Yamaha...pay attention here!

[videoarizona]

Ever since I sold my VStar 950 Tourer, I've regretted it. Comfortable, nimble, fast, sips gas, great for touring around the state. 

Kawasaki ( among others) are bringing back mid size cruisers. Yamaha? Nope. 

This W800 retro looking cruiser with ABS and other modern goodies for under$10k is a fantastic opportunity for the K group. 

I am doing some serious thinking in this direction. 

Why Yamaha dropped the VStar 950 and the VStar 1300 is beyond my thinking. A touch of modernization and they would have kept the market position they enjoyed with those two cruisers! 

Anyway, enjoy the picture. Kawasaki has outdone the British with this bike! From pipes to wheels!

David

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by videoarizona
Sp

[Freebird]

Sure brings back the looks of the old Triumphs and BSAs.   They should have put a kick start on it for nostalgia. 

[BlueSky]

Looks like it has the narrow seat of the old bikes too, ones that make your butt feel like it's going to break after about 30 minutes.  Maybe the engine has balancers to reduce the vibration of the twin.   I was toying with the idea of buying one of those newer Honda CB1100 retro bikes but after I sat down on one, I changed my mind.  

Update, I just read a review of the bike and the engine does have a balance shaft to reduce the vibration.  It has about 50hp which might feel underpowered after riding a Venture.

I love my 85 Kawasaki ZN700. It has a 74hp four, shaft drive, dual disc brakes in the front and a disc brake in the rear and it weighs the same as the W800.  If it had a more comfy seat, it would be close to perfect.  

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=kawasaki+zn700+photos&fr=yhs-syndic8-active8&type=sourceAUD1&hspart=syndic8&hsimp=yhs-active8&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsuprememotos.com%2Fuploads%2Fpostfotos%2F1985-kawasaki-zn700-ltd-2.jpg#id=5&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsuprememotos.com%2Fuploads%2Fpostfotos%2F1985-kawasaki-zn700-ltd-2.jpg&action=click

Edited November 2, 2022 by BlueSky

[slowrollwv]

I still like my Venture but I also have a V-Star 1300 tour and I just got a 95 Road King that was my brothers before he passed.

[Steve S]

I firmly believe if Yamaha had put fuel injection, 6 speed transmission and a CD player on the Venture it would still be selling today. 

Steve

[BlueSky]

And hopefully the whine would be eliminated.

[ChiefGunner]

15 hours ago, Steve S said:

I firmly believe if Yamaha had put fuel injection, 6 speed transmission and a CD player on the Venture it would still be selling today. 

Steve

Steve, you’re not referring to the current generation of Star Venture are you? I ask because it does have EFI as well as 6 speed. And regarding the CD player, it has TWO USB inputs capable of handling 32GB USB each. It’s what I use for my music 99% of the time. As long as the properties of the music are filled in properly ie.. TITLE, ARTIST, ALBUM and GENRE, the infotainment can search and play it accordingly. It can even play it by VOX command.  I tap a button and say “PLAY, Eric Clapton, Layla” and it does it.  Or, “Play, Artist, Ted Nugent” and it plays all his songs I have.

Edited November 3, 2022 by ChiefGunner

[videoarizona]

23 hours ago, slowrollwv said:

I still like my Venture but I also have a V-Star 1300 tour and I just got a 95 Road King that was my brothers before he passed.

If you decide to sell the 1300, PM me. I might be able to help out!

Grins.....

[Steve S]

On 11/3/2022 at 6:07 AM, ChiefGunner said:

Steve, you’re not referring to the current generation of Star Venture are you? I ask because it does have EFI as well as 6 speed. And regarding the CD player, it has TWO USB inputs capable of handling 32GB USB each. It’s what I use for my music 99% of the time. As long as the properties of the music are filled in properly ie.. TITLE, ARTIST, ALBUM and GENRE, the infotainment can search and play it accordingly. It can even play it by VOX command.  I tap a button and say “PLAY, Eric Clapton, Layla” and it does it.  Or, “Play, Artist, Ted Nugent” and it plays all his songs I have.

Chief I was referring to the earlier RSV with the 4-cylinder VMax engines.  I'm old school and do not enjoy the V-twins.  

Steve

[luvmy40]

12 hours ago, Steve S said:

Chief I was referring to the earlier RSV with the 4-cylinder VMax engines.  I'm old school and do not enjoy the V-twins.  

Steve

While I agree with your devotion to the Yam V4, I have to laugh at referring to it as an an old school devotion. The V twin has been around since 1908.

Edited November 5, 2022 by luvmy40

[saddlebum]

Old school or not, I agree yamaha should have stuck with the V4 and simply revised it to a fuel injected engine.The rest of the fancy electronics I can take it or leave it.

[Steve S]

13 hours ago, luvmy40 said:

While I agree with your devotion to the Yam V4, I have to laugh at referring to it as an an old school devotion. The V twin has been around since 1908.

The reason I say "Old school" is I believe the more cylinders you have the more torque the engine will provide.  Newer engines are going with less cylinders but providing more HP.  This is true in automobiles as well as bikes.  

I also like a smoother engine that the 4-cylinder engines provides.  

[ChiefGunner]

1 hour ago, Steve S said:

The reason I say "Old school" is I believe the more cylinders you have the more torque the engine will provide.  Newer engines are going with less cylinders but providing more HP.  This is true in automobiles as well as bikes.  

I also like a smoother engine that the 4-cylinder engines provides.  

Problem is it’s not always true. For example, the current 6 cylinder Goldwing has 126HP and 125 ft lb of torque. The SVTC v-twin has 90HP and 126 ft lb of torque..  Given that I have the Ivans Flash tune on my ECM, I’m currently running about 137 ft lb of torque.

Yes, a multi cylinder bike will be smoother but has nothing to do with adding more torque. Torque is what gets the bike moving.  Hence it’s more about the gearing than the cylinders.

Edited November 5, 2022 by ChiefGunner

[BlueSky]

This is more like what I like in a retro bike.  

https://www.totalmotorcycle.com/motorcycles/2023/2023-kawasaki-z900rs

110hp, dual front brake discs, water cooling

Edited November 5, 2022 by BlueSky

[saddlebum]

14 hours ago, ChiefGunner said:

Problem is it’s not always true. For example, the current 6 cylinder Goldwing has 126HP and 125 ft lb of torque. The SVTC v-twin has 90HP and 126 ft lb of torque..  Given that I have the Ivans Flash tune on my ECM, I’m currently running about 137 ft lb of torque.

Yes, a multi cylinder bike will be smoother but has nothing to do with adding more torque. Torque is what gets the bike moving.  Hence it’s more about the gearing than the cylinders.

Not entirely true. An engine produces torque as well as hp. Overall Engine design. From the mechanical to the fuel system to the electronics, determines how much HP and how much torque.an engine is able to produce. Gearing simply multiplys the torque produced by the engine. The required gear ratio to produce a desired torque at the Rear wheel is dependent on the initial torque produced by the engine. Also number of cylinders does not necessarily determine either Hp or torque there is a lot more goes into it than just number of cylinders. The main difference is a smoother quicker responding engine with more cylinders than with fewer cylinders but both given equal total cylinder volume could produce equal hp and torque depending on overall design.

[uncledj]

Here we go again with the Torque vs Horsepower discussion, but I thought I'd learned that Horsepower is just an extrapolation from the torque value.....???

[videoarizona]

Update:

It seems Honda, among others, have come out with new mid line model cruisers. Yamaha has none. I've been watching.

There are 2 new V4 models out as well. 

It's getting interesting out there...