Hey Yamaha!

[MikeWa]

In case you are listening. Some of us bike riders who like the Touring bikes are getting a little older. Traffic congestion is getting worse. And it is not at all unusual to get stuck in a slow moving traffic jam. So how about a clutch that is a lot easier to pull. Since you are building hydraulic clutches the amount of effort needed is just a decision that you made. So how about one that is very easy to pull and accessory springs for the handle for those who want more stiffness. My wrist thumb and forefinger are killing me.

 

Mike

[Capt-D]

and while they are at it, how about a new updated touring bike, with better lighting, better brakes, better instrumentation, fuel injection, better shock..........

[darthandy]

It seems that our best bet for getting an up to date touring bike with a model name from Yamaha on it would be to buy a Goldwing and glue a "Venture" nameplate on it. Does Yamaha really care about touring riders anymore?

 

Andy

[mini-muffin]

I'd say they probably aren't looking to keep the touring folks that rode the venture. Seems to be why so many are buying other brands now. Heck we have a '12 Wing. The boss man just got a harley.

 

Margaret

[Sylvester]

In all fairness, why would they build a touring model? We, the people who made the market for touring models, are aging out of the motorcycle market. I don't think that I could ever wear SYLVESTER in the time I have left. I don't ride near as much as I have the last five decades, and I don't ride as long when I do ride. Too many aches now. Look at how many bikes have been on the forum for sale the last couple years compared to earlier. Yes, many of them are upgrading but many are just getting out of riding for health reasons.

 

[dacheedah]

In all fairness, why would they build a touring model? We, the people who made the market for touring models, are aging out of the motorcycle market. I don't think that I could ever wear SYLVESTER in the time I have left. I don't ride near as much as I have the last five decades, and I don't ride as long when I do ride. Too many aches now. Look at how many bikes have been on the forum for sale the last couple years compared to earlier. Yes, many of them are upgrading but many are just getting out of riding for health reasons.

 

 

R u sayin to have a factory triked model like Harley does for the Baby Boomers

[bongobobny]

Well, while we are all dreaming, how about all of those things AND a lower price???

[MikeWa]

With Goldwing, Victory, Harley, Kawasaki and now Indian all doing well in the large bike market I just can't picture Yamaha getting out of it. But who knows. They built the best Touring bike of it's time and then just let it flounder for years. Of course it would help if they listened to their customers and learn the meaning if I-N-C-R-E-M-E-N-T-A-L.

 

Mike

[EasyRider]

Freebird !! You bought a H and the forum has gone to Hill !! At 63 the only thing I am aging out of is the old folks home!!! The best part of this site was the LIVELY banter between the 1st gens and 2nd gen's as well as beating the dead horse Yamaha about a new and improved cassette player It seems that this forum as been somehow connected to the badly running Health Care site.. Heck even this is better than giving up the dream. Now for all you folks who are thin skinned we you anyway. (HMMM wonder if any are still young enough to ))

[Venturous Randy]

I really can not blame Yamaha. I remember many years ago going into Yamaha dealerships and seeing a new untitled Venture sitting there that was a year or two old. In actuality, there has been very little demand for the Venture as compared to their other business ventures, no pun intended.

If I blame Yamaha for anything, it has always been the marketing strategy for the Venture, as there was not any.

RandyA

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

Stop being silly.... the cassette works fine. .. if you can find any.

[BratmanXj]

The market as a whole has gone to the Bobber and Chopped-Bagger look. Full tourers are not as hot of a market as the once were.

 

Yamaha has put out the Bolt & Stryker to compete against the growing bobber market. They have the 1300 Deluxe and Stratoliner Deluxe to compete with the bagger market. They are chasing what is hot right now.

[Condor]

Freebird !! You bought a H and the forum has gone to Hill !! At 63 the only thing I am aging out of is the old folks home!!! The best part of this site was the LIVELY banter between the 1st gens and 2nd gen's as well as beating the dead horse ))

 

Like a lot of other old members I think he's just gotten bored and moved on. Yawn!! But my 2ndgen is faster than your 2ndGen....

