2006 Star Stratoliner Press Introduction - Motorcycle.com
Highway 249 is a wild roller-coaster, going from 2,000 feet up to 6,500 feet in just 20 miles. The trip to the summit and down to the Coachella Valley below is a carnival ride packed with heartbreaking twists and turns, happily on smooth pavement that encourages aggressive riding.
This demanding stretch of pavement might not be the best place to ride a luxury touring cruiser, but Star Motorcycles, Yamaha's new cruiser brand, wanted to demonstrate the new bike's sporting prowess along with its luxury and touring features. How well did it work? To find out, I was sent to the money-scented town of Palm Springs, California, to take advantage of Yamaha's hospitality and the area's spectacular winding desert and mountain roads.
Why was Star having a separate press intro for this 700-pound touring cruiser, which looks like an accessorized Roadliner, a bike Star launched just a couple of months ago? And why would they put a touring barge like this on some of the swoopiest, twistiest bits of pavement in the area? To help explain, Star's Brad Bannister hosted a presentation to explain the differences between the touring cruiser buyer and the more traditional buyer.
Touring Cruiser riders are different from their Cruiser brethren because they ride their motorcycles more often, and for greater distances. In addition to being older and more experienced riders, Yamaha's research suggests that TCs also care more about practical aspects like passenger comfort, wind protection and luggage capacity. Sure, Kawasaki's low-tech Concours sport tourer will do it all for half the price, but TC buyers are not just practical-minded drudges; appearance, sound and performance are also crucial to these folks.
With its new Star cruiser division, Yamaha hopes to lure an even greater number of these aging-but-credit-worthy consumers into their fold with models like the high-style Stratoliner.
Those of you who read our Roadliner intro story will find the tech briefing eerily familiar, as the two machines are essentially exactly the same mechanically. You can read more tech stuff in Managing Editor Pete Brissette's intro story, but here are some of the things Star felt were important to emphasize with this model.
the bike; they don't come for looks, but rather to help you clean and maintain your Stratoliner. The tall sissy bar clips neatly onto the fender supports and locks, like the screen and bags, with the ignition key.
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