I love these mini reviews,, short, sweet and directly to the point..

[camos]

Great... they shoulda called it anything but a VENTURE.

You got that right, it's an insult to call a V-Twin a Venture.

 

At some point you guys are just going to have to get over it, Yamaha is the one who did the studies, they are the ones who put up the millions of dollars to design and build the new Star Venture, they are the ones taking all the risk.

 

Clearly the focus groups did not want another V-4 Venture, they clearly said they wanted an air cooled V-Twin, so that is what Yamaha did they built the bike the focus groups said they wanted and so far this new Yamaha Star Venture is the best touring bike out there bar none.

I think you are right in you above statement except for the pic is of a Yamaha Venturer which had not yet become the Venture. The fact that Yamaha made it a Star Venture means it is not a Generation 3 Yamaha Venture. The Transcontinental is as much a Venture as the Chevrolet Venture.

 

I would also agree that the Star TC is most likely the best touring bike available today. If Yamaha had actually made a 3rd Gen Yamaha Venture with the V4 it would without doubt blow the doors off the Star Venture in the touring arena. It's just sad that Yamaha chose instead to pander to the Star cruiser crowd focus groups and serve up potato salad. It is an understandable business decision though since the cruiser crowd is far larger than the touring crowd.

 

To finish off, I like the new TC even though it isn't a Venture.

[American]

Counter opinion to cowpuc even though cowpuc said in his own ride video at the 13 to 14 second mark "She feels pretty sporty man" while accelerating up the on ramp when he demoed 2018 Star Venture.

 

[ChiefGunner]

Counter opinion to cowpuc even though cowpuc said in his own ride video at the 13 to 14 second mark "She feels pretty sporty man" while accelerating up the on ramp when he demoed 2018 Star Venture.

 

 

Great review! Since someone in the forum suggested we “defer” to Pucs evaluation of the SVTC based on his “1.5million riding miles”, it seems that Long Haul Paul IS the FINAL authority given that HIS mileage on various bikes makes Puc look like amateur. It’s just my take since to some people the amount of time in the saddle is the end all qualifier.

Thanks Long Haul Paul for addressing that!

[CaseyJ955]

Great... they shoulda called it anything but a VENTURE.

I think this was my #1 gripe. Followed by all the secrecy before unveiling, they could have let us know that a performance tourer was not actually on the menu. I had a very healthy chunk of change ready to go for a gen3 and today I still have that $$ so im fine. I know a few folks in town at Kawasaki that rode and all rave about them. So I am convinced that its a darn fine bike. Like many I'm not put off by Yamaha making a better twin. FANTASTIC! packaging it as a performance tourer (by using the Venture name) and not telling customers what they were cooking up was a misstep. Im not a 5 yr old on xmas morning, im a thinking adult with cash, credit and an inclination to buy a big bike. I dont need all the hype and secrecy like they were building the next space shuttle. I dont need PR stunts. Yamaha gave me back to the European mfrs by not being more open with its potential customers (and not making a performance tourer that many of us were waiting for). I wish Yamaha all the luck in the world, From what I know so far its a super bike. They will go into the future without my loyalty or money, but I seriously doubt this will break Yamaha's bank or feelings. Congrats to those that have and love the gen3, I am genuinely happy to read the good reviews and happy buyers raves.

[AABBCC]

IMO the 3rd Gen Venture is way over-priced.

 

If you shop by MSRP, sure it's a few hundred more than similar classed bikes but if you shop around, you can get one for less than $22k. Or perhaps you're just saying this class of bike is out of your price range new, and that's the case for me, which is why I bought a 2nd gen. Later down the road, I'll pick up a 3rd gen used for a fraction of the price new.

 

 

2018 Electra Glide MSRP $24,249

 

2018 Goldwing with optional trunk MSRP $24,574

 

2018 Venture MSRP $24,999

Edited June 1, 2018 by AABBCC

[Du-Rron]

Great review! Since someone in the forum suggested we “defer” to Pucs evaluation of the SVTC based on his “1.5million riding miles”, it seems that Long Haul Paul IS the FINAL authority given that HIS mileage on various bikes makes Puc look like amateur. It’s just my take since to some people the amount of time in the saddle is the end all qualifier.

Thanks Long Haul Paul for addressing that!

 

Please stop reading what you want into any article. Paul, in this video just says ride the bike. He gives no comparitive against its' ancestor, the V4, or the politics "of what could have been."

Long Haul Paul WANTS to ride a million miles for a good cause. As of 2018 he has 300K on him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Pelland

 

A shoutout for Paul Pelland. Attaboy Paul!!!!!

[Du-Rron]

If you shop by MSRP, sure it's a few hundred more than similar classed bikes but if you shop around, you can get one for less than $22k. Or perhaps you're just saying this class of bike is out of your price range new, and that's the case for me, which is why I bought a 2nd gen.

 

2018 Electra Glide MSRP $24,249

The real deal.

