2014 Yamaha Lineup Unveiled

At the unveiling of the remainder of Yamaha’s 2014 lineup, execs boasted of its strong sales over the last two months. They outlined the recently released Star Bolt and the YZF-R6 supersport contender as bright lights in the lineup, and crowed about the strong advance demand for the appealing new FZ-09 we’ll be riding in two weeks . Of note, Yamaha’s returning models suffer no price increase from 2013.

The Yamaha street lineup is highlighted by the FJR1300ES, a $1000 upgrade over the FJR1300A, refurbished last year and proven to be “very successful” for team Y. The ES denotes electronic suspension, a Kayaba system that includes a new inverted fork and rear shock that can be adjusted by simply pushing buttons on handlebar switchgear, with settings displayed on the LCD instrument panel.

Front and rear damping is adjustable to three settings and can be fine-tuned plus or minus three levels from neutral within the Soft, Standard or Hard settings. As in Yamaha’s R1 fork, compression damping is in the left fork leg, while rebound is in the right. The rear shock can be set to four preload settings: One up; One up with Luggage; Two Up; or Two Up with Luggage.

The $16,890 FJR- ES is otherwise identical to the FJR1300A, the bike that took top laurels in our Sport-Touring Shootout 1.0 from several months ago. It impressed for its new ride-by-wire throttle with two useful drive modes and traction and cruise control, heated grips, adjustable seat, electrically adjustable windscreen, and better heat management. Only some vibration and a lack of a sixth gear deducted some points.

Also read about the FJR’s 2013 revisions in our review

The Bolt, winner of our comparo with Harley-Davidson’s Iron 883, gets company in the Star line for 2014 with the introduction of a revised Raider SCL (Star Custom Line), part of what Star describes as “the broadest lineup in the metric (cruiser) market.”

For 2014, the Raider SCL trades some bling for a “tough/retro/modern scheme,” which translates to matte finishes and relatively dull colors: here, “Matte Iron” paint mixed with black accents. LED turnsignals are a new addition, and a genuine leather seat is part of the $16,990 package. As with previous SCLs, quantities are limited to 500 units verified with a numbered badge.