#Bolt

Yamaha has gotten good use out of its popular Bolt line, giving us the Bolt, the Bolt R-Spec, and the C-Spec. Now, the tuning fork company has recast the Bolt as a Scrambler. The SCR950 shares much with its Bolt brethren. The same engine and frame are used throughout the line. All sport a 19-inch front wheel and a 3.2 gallon tank – though the SCR’s is now seamless. You can bet this change will make it to the remainder of the line at some point. Still, you get the picture. Yamaha built a platform to support a line of models that could be created with minimal change to components and parts manifests in an effort to keep the price of the bikes down. With the MSRP ranging from $7,999 for the base Bolt to $8,699 for the SCR, the strategy appears to be successful.

Back in April we noticed the Star Motorcycles website was being redirected to Yamaha’s website, and we broke news with an official response from Yamaha that its Star Motorcycles brand was being reabsorbed into Yamaha’s street lineup now split into four segments: Sport, Super Sport, Sport Heritage, and Cruiser.

Now you’re in a pickle! You thought that with just a little more effort the bolt would turn. It did – only the head twisted off in the process. Perhaps, instead, the corners of the bolt are rounded beyond recognition. Or maybe you just stripped the phillips out of the phillips head screw. Regardless, the fastener is damaged beyond repair. What do you do now?

Having a popular motorcycle model – or two – is a good thing for a manufacturer, but it can be a double-edged sword. Faced with a dwindling supply of 2015 Bolt and Bolt R-Spec models in showrooms, Star Motorcycles decided that, to keep their dealers from running short of a desirable model and possibly losing out on some sales, the 2016s needed to be released early. How well are the Bolts selling? Star says the Bolt is its third best-selling street bike. So, as a result, the 2016 Bolt and Bolt R-Spec will hit the showroom floors beginning in August.

Star Motorcycles has added to its pair of performance bobbers, the Bolt and Bolt R-Spec, with the 2015 Bolt C-Spec. However, when you have a model line that’s selling well, you don’t want to change it too much. So, Star massaged a little cafe racer into the Bolt’s attitude. While the power train remained the same, the pulled back bar was tossed and replaced with clip-ons. The pegs were moved 6 in. rearward, and the passenger accommodations are swapped for a sporty seat cowl. The front and rear suspensions were bumped in length a tad to gain some cornering clearance, resulting in a Bolt that likes to go around corners a little more than its older siblings.

What do you do when you have a two-year-old cruiser platform that has not only sold well since its inception, but also has risen to the top of your brand’s sales? If you’re Star Motorcycles , you look at how this successful platform can be tweaked to be sold alongside the existing models, hopefully securing an even larger slice of the pie. This is exactly what Star has done with the 2015 Bolt C-Spec. With the Bolt, there was really only one direction to go with this new model. Neither a Bolt Tourer nor a Bolt Classic (complete with deeply valence fenders and chrome baubles) fit the Bolt’s stripped-down aesthetic. Instead, Star decided to inject a little more caffeine into its self-described performance bobber. The result is the C-Spec.

MO E-i-C Kevin Duke offers his first-hand look of the new 2015 Star Bolt C-Spec, a café racer-ish cruiser that debuted today at AIMExpo in Orlando.