2018 YAMAHA STAR ELUDER
FULL TEST
P82 VOL. 55 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 23, 2018 P82
being hit against a wall when you engage
first gear. There's no heel-toe shifter and the
effort is helped by the slip and assist clutch
that allows for a light lever pull and makes
downshifts a breeze from high rpm that
would otherwise have the backend skipping
around on corner entry.
At speed, the Eluder is a rolling, thunder-
ing behemoth, which is surprisingly light on
its feet for an 875 pounds (claimed) motor-
cycle. That is a lot of bike to get used to, but
Yamaha's engineers have done exception-
ally well in making the center of gravity nice
and low, which gives the chassis a planted
and secure feeling in corners.
The Eluder doesn't require a large input
from the rider to initiate the corner—yes, it's
a big bike but it's surprisingly easy to hustle
about—and it'll change direction swiftly if
you're patient with it.
The Eluder in full option mode. Those
who buy an Eluder will want to invest in
the passenger back rest, but you could
also go for the extra lighting which will
seriously brighten your night (under the
main headlight and under the side panel).
That seven-inch screen is the
business for big trips.
First to third is short, with fourth and fifth over-
drive gears, and sixth really overdrive. As such,
only on freeways when the speed was consis-
tently north of 70 mph did I see sixth gear, with
fifth the almost perfect ratio for most backroad
touring into the almost never-ending hills around
San Diego county.
The gearbox action is very good with the
Eluder and won't sound like a bag of wrenches
