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/128110
By s corr R OUSSEA U P HOT OS C O URTESY OF Y AMAHA M OT OR C ORP. he re are ways to te ll when one of the ma jor motorc ycle companies is about to unveil some hot, new , topsecret mode l to the public. Invitati on s are offered - nothing new there - but the location is usua lly a dead g iveaway . And when Yamaha phoned us up to invite us to - of all places - their spring dealers' meeting in Las Vegas, we knew that something was up especially when the PR guy on the other end of the phone played it coy. "We want you to check out our early release lineup, " the flack said. "Why, what's going to be there? " "Oh , you know, our carryover models and the new YZs. It should be a good time. Whadaya say?" " Di d n' t you guys j u s t snatch Palmer out of the office to show him the new YZs jus t the other day?" we asked . "Yo u don 't need us to see them again... unless , of course, you T 34 JUNE 2 7 ,2001 • cue I e gu ys ha ve somethi ng o n th e stree t side of the fence to sh ow us ... hm m? " "Aw, c ' rno n. Our e ngi neers ha ve wo rke d s o hard o ver the last fe w y e a rs, bu ild ing m o to rc y cl e s th at do mina te the plan et and are so awe some that we don't know why a ny of t he o t he r m an ufacture rs both e r to bu ild an y t hi ng . Ou r e n g in e e r s des erv e a rest. We ro c k . We ru le . Blah , blah , blah, blah.. ." So , it was off to the Mandalay Ba y Hotel a nd Casino in Glitter Gu lch to see wha t Yamaha had in store for us a ll next. What we got was th e bike you see here , the Yamaha Road Star Warrior, and if you 've been wa tch ing some of the trends within the c ruiser market over the past year or two , then you can see where the Warrior is headed: into an all-out, full-scale wa r. The stage for this battle is as follows: About two years ago, Vic to ry re leased its V92SC , the last two initials standing for Sport Cr uiser. In truth , the bike was little mo re than a V92C with a ra cy p ro file , b u t the neVIl's bike 's styling st a tement was und e nia ble, an d a new segm ent wit h in a se gm e nt in th is high ly sp e ci aliz ed world we ca ll mo torcycl ing was bo rn . The re c ent introduct ion of Hon da ' s mighty VTX lent cre d ibility to th e emerg ing genre , giving it more defi nition. It should a lso be noted that the birth of AMA/Prostar's Hot Rod Cru is e r cl a ss has given sport c ru isers a place to , we ll, sport. Drag ra cing is a highly competitive , put-up-or -s hut-up activity, making it a natura l attraction fo r s po rt c ruiser s . That said, Ka wasa ki is supposedly getting set to u nveil a s p ort cru ise r ... o r app ar ently already has to member s of th e press that they deem more worthy th an we are .. . and s till another manufa cturer has offered to meet us at the st rip in the not -too -di stant fu t u re . Yesiree , sport c ruiser s ar e hot indeed. Hence, th e Road Sta r Warrior, a sport cruiser wh ich fuses high -tech with trad ition , but with a decid ed e m phasis on perfo rma nce - both straight-lin e a nd in the cu rves . Yamaha descr ibes the bike as having a cruise r he a rt with an athletic soul. That m a y be acc urate e no ugh, as th e heart of the Warrior follows traditiona l cru ise r m ethodolog y. Yama ha started with th e a ir-c o ol e d , pushrod V-tw in in t ro d uce d in t h e original Road Sta r. Th is versi on, how ever, is e quippe d for go , as Yamaha engineers tweaked and tweezed the 48 -degree Vee motor to produce 102 cub ic in c h es , wh ich e q u a t e s to 16 70 cc, this thanks to ceramic composite -p late d jugs that measure 97mm each , 2mm larger than t he Road Star's 95mm . The Wa rrior's barrels also sport large r f ins for inc re ase d cooling . Inside those barrels sw ing forged p istons that have been lightened to reduc e rec iproc a ting mass. Whe re the or ig inal Road Star's motor was designed for max torque but was a real wh eezer on top, the War r ior 's motor is engi neer ed to c a p it a lize o n high-rpm pul l. The fuel-injected V-tw in utilizes 40mm