gear, with fifth the almost perfect ratio for most back-
road 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 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 oth-
erwise have the backend skipping around on corner
entry.
At speed, the Eluder is a rolling, thundering behe-
moth, which is surprisingly light on its feet for an 875
pounds (claimed) motorcycle. 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,
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 head-
light and under the side panel).
That seven-inch screen is the business for big trips.
two with Sport allowing for much more instant torque than
Touring. It's deceptive how quickly it'll rush up through the
rev ranges in the first three gears thanks to the shortness of
the ratios.
First to third is short, with fourth and fifth overdrive gears,
and sixth really overdrive. As such, only on freeways when
the speed was consistently north of 70 mph did I see sixth
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CYCLE NEWS CRUISER BUYERS GUIDE