 

2018 Goldwing with optional trunk MSRP $24,574

water-cooled flat 6, shaft drive, engineering dollars easily seen. troublesome suspension so far.

 

2018 Venture MSRP $24,999

 

Air-cooled belt drive v-twin. Not quite the engineering some of us were expecting. Boutique build quantities like Victory. Harley and Honda will not ever know this bike even exists. Will not pass Euro 5 emissions so this is a North American limited market bike only.

 

Later down the road, I'll pick up a 3rd gen used for a fraction of the price new.

 

The folks that paid cash for them might not be willing to lose 50% on their dollar in their 1st year. The folks that finance everything might be willing to get out of them for a loss since they probably got into them upside down in the 1st place. Would not surprise me to see a $27K SVTC in 2020 used for $10K.

[cowpuc]

Here is a copy/paste from another thread that I responded to today that I want to toss in here:

 

 

""""American,, I think you (and possibly others) may be misjudging my video clip and the context in it concerning exactly what I was trying to accomplish there.. That video, where I ran the SVTC up to its rev limiter thru the gears, was not about trying to see how fast it was (as in a drag race), what that was about was I was trying tx mo demonstrate the new bikes top speed in each gear for comparison to the my 1st Gen. If you listen carefully, I clearly state what appears to be the top speed of each gear..

I totally agree with the concept that if a person wanted to get max light to light or 1/4 mile performance from this new bike, because of its narrow window of top torque and lower hp - probably short shifting would produce the better times BUT,, and this is always a problem IMHO when dealing with high torque - low R - low hp motors when looking at elapsed times - you have to shift a lot more then the higher HP, faster revving bikes which utilize a much wider rpm range and therefore less shifting is needed.. Again,, I am FAR from being any kind of an expert in any of this stuff as compared to folks mentioned earlier but I do know from racing "pipey" early model 2 stroke mx bikes that in order to be win races/be competitive with short power zones a person has to almost use your tranny as a throttle and that can/does make getting performance from such a designed machine a little tricky.

Concerning some of the name calling/personal attacks here... I am the first one to admit (this actually makes me chuckle) that Tip and I are TOTALY amatures when it comes to motorcycle touring stuff.. We ride for fun and certainly NOT for professional status and are farrrr from anything even close to someone like "Long Haul Paul" who I totally :bowdown: to when it comes to touring experience and motorcycling in general.. I dont know Long Haul personally but I do know that there are others within our club that I also :bowdown: too both in ride experience (one of those, a member here by the name of VentureFar, actually did an extended test ride and authored and excellent article about the SVTC found here: https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/201...-star-venture/ ) and also as gear heads,,, bottom line - I TOTALLY agree with the fact that I am truly an AMATURE!! But,, even us amatures should have the freedom to speak our opinions (as long as we are not personally attacking someone as a person and getting into name calling - that is just plain wrong and should not be tolerated - especially on a pay site IMHO).

I find the contreversy over this new Venture and what it is and what it isn't to be amazing.. I recently found another website that is not a controlled pay site like ours that appears to be going HAY WIRE over exactly what we are discussing here. Ironically, it isnt even a Yamaha site but, get this,, its a defunct Polaris site called "The VOG"..

There is thread on that site = found here: http://www.thevog.net/threads/yamaha...onster.144689/

 

where apparently one of the Vog members (named "REDVIC" = perhaps meaning that at one time or another - he/she owned a Red Victory?) stepped out and grabbed a new Venture and then made a post about their new Venture being a "Torque Monster" to which some of the other VOG members stepped up and took issue to. At this time, the thread has 59 PAGES of heated discussion about the reality of the new Ventures stats and there are some (IMHO) pretty sharp guys in there (one named "Hard Core" especially) who really do know their stuff concerning what the new bike is and what it isnt.. It is a very good read that, even the Moderators over there have refused to shut down because of its relevance even with all the name calling and misleading information (there seems to be a lot of a person trying to justify his purchase, possibly even still trying to convince himself that he made the right choice thru convincing others that he did). My own personal point in bringing this up is to demonstrate to our readers here at VR that we are not the only ones debating the subject..""

[American]

First let me state I have ridden a first gen Venture, a friend of mine owned one that he bought brand new so when I rode it, it was not a many years old worn out bike, it was low mileage almost new. Nothing stood out on that ride regarding that first gen Venture, it was a nice bike but really no better than my 1989 GoldWing GL1500 that I had back then.

 

The Victory Owners Group (VOG), I am a member of that forum still and RedVic is me, I posted up the review because Victory is no more and there are owners over there who will be looking for a new bike soon. I don't have to justify my purchase of this 2018 Yamaha Star Venture to anyone and I sure as hell was not trying to justify my purchase of it on the VOG.

