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/127972
(Left) Takin' a ride : Yamaha chose th e picturesque Napa Valley to introduce its new Road Star to the worldwide motorcycling press. With the Road Star , Yamaha has introduced a solid-riding cruiser with attractive, more traditional styling at an excellent price po int , $10,499. (Below) Set against the Bodega Bay sunset, the Road Star shows off its chrome. Note the massive 320mm rear brake rotor and the fla red dual exhausts. The rear brake works gre at, and the muff lers work too well. By Scott Rousseau Photos by Scott Sesna bvious qu estions were voiced by the throng of American journalists who had mad e the trek to Northern Californ ia to witness the official unveiling of Yama ha's newest - and bigg es t - cru iser . And the bike's project lead e r, Ma son Has h imot o, a nsw ered them all in similar fashion . Journalis t Was there another brand of motorcycle that maybe influenced the design of this bike? Hashimoto: This motorcycle is wh at the cus tom er wanted . Journalist : Wh y build an air-cooled eng ine with a p ushrod valvetrain? H ashimoto : That is w ha t th e customer wa nted . Journalist Was it a d ifficu lt d ecision to go with a belt d rive inst ead of a shaft? H a sh im ot o : T hat is w ha t th e cu s tomer wanted . It wasn' t tha t the Japanese wa s being flipp ant, nor di d he have a limited English voc ab u la ry . Rather, th e answers were stark, since re and to the point. And they a re abo u t th e only way that you really cou ld d escrib e th e 1998 Yamaha Road Star, Yama ha's latest ent ry in to the heavyweig ht cruiser mar ket. If you 're a Jap anese cru iser fan, then this may trul y be the bike that yo u' ve been wa iting for. Accord ing to the nu mbers, the cru isingsegm en t con tinu es to rem ain more absorbent than a Bou nty p aper towel. The Motorcycle Ind ustry Council's da ta ind icat e s that o f th e total m ark et incr ease qf 16 percent for the 1998 mod el year, a full 15 percen t of thos e sales are a ttr ibu ted to the cruiser ca tegory . In other words, the mark et has yet to reach the sat uration point, mak ing the timing right for Yama ha to expand its Star lineup of motor cycles wit h the ad dition of the Road Star (and sligh tly mor e p osh Silverado). Yamaha now has the second largest lineu p of cruisers available from any manufacturer, featuring a total of 12 mode ls. An d yet the Road Star cer tainl y carries distinctive engineering and styling that decisively separ at e it from the rest l 00 0\ 0\ ,...... 0\' l-< IJ.) .c E IJ.) u IJ.) c 14 of the Star fam ily. Let's see ... Massiv e Vtwin engi ne, air cooled , pushrod valve actua tion, belt final d rive... Sound like maybe the Road Star belongs in ano ther compa ny' s line up? In theory, maybe. After all, Yama ha's market research led the com pany to utilize a double-faceted developmen t concept for the Road Star . Th is motorcycle n eed ed to em bod y the cha rac te r an d a ttitu de tha t a re sym pa tico w ith th e cruis ing spiri t. We think that they succeeded; it was all in the execu tion. To start with, Yamaha, the very same fo lks wh o b rou g ht you th e h ig h revving, high -tech Rl sport bike and the high -revving, high -tech YZ400F, developed a massive new 48-degree V-twin powerp lant for the Road Star , on e wit h a hum ongou s bo re (95mm ) and an eve n more ou tla ndi sh stro ke (113m m) . Th e Road Star's conn ectin g ro d s p ump a m a ssiv e , single-pin cr a n k s ha ft th a t swings insid e of beefy alu minum cases featuring a dry-sump oiling sys tem. Bu t wait, the d eal goes a bit mo re hig h - tech fro m th ere . Perch ed a to p those cases are a pair .of air-cooled ju gs th at ho use cy li n ders w it h a cera m iccom posi te coating simila r to that found in the YZ400F, a silicon-ca rbide / nickelp hospha te comb ina tion that is sa id to g rea tly ai d in he at di ss ip ati on and red uce cylinder wear as the bike's 8.3:1 comp ress ion-ra tio pistons make the lon g trek u p and down the bores. The mill is topped off wit h a pair of pent-roof. fourvalv e cy li nde r heads , featuri ng tw o spark plugs per head - a design that factors nicely in to the Road Star's ability to put ou t 99 foo t-pounds of torqu e a t a lumbering 2250 rpm . . But what about this pushrod stuff? Why did Yamaha sh u n th e ov erhead - cam design that has been the hallmark of all mod ern Japa nese cruisers and gq with p us h rod valve ac tuation , w hic h has been the hallowed ground of... you know who? In the wo rds of that famo us secre t agent, Maxwell Sma rt, wou ld you believe "performa nce?" Heck yes, esp ecially when you cons ide r how a cruis er sho uld perform. We'r e not talking abou t stratospheric hor sep ow er numbers and the ability to rev to the moon. Instead , th ink a bo ut hu ndl ing . C ruise rs a re m o tor cycles, t oo , and as s uc h th ey sho uld at least be able to handle dece ntly, d o ntch a th ink? That's where th e p ush rod design makes a t least a li ttle se nse . See , in order to ke ep th e Road Star's turn ing manners as sha rp as possible, Yamaha decided that an ove rhead cam design wa s out, as it would have mean t that the bike' s cy linders wou ld have stood about as high as the twi n