[EasyRider]

Like a lot of other old members I think he's just gotten bored and moved on. Yawn!! But my 2ndgen is faster than your 2ndGen....

 

My cane is faster than yours and has more safety chrome just can't move fast enough for the led's to light up!!

[Yammer Dan]

Like a lot of other old members I think he's just gotten bored and moved on. Yawn!! But my 2ndgen is faster than your 2ndGen....

 

My cane is faster than yours and has more safety chrome just can't move fast enough for the led's to light up!!

 

And my 1st Gen is faster than both of ya!! And I got wheels on my CHROME walker!!

 

What 2nd Gen??? I hid it.....

[EasyRider]

Had wheels on mine too but kept forgetting to put the kickstand down and falling over:backinmyday:

[Mike G in SC]

R u sayin to have a factory triked model like Harley does for the Baby Boomers

 

 

I was in a Veterans parade in Charleston, SC yesterday (Hey, met up with Joe Patrick!).

 

I was tail, so I was behind 3 trikes, an older HD, a Venture and a 2012 Goldwing.

(Sounds a bit like a joke with a priest, a rabi and a medicin man)

 

I'm 63 now, less than 2 years to retire, we will travel. I asked the wife, which she liked best.

She said, not the Harley. We both favored the Wing.

 

Yeah, when I retire I may think about triking my 2009 Venture or consider a Wing trike. I want more than 3 cylinders on a trike.

 

SO, yeah, good thought. Yamaha might be able to sell trikes to us baby boomers coming off Ventures.

 

(oh,,,,, but I will keep the RSTD for my solo ride)

 

Mike G.

[Yammer Dan]

Had wheels on mine too but kept forgetting to put the kickstand down and falling over:backinmyday:

 

Put mine in closet. Hope its about 50 years before I have to go look for it.

[BigLenny]

I would think Yamaha took a long hard look at what happened when Kawasaki heeded the desires of their Voyager lovers and gave them a cool looking redesigned bike, only to see it slowly creep out of the stores. This was a chance for Yammy to see what would happen if another relevant Japanese company took a stab at the touring market with a new bike. I bet it caused them to go hmmmmm about the Venture.

 

And another thing. In my humble and very often not correct opinion, Kawasaki appeared to take a half way approach when they redesigned the Voyager. If Yamaha is going to do that, they might as well not bother. If they are ever going to upgrade the Venture, they need to offer at least the same features that are currently being offered on HD, Victory, Honda, BMW, etc. i.e. Heated grips, heated seats, bluetooth hookup, a GPS option, 6 speed tranny..........

 

Harley owns 40% of the US motorcycle market, and 60% of the US touring bike market. Yamaha might be looking at it like they aren't willing to invest a large sum of dough to duke it out with Victory, Honda, BMW, Kawasaki, etc, for a small piece of the 40% that HD doesn't have. AND, now that HD has introduced their new water cooled bike, that 60% is only going to grow.

 

But, it doesn't keep us from wishing, does it?

[Barrycuda]

It seems that our best bet for getting an up to date touring bike with a model name from Yamaha on it would be to buy a Goldwing and glue a "Venture" nameplate on it. Does Yamaha really care about touring riders anymore?

 

Andy

 

 

Tru dat!!!

 

 

As for the Big Lenny post, he may be on to something. kawasaki Vulcan/voyager COULD have been an excellent bike if they didn't half ass things like no rear speaker, no LED lights, CD player and the fry your thigh exhaust coming off the exhaust. They cheaply tried to fix that with a plastic port designed to extract the hot as heck air away, but did THAT half way. If yamaha did see that, then they should have been licking their chops at the idea of adding a few basic modern features with keeping the infamous V4, and they would soar in sales!!!!