 

The other poster you are calling "Hard Core" is "Half_Crazy", he is well known to go into any thread and start in with his stock bikes don't have any power crap and you can't pass on a stock bike and you have to put in cams an intake an exhaust and a tuner to be happy because you can't be happy with a stock bike. When I traded in my 2013 Victory Cross Country Tour for the 2016 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited Low a couple of members asked me to do a comparison review of the two bikes so I did and Half_Crazy had his normal hissy fit and carried on about stock bikes have no power blah blah blah. I got accused of trying to justify my purchase of the Harley by the same little group over there then as well. Half_Crazy by the way works for a bike shop that installs cams, exhaust, intakes and tuners and dyno's them so he has a vested interest in trying to talk everyone into having that work done, it helps his job security. Anyone who says they are happy with their stock bike gets the full treatment from Half_Crazy about how they don't know what they are talking about and they don't know what they are missing. Been there and done that to many times with Half_Crazy at the VOG.

 

You are upset because Yamaha did not put a V-4 in the new Star Venture and yes it is a Venture. I have seen some of your reviews, like the one where you briefly talk about the "sure Park" with the guy from Yamaha and you praised it and said it was neat then in your own comment section in your youtube video someone comments about not needing a reverse and you state if you can't back up a bike on your own you will quite riding pretty much dissing the sure park system.

 

In this other video you state "She seems pretty sporty man" and now you are passing it off as a top speed test in each gear, come on cowpuc, we get it you don't like the new Star Venture that is why you keep posting that it is not selling, but where I live they are hard to find in a dealer. You keep posting that auction of a Venture and I have posted that auction is a red flag to me as it is not posted under the dealers name but under the name of someone else who sells other things. I also posted a review where that dealer did the old bait and switch on someone who was going to buy a motorcycle from them but the price changed over night from $9,999 to $11,000 dollars. Red Flags all over that dealer.

 

I have no need to justify my purchase of this 2018 Star Venture and as for power this bike is not lacking for power in any way. You can make all the youtube videos you want to about it and try to pass it off as a gutless bike but I do own the bike as do several others and I have yet to hear an actual owner complain about the power.

 

This 2018 Star Venture is the best touring bike on the market right now bar none, it has storage capacity, it has the latest infotainment system, it has power, it has great handling, it has awesome low speed and parking lot speed handling, it has not only reverse but forward as well with its sure park system, the only bike on the market that offers both reverse and forward and this bike is the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden.

 

Your just stirring the pot cowpuc, Yamaha did not build the bike you wanted i.e. with the liquid cooled V-4, and you and the others who wanted that V-4 have all said pretty much the same thing that you think the Star Venture is over priced and you would not spend that much money for one anyway, so even if Yamaha had put in a liquid cooled V-4 none of you would have stepped up and purchased one anyway by your own statements about the price of the Star Venture.

 

Those of use who have stepped up and purchased this 2018 Star Venture are having the time of our lives and we are tickled pink with this awesome bike.

 

It is easy to see from my past ownership of touring motorcycles I have not been brand loyal, 1989 Honda GoldWing GL1500, 2013 Victory Cross Country Tour, 2016 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited Low and now this 2018 Yamaha Star Venture.

 

One more point about this Half_Crazy guy, I installed a high flow air filter, D&D exhaust, Dobeck AFR+ Gen 4 tuner and the bike put down 92 HP and 107 lbs feet of torque on a dyno, Half_Crazy criticized those number because I did not have cams installed in that bike but a Victory with cams was only putting out 115 lbs feet of torque, only 8 lbs feet of torque more than my combination, so I saved about $2,000 dollars by not installing cams on that Victory and came within 8 lbs feet of torque of the Victory's with cams in them. But according to Half_Crazy my Victory was a dog and had no power. My Victory was far from being a dog.

 

Half_Crazy likes to push HP is the be all end all. But a good combination of torque makes for one hell of a bike as this Star Venture proves. Remember this as Half_Crazy does not think it's true but Enzo Ferrari, Carroll Shelby and even Jay Leno have said on may occasions "Horsepower sells cars, but Torque wins races".

 

I have this new Yamaha Star Venture and it has been on a dyno in magazine tests and has put out from 109 lbs feet of torque to 112 lbs feet of torque if you go by the second number this stock Yamaha Star Venture is within 3 lbs feet of torque of a Victory with cams in it. That is pretty impressive for a stock bike off the showroom floor.

 

As for passenger comfort my wife says this Star Venture is by far the most comfortable bike we have owned yet, the suspension is very well sorted out right from the factory with you only having to set the damping preload for the rear shock. No cowpuc we are not trying to justify our purchase of the 2018 Star Venture, the bike is more than capable of convincing people on its own that it is a worthy product in the touring market.

 

So stir away cowpuc, we 2018 Star Venture owners are happy with our purchase. I really wanted a new GoldWing Tour but after seeing the suspension issues and some other issues with that bike I am glad I went ahead and looked at and bought a Yamaha Star Venture Transcontinental over the GoldWing Tour, I think I got the better bike now that both have been out for a little while.