RIDING IMPRESSION 1999 Yamaha Venture Royal Star
By Kit Palmer
Photos by David Dewhurst
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idn't cruising us ed to be something you did from one end of
town to the other? We u sed to
think so.
Nowadays, it seems cru ising
is so mething you do from one
en d of the s ta te to the other. With the
many new cru iser-tou ring bikes from
Japan coming on the scene - su ch as the
Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad; Honda's ACE
Tourer, Valk yrie Tourer , and n ew
Valkyrie Interstate; and Yamaha's own
Tour Classic an d Tour Delu xe models we are now capable of cruisin g grea ter
distances.
None of these motorcycles, however,
a re what we wo u ld call tru e touring
bikes. In other wo rds, none of them pose
a serious threat to the real king of long distance travel, the Honda Gold Wing,
not to men tion Harley-David son's Electra Glide mode ls. Yet from this relatively new and growing cru iser-touring catego ry co mes a m o to r cy cl e read y to
crui se from coast to coast and challeng e
the Gold Wing on its own turf: the allnew Yamaha Venture Royal Star, a bike
tru ly designed to be ridden from sea to
shini ng sea .
The Ven tu re Royal Star is' Yamaha's
first fu ll-d ress tourin g bike since th e
