Star Stratoliner

Star Stratoliner

New for 2006

Streamlined Bagger

ALLAN GIRDLER

OVERALL THEME FOR THE 2006 STAR Stratoliner is Art Deco, which, as the judge said about pornography, you can’t easily define but you know it when you see it. The design era dates back to the 1920s and ’30s,

while the movement’s most familiar images, to gearheads anyway, have to be streamlined locomotives, sleek cars like the late Cord and early Lincoln Zephyr.. .and Harley’s revolutionary Model E, the 1936 Knucklehead that kept Milwaukee in business. Working from there, the California studio that consulted

in the design of Stratoand Roadliners used the general view of an early Harley FLH, the Big Twin with fully valanced fenders, big headlight, sweptback bars and a big, comfy seat, the tractor-style saddle retained years after H-D discovered rear suspension, mostly because you could sit there all day and it kept rider and passenger close as possible.

To that general look, the stylists added something of the classic Indian Chiefs rakish fenders, and chrome speedlines on the tank as seen years ago on Triumph Twins, if memory serves.

Some of this makes sense. The large 2-into-l exhaust system, for instance, houses Yamaha’s EXUP powervalve, the one that opens and shuts as revs rise and fall, boosting torque. And the headlight holds a pair of high-intensity bulbs, not around when Deco was new.

Some is plain fashion, like the colored bulbs behind clear lenses, as seen first on drifter-style sport coupes.

And some is tres faux pour mots, pardon the French. The Stratoliner’s fuel tank is a near copy in size and profile of the twin fat-bob tanks from yes, the FLH. The fuel-injection bodies are centered in the Vee and work best with a large and intricate airbox. So first, the chromed thing below the tank on the right isn’t the air-cleaner it looks like; and second, the airbox used space and made the tank smaller than it looks, so to get the target 4.5-gallon capacity, there’s a second, auxiliary tank below the seat. Neither need we say much about the shift linkage on the lower left, running from rocker shift to gearbox, and a replica of how it was done in Milwaukee when they changed from hand shift to foot.

Back in the research department, Star marketers have come up with a new niche. We all know about cruisers, metric or otherwise. But the Star folks say there’s a subset, the cruiser touring group, shortened here to CT.

The CT rider rides 1000 miles more per year than the cruiser crowd; has a passenger more often; goes on more overnight trips; attends more events annually, six versus five; has more experience, 23 years riding versus 21 ; is older,

49 versus 47.

The CT motorcyclist, the survey says, doesn’t want a “dresser.” He (no offense meant, but it’s mostly guys) insists on a windshield but won’t use a fairing, and likes saddlebags but won’t mount a topbox.

Here-and not before time, eh?-is the Stratoliner concept.

The Star Stratoliner is based on the new Roadliner retrocruiser, but comes with a windshield, solid but leather-covered saddlebags (better we call them sidebags; it’s been years since we rode on saddles) and a backrest. This is what potential buyers say they want, and what buyers have ordered or installed, so it’s as safe a bet as Star can make.

To what does all this add up?

Well, the engine (and in-unit five-speed gearbox) mounts solidly to the frame, but runs two counter-rotating balancers, tuned so there is some rumble and shake, but not much. Fires instantly, as befits a well-sorted fuel-injection system. We’re promised 91 horsepower put to the ground, and after a couple hundred miles in the mountains and cross towns, there’s no reason to doubt the promise. Good work.

Torque is the key here. The clutch has hydraulic actuation and pulls easily and hooks gradually, as it should.

Click into gear and ride away. As you’d expect, the big 113inch (1854cc) engine and long stroke make it more efficient and happier at low revs and, besides, the tachometer

is so small you can’t read it anyway.

As for faint praise, there’s a classic debate over the proper height for windshields. Some say look over, others prefer to look through. The factory guys note there will be a lower option later in the model run but for now, the cold-and-wet season, they went with the tall shield.

Yer grizzled reporter is a look-over type and may have been influenced by that. Even so, speeds beyond 50 mph or so bring buffeting and noise to a rider in a full-coverage helmet, and above 70 it’s rocky enough to limit cruising speed.

Not a big problem most of the time because the shield can be trimmed, or the lower version ordered, while either way, the windshield and the sidebags and the backrest can be unlocked and removed without tools, a truly useful feature.

This is an excellent horse for a specific, market-oriented course. A big bike, claimed 750 pounds with a wheelbase of 67.5 inches and generous tires, but the weight is carried low. The Stratoliner illustrates the folk wisdom of the big guy

who’s light on his feet. It really doesn’t feel like 750 pounds.

Highway cruising with a big V-Twin is always easy, as it is here. Sporting speeds in the mountains? Well, sure, you can drag the floorboards but that doesn’t happen ’til you’re pushing harder than a cruiser-class motorcycle should be pushed. Steering is more sure than swift, again in line with Newton’s rules about objects in motion.

What must count most here is the posture, the ergonomics.

There are good reasons for the sportbike’s crouch and fashionable reasons for the overdone cruiser-chopper slouch, but for all day in the saddle, nothing beats the motor officer’s sit-up-straight posture, body weight lined up atop the seat, legs flexed, feet firmly planted on the floorboards.

If the Stratoliner rider climbs off after a couple of hours, no cramp, no numb butt, has lunch, hops back on and rides until dark, it’s ’cause the Stratoliner lives up to its promise.

Need a punchline?

One of the subtle virtues of that old tractor-seat Harley was the ride, like a gaited saddle horse. Cross a rise or go through a dip and you and the motorcycle literally rocked back and forth in rhythm. The Stratoliner does the same thing-just how defies Newtonian rules, but it does. Only a former FLH rider would know this or enjoy it, and if you quote me I’ll deny it. E3