#FirstRide

Sometime during the start of the new millennium, the cruiser manufacturers made a push toward producing models that could best be described as “muscle cruisers.” These bikes packed big engines into minimal frames with big shoulders and mean street cred. The Honda VTX1800 featured in last week’s Church feature is one such motorcycle. These bikes were an attempt to appeal to current cruiser customers while also grabbing the attention of, say, a sportbike rider looking to hang up his or her leathers for something less committed. This week we bring you another in the muscle cruiser category: the 2002 Yamaha Road Star Warrior. Boasting over 100 lb.-ft. of torque and a front end inspired by the YZF-R1 sportbike, the Road Star Warrior was an aggressive attempt by the Yamaha/Star brand to bridge the gap between cruiser and sport buyers. What did we think of it? Read our first impressions below from the Warrior’s new model introduction.

If any category of motorcycling best represents the all-American “bigger is better” mentality, the cruiser segment is it. For 2002, Honda took this theme to heart with the introduction of the VTX1800, and for this week’s Church feature we travel back 13 years and revisit the 1800’s press intro in Santa Barbara, California. With a V-Twin engine so large, it was no surprise the central talking point revolved around it. That said, in typical Honda fashion, the rest of the machine received considerable thought as well. Read on to see just how the 2002 MO crew got on with Honda’s big, bad cruiser.

Riding an exotic custom motorcycle with actor Keanu Reeves seems an unlikely scenario, yet there I was on the twisty roads in the hills above Malibu aboard a machine bearing the initials of the film star. The KRGT-1 translates into the first production bike from the partnership between Reeves and veteran custom builder Gard Hollinger in a venture called Arch Motorcycle.

Cresting the hill coming onto the front straight at Sydney Motorsport Park (better known as Eastern Creek Raceway), the throttle is wide open in second gear. As I click into third, the front comes up, rests at a neutral position about a foot off the ground, then gently returns to Earth moments later. All the while, the throttle was resting on the stop. Drive never felt interrupted, and despite the roughly 200 horses packed inside the new 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1, there was never a fear of being too liberal with the throttle. That’s when I knew Yamaha has just raised the bar. A lot has changed since the original R1 was introduced in 1998, and with the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 and R1M, never has the line between MotoGP and lil ’ol me been so blurred. That’s not just a Yamaha marketing tagline, either. Valentino Rossi himself (along with American Superbike champ, Josh Hayes) had a significant role in developing the R1, with the aim to incorporate the most sophisticated level of electronics on a production sportbike. These are just a few examples:

Standing in “The Land of Joy,” a makeshift beach party Ducati set up inside the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, California, to serve as its central command post for the 2015 Scrambler launch (the first time a new Ducati model has been introduced Stateside), it was quickly apparent this wouldn’t be like any prior Ducati launch.

While Suzuki’s GSX-R750 may be the Godfather of the sportbike category, perhaps the most under appreciated 750 superbike of the time is the Kawasaki ZX-7R. The machine that changed little since 1993 while still managing to win superbike races and titles both here and abroad, many praise it as being one of the best handling sportbikes in existence. In 1997, our own Shawn Higbee (yes, the same Shawn Higbee who was the lead Buell test rider) got his hands on a then-new ZX-7R, for this first ride report. Considering Shawn’s vast experience on two wheels, his ability to evaluate a motorcycle and communicate what it’s doing is top notch. See for yourself in his review below in this week’s Church of MO.

The 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere brings a host of new features to stay competitive with its adventure-touring rivals. Key to the updated Tenere is a new cylinder head and new power characteristics, more expansive coverage from a new windscreen, and the arrival of an optional electronically adjustable suspension, a system similar to the FJR1300ES we reviewed last week.

Ducati’s venerable Monster was lauded for its simplicity. A major contributing factor to this praise comes from being equipped with relatively simple air-cooled engines. Later, the decision was made to deliver even more power from Ducati’s popular seller, and the boys in Bologna wedged liquid-cooled L-Twins into the Monster.

It’s big, it’s heavy, and it’s undeniably BMW. In this week’s Church of MO, we’re going back to 1998 to see how Billy Bartels got along with BMW’s autobahn burner, the K1200RS. Today the K bikes are known as sport-touring machines known more for their touring abilities, but capable of handling a twisty road or two if needed. Before the K12 however, the K bikes had a reputation for being big porkers with incredible reliability being its main redeeming quality. Truth be told, K bikes are still rather portly, but BMW has found a way to turn that into a positive. Read on and you’ll see that Bartels agrees.

News flash: Women are physically different from men. Women also constitute one of the fastest growing segments in motorcycling. Consequently, motorcycle manufacturers want to find a way for their products to appeal to more members of the matched chromosome set. Since the average height for an American woman over the age of 20 is 5’4” (a good 5.5 in. less than the average American man), designing a bike that acquits itself to a woman’s shorter stature would certainly make it more appealing – and probably sell more to that up-and-coming market.

The new millennium was a big occasion around the world. While some were worried the world’s computers would revert back to 1900 once Y2K struck, in the moto world, there was much buzz in the world of racing. Ducati were owning World Superbike with the 996, and Honda wanted a piece of the pie. Since the rules allowed liter-class twins to compete with 750cc fours, after a moderately successful run with the ultra exclusive RC-30 and RC-45, Honda adopted the “if you can’t beat’em, join’em” mantra, and Soichiro’s boys set out to create a Ducati-beating V-Twin. The result? The RC-51. With retrospect on our side, we now know how special this bike became in the hands of Colin Edwards. In this week’s Church of MO, we take you back to 2000, and our first ride review of Honda’s Ducati killer.