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1Ab0ve) Two-up riding Is outstanding on this particular Road Star, thanks In part to
the Mustang seat and the Yamaha of Cucamonga-modlfled, Elbach spring-equipped
rear shock.
(Below) The new Xccelerator two-Into-one pipe fI'om DC Hard Krome not only
pumps out the power, but It sounds cool and tums a lot of heads. The majority of
the chrome and billet accessories are available fI'om Yamaha.
stock parts on his Road Star to get
the chrome treatment included the
handlebar control housings and
levers, the stator cover, the rear pulley (Le. sprocket for the belt-drive),
the inner part of the disc brakes, the
saddlebag mounts, the ignition-side
engine cover, and the decompression
cover.
As of now, though, most of the
"shiny" parts on the bike were manufactured by Yamaha - about $3200
cue
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worth of Yamaha cosmetic stuff,
actually - and most of it is ballmilled. The more than $1000 worth of
chrome-exchange parts, along with
some Pro-One billet accessories, help
bring the look of the machine at least
close to the way he wants it.
Soon after making some of his first
long-distance rides, both with and
without his Star Touring And Riding
group, he decided the stock seat just
wasn't doing it for him, as it was giving him near-chronic monkey-butt.
He found what he was looking for in
the Mustang Seat company. Mustang
makes many types of seats for
almost the complete range of standard and metric cruisers, and Dennis
found what he was looking for in the
Two-Piece Driver Backrest Touring
Seat, and, of course, he got the
model with the studs and fringe pretty much anytime there's an
option for "more," he takes it. Not
that that's a bad thing. He also added
fringe to the Silverado saddlebags
and leather fringe wraps to the
recently chromed levers as well,
mainly to round out the look. He
looks at his bike more as a heavy
cruiser/tourer than anything else.
"It's very comfortable on long runs
now," he says. "I really enjoy the
Road Star. I put 16,000 miles on it in
the first year alone. It's extremely
comfortable, there's no maintenance
at all - you just change oil and ride it.
I had the first maintenance at 16,000
miles, and the next maintenance is at
32,000."
Part, but not all, of the credit for
the comfort of the bike is due to the
Mustang seat, he says. The rest is
due to the solid chassis package
Yamaha provided with the machine,
n
e
_
so;
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APRIL 3, 2002
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