BTW, in of itself...the Vulcan, not the voyager edition, the actual Vulcan no,ad and classic are extremely reliable, trouble free bikes that are under appreciated...

Edited November 5, 2013 by Barrycuda

[tazmocycle]

I bought my new 01 royal star in april '01 and have put almost 78k worry free miles riding. I liked it so much, that in 04 I flew to tx and rode home an '01 venture which I put about 8k on it(4700 to sturgus, sd and back) but totaled it in april '05(got over $2k more than I had in it) and bought my departed friend's 97 royal and v-star 1100 which I still have and a wrecked 96, I will soon get back on. I picked up a '86 venture for few dollars and got it down to redo it. three yrs ago I bought an 03 venture trike with less than 1700 miles on it, so I think I have enough Yamaha ventures to last my lifetime!! after Yamaha stopped making the royal in 01, every time I saw a yammie rep, I made sure to tell them that Yamaha had stop making the best bike they had ever made, so I was very happy to see it come back in '05 but then they stop it AGAIN!! what the 'well that's the way it goes!! how many times have you seen a Yamaha commercial for the touring bikes they make!! I've seen more ventures in movies than commericals!! in the 12 1/2 yrs of owning my royal and going from not seeing another unlees you went to a large rally till this past sunday, I saw about 25 or so. also there are several websites now for royal stars and ventures with problly about 20k or so members and new ones showing up every week. I guess them old jap owners are paying us back for all the hurt we put on them, many moons ago!! LOL!! and that's all I have to say about!!

[dingy]

Like a lot of other old members I think he's just gotten bored and moved on. Yawn!! But my 2ndgen is faster than your 2ndGen....

 

My 2nd gen is gonna kick all you whippersnappers buttocks.

 

And it is coming along, it WILL make MD in Oberlin.

 

And Tweety is getting a new oil check sight glass that works when it is on the side stand. Figure that one out.

 

Gary

[Yammer Dan]

There is no way we should be able to run with that FREAK. But I've heard the wind blow before. You keep making noise.

[BigLenny]

Well don't think HONDA (Goldwings) are trying to stay out there on the leading edge more than any of the others (HD - Indian- Kaw-etc)...

Honda just came out with their 2014 GW and you have a choice of three colors..no other changes were made.

 

Another example of Japanese conservative thinking.

 

As I stated in the above post, Harley has 60% of the U.S. full dresser touring market (Rider Magazine data). I would venture to bet that the Honda GW has 25-30% of the remaining 40% that HD doesn't have. So, if you are Honda, do you spend a boat load of money and resource time to redesign a machine that is already the gold standard of the non feet forward full dresser touring world, only to gain maybe 2-5% in market share? Probably not. These are the kind of discussions that are going on at Japanese bike HQ's. Now, if they started seeing sales slide, and market share drop, those conversations would get more serious.

 

Something for us all to remember is, Harley and the other motorcycle only companies have to really be in tune with what their customers want because they live and die by the motorcycle sword. Honda and Yamaha have plenty of other product channels to bring revenue into the mother ship. ATV's, Side by Side's, Water crafts, Generators, Lawn equipment, etc. As long as a product is performing strong for them, they aren't going to jump in with all fours and redesign it. They will look at their total offering of products to see where serious upgrades need to be done to stay competitive.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

[BratmanXj]

Didn't the Goldwing get a major reworking for 2012? Yes, I know its still the same 1800 chassis they have been using since 2001; but the 1500 stuck around for 13 years and is still a major player in the used bike market. Yamaha dropped the ball on the Royal Star line by not making any incremental changes, but even in 2013 it is still a viable player in the touring market.

 

These are touring bikes, people want comfort and reliability and not high tech and cutting edge. Honda is working on introducing people to riding by expanding the sub-600cc product line. Yamaha is expanding their mid-size line to bring in new customers. As BigLenny said, they look at the overall (even outside motorcycles) to improve the company as a whole. The Touring-Cruiser to Yamaha is a SMALL percentage of their gross sales.