Yamaha Star Venture Cruiser Bike Unveiled

Yamaha has unveiled the new Star Venture motorcycle for the US market. So impressed is the Japanese two-wheeler giant with its new motorcycle that they have created a new segment called - Transcontinental Touring. But we’d rather stick to labelling the bike as a cruiser or a touring bike as it competes against other humongous creations like the Honda Goldwing, BMW K1600GTL, Indian Roadmaster and the Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special. 

While it looks mean and brawny from the outside, the Yamaha Star Venture shares its underpinnings with the Yamaha XV1900 Midnight Star. The Yamaha Star Adventure features a large headlamp housing with a tall windscreen to protect the rider from wind blast and the large air-scoops on both the ends look wicked. The windscreen can be controlled electronically and the bike also features mid-fairing deflectors to direct air towards the rider to keep him cool. 

Powering the behemoth is an equally gargantuan 1,854cc, air-cooled V-twin engine pushing out a massive 170Nm of peak torque which is sent to the rear wheel via belt drive. The bike tips the scale at a hefty 434kg and gladly Yamaha engineers have provided an electric bi-directional crawler gear to aid the rider in parking the motorcycle. The Yamaha Star Venture has been loaded with features that include a 7-inch full-colour LCD display that is touch sensitive, smartphone compatibility, USB charging, tyre pressure monitor, heated seats, keyless ignition and also heated grips. The bike also gets equipped with various ride modes, ride-by-wire, cruise control, traction control and ABS. 

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The TransContinental (TC) package adds goodies like GPS, LED fog lamps and dual zone speakers that allows the rider and pillion to listen to different music and also allow them to answer calls separately via an accessory headset and mike. The base Yamaha Star Venture has been priced at $24,999 (Rs 16.08 lakh) while the optional TransContinental pack retails for $26,999 (Rs 17.37 lakh). It is unlikely that the Yamaha Star Venture will come to India or the European market as the bike doesn’t comply with Euro 4 and BS-IV emission norms.