The engine has the usual oil jets under the pistons and an oil cooler, but otherwise no special effort was made to reduce its heat output. On hot days some heat from the oil tank, which is integrated into the frame just below the rider’s left buttock, can seep through the seat, too. Perhaps the greatest concern about an air-cooled engine in this application is engine heat creating discomfort for the rider, and the Venture definitely generates plenty of warmth around the rider’s lower legs. The engine loafs along pleasantly in its top fifth and sixth gears on the highway, handles twisting roads easily in third or fourth and whips the heavy motorcycle, you and your passenger around slower traffic with ease, often with a single downshift. Yamaha spent a lot of time getting the feel and sound of the Venture’s engine just right, and it paid off in genuinely smooth, brisk acceleration even two-up and loaded with a healthy bark from the exhaust and crisp, clean shifting. Moreover, with the torque peak hitting at well below 3,000 rpm and the engine turning just 2,750 rpm at 75 mph, it’s unnecessary to rev it anywhere near its redline of 4,750 rpm, though the rev limiter cuts in quite softly should you hit it. With 109.4 lb-ft at 2,750 rpm at the rear wheel, the Venture’s peak torque equals or edges out all of its V-twin competition and the Gold Wing (but not the GTL), and more than 100 lb-ft are available from 2,000 to 4,000 rpm. It’s been a long time since an all-new Japanese luxo has landed, so we couldn’t wait to get the Venture on the Jett Tuning dyno to see what kind of low-end torque machine it might be. An overdrive sixth gear was added to the gearbox, and a new assist-and-slipper clutch reduces lever effort. Twin gear-driven counterbalancers eliminate shakes throughout the powerband without robbing the engine of its rumble, and instead of solid mounting the engine a’ la Raider, the big twin is supported in the Venture’s frame with special composite engine mounts that also absorb some vibes. The ample mill was redesigned with hydraulic valve lifters that never need adjustment, and camshaft and primary drive dampers to quell the shudder that often occurs at low rpm in big twins. Much of the expensive R&D for a new engine goes into the basic architecture-bore and stroke, bottom end, etc.-so Yamaha repurposed the layout of its 1,854cc Raider 48-degree OHV V-twin, which has four valves per cylinder. The scenery was gorgeous, the weather warm and the roads twisty, and we got plenty of seat time with the new bike and a solid understanding of how it works for luxury touring.ĭevelopment of the Star Venture began about six years ago with a clean sheet of paper, though Yamaha’s surveys and focus groups had already concluded that any new long-distance luxo had to have a V-twin at its core, and surprisingly an air-cooled one with visible pushrods at that. To experience its capabilities, my wife Genie and I rode a Star Venture TC on a 3-day, 700-mile ride with the Yamaha team from Boise, Idaho to Coeur d’ Alene via McCall, Lolo Pass and Missoula, Montana. Yamaha’s answer to the “modern or traditional” question was simply, “Why not have both?” This daring approach ignores the norms and taps into a new and potentially large customer base. The new Star Venture luxury touring bike you see before you aims to solve that dilemma, with a giant, smooth but rumbling V-twin wrapped in modern, muscular styling and most every convenience and comfort feature you can think of, as well as a few firsts. Well, Yamaha says these two approaches have left many riders confused and unable to choose between them. So, what’s the problem? Riders who want modern luxury still have the Wing and GTL, and the traditional/emotional crowd can choose among any number of well-equipped V-twins with retro styling. And as our Kings of Comfort comparison showed ( Rider, August 2015), the latest Harley and Indian dressers have evolved to the point that a flat six or four-cylinder engine is no longer required for a motorcycle to excel as a flagship luxury touring machine. Harley-Davidson’s subsequent dominance of the heavyweight touring market and the modernization of its bikes has had a huge influence on luxury-touring preferences, to the point that today we’re left with just the Honda Gold Wing and BMW K 1600 GTL carrying the multi-cylinder flag among a sea of V-twins. Today’s luxury touring motorcycle market is a much different kettle of fish than it was in the 1980s and ’90s, when sophisticated German and Japanese bikes with their smooth multi-cylinder engines defined the genre.
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