Yama-Star 1300 For '07
YAMA-STAR 1300 FOR '07
IS IT TIME ALREADY FOR 2007-model streetbikes? Yamaha thinks so, as it
has just pulled back the wraps on an all-new Star 1300 cruiser. Intended to engage Honda’s popular VTX1300 in the “midsize” class (yes, cruisers have got-ten that big), the bike uses a cleansheet 80-cubic-inch (1304cc), 60-degree V-Twin with liquid-cooling, dual counterbalancers, four valves per cylinder and friction-reducing roller rockerarms. No pushrods as on the Warrior and Roadliner motors; instead, more conventional (for Yamaha) chaindriven single overhead cams.
Styling had been backed down a notch from the full art-deco Roadliner to what Yamaha calls “neo-streamline.” Certainly, it’s less of a lightning rod than the big bike’s looks. Effort was expended on hiding the radiator and its attendant plumbing by using carefully routed hoses and internal engine passages. Also helping with the ruse is considerable cylinder finning. Frame is all steel and a single-shocker, running belt final drive. Wheelbase is 66.4 inches, though early press materials declined to give seat height or claimed dry weight.
Nothing final on suggested retail price, either, though expect it to be competitive with the VTX, right around $10,000. David Edwards
