1I11I1n~ Va.a'. 1151", JJII ClassIc
By
PHOTOS BY FRANK HOPPEN/YAMAHA
hy is there air? What is the
sound of one hand clapping? Is
it possible to have a new classic?
With Yamaha's introduction of
what its press literature calls "The All
New V Star 1100 Classic," philosophers worldwide are rejoicing at the
opportunity to ponder yet another
apparently unsolvable riddle: Can
something be simultaneously "all
new" and "classic ?
To make matters worse, even
more pragmatic attempts at defining
the model produce brain puzzlers like
the following: Is this bike a 650cc V
Star Classic with an 1100cc engine,
or a V Star 1100 Custom with Classic
styling? Perhaps it is easiest to simply consider it the spawn of both
those models, but is said spawn really
new? Classic? Both? Do we really
exist?
Call the V Star 1100 Classic what
you will, but even Plato would call it
good business. Sure, you can make a
good argument that it's the result of
parts-bin engineering, but that
doesn't mean it's a bad idea. After
all, Harley-Davidson has been unveiling similar "new" models for years,
and it is currently the world's largest
manufacturer of cruisers and touring
models. Second place? That would
be Yamaha, whose Star line has seen
an incredible 63-percent sales
increase in the past year or so.
Yamaha introduced its 2000 version of that line at Del Mar, California's L'Auberge Resort and Spa just
north of San Diego, where they also
gave the motorcycling press the
chance to tryout the bikes on a 175-
W
ll
new /'n(y)u/adj: having existed
or having been made but a
short time
clas-sic /'klas-ik/n: a work of
enduring excellence
22
JANUARY 19, 2000'
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