventua lly purchasing one of the va rie ty of top-of-the-line Royal Star models Yam a h a is now producing. In sh ort, the Star line is to Yam aha what Lexus is to Toyota - the high line with that little extra someth ing to aspire to. So while you'll still be able to get the 535 Virago (the engin e of which forms the basis of the new bike's - and the Camry of the Yamaha line in this ana logy), for that extra edge of style and displacement you can go V-Star (the Camry -based Lexus ES3OO), in both a Classic version (the bike ridd en in this eva luation ) and a Custom version, a d rag -style bike more in keeping wi th the Mara ud er type of machine. Riding the V-Star isn' t quite like cruisin g alo ng i n th e b obbl e o f d el ici ou s ambia nce tha t, say, the Tour Deluxe provides, bu t it is sti ll pleasant enoug h, and it's a very easy mo torcycle to ride that com pa re s favo ra b ly w it h th e othe r machines in its market seg ment, such as the Hond a Shadow 750, Suzuki 's Marauder 800 and Kawasaki's Vulca n 800. But why the smaller displacemen t? One of the things Yamaha was aiming for with the VStar was a low p rice (achieved with a suggested retail of $5599 for the Cus tom and $5899 for the Classic), and basing the bike on the Drag Star model already availa ble overseas was defini tely more cost-effective than build ing an all-new model based on t he b igger 750 cc Virago powerplant. Yamaha also felt that th e power it wa s able to wri ng out of the 649cc powerp laht (Top ) Yamaha 's new V-Star is the first Vtw in of the Sta r line, a machine aimed at the middleweight-cruiser segment (Above) Powering the V-Star is a 649cc, borecf.and-stroked version of the Virago 535 engine, restyled for its role in the ne w, clas sically slyled bike . (Left) Desphe be ing aimed at the middleweight mar ket, the V-Sta r Is a big motorcycle, sporting a 64-inch wheelbase. Despite its size . the VSlar Is easy to han dle. was sufficient for the mid dleweight class. And it is. flut still, it's a bike that likes speeds under 65 mph. Anything more than that and the engine starts to sou nd a little busy. 50, born to run it's not, and winding up th e motor in a ny gea r h as the pr edictable result of excessive vibration, to the poi nt of rendering the mirrors abso lutely useless and send ing the handlebar s and