When my dad asked me to cover the Yamaha press day at the drag strip, he said something like this: “Alex, Willy and I are both tied up on other projects, so you need to run down to California Speedway and get the story on the Yamaha cruiser go-fast parts. Just take some photos, make some notes and pick up the press kit. Don’t drag race with the other journalists, you’re not experienced enough.”
Now, I personally don’t have anything against cruisers, but I don’t think of them as being particularly fast or exciting (How hard could it be to drag race with one?). Yamaha was introducing some parts for their Road Star and Road Star Warrior cruisers that make them a lot more powerful than stock. Yamaha invited a bunch of journalists to the drag strip to try out modified Warriors and Road Stars, and have some fun.
I may not be a huge cruiser fan, but I am a huge fan of customizing or personalizing your bike. Unfortunately, many of today’s bikes are so highly evolved that customization becomes somewhat pointless. Does your R1 really need the extra 6 hp from that exhaust? Does it really need to lose 8 lbs? It’s already a 150 hp, 385 lb rocketship. But owners of most modern cruisers don’t have this problem. Although the Warrior is a respectably fast machine in its stock form (I managed to get it into the low 13s), many of the machines in this category are downright slow. Not these Speedstar-modified Road Stars, though. These modifications actually add performance that the average rider can use and enjoy. I know, because I used and enjoyed it.
The Stage IV Competition Kit contains a fairly extensive array of performance parts, including a new carb, ported cylinder heads, pistons, camshaft, an almost entirely new valvetrain, and both intake and exhaust components. More details can be found at the bottom of the article, but suffice it to say that the kit boosts the standard Road Star to approx. 95 hp and 112 lb-ft (from approx. 52 hp and 87 lb-ft) and the Warrior to approx. 103 hp and 121 lb-ft (from approx. 80 hp and 100 lb-ft). An impressive boost, especially for the Road Star. As you can see from the dyno charts (browse through Yamaha’s Speedstar web pages, beginning here), the torque curves these modified bikes produce are extremely flat, showing that they have a broad and usable powerband. Both bikes also rev higher than stock, meaning fewer shifts down the quarter mile (or away from the stoplight).
Yamaha had a great little intro set up for these Speedstar parts at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Although the day was arranged in a competition format, I’m sure you’d rather read about the bikes than about me pretending to be a drag racer, so that’s what I’ll focus on.
In the morning we rode the standard Road Star, starting out on the stock bikes and then moving on to the modified versions. The stock bike, to me, felt too slow to be worthy of the drag strip. I would guess that it is a great bike for cruising, as the seat is really comfortable, but I craved more speed. That was not something I would find with the stock Road Star.
The Speedstar-modified Road Star was as different as night and day from the stock bike. This was apparent as soon as you started the bike, as it roared to life with an aggressive, authoritative bark. Exhaust sounds are always difficult to describe in writing, but I can say that this bike sounded not just loud, but fast, which is an important distinction.
On the strip, the bike had the power to back up its sound. I would have said it had the bite to back up its bark, but it literally didn’t. Bite that is. Traction was the limiting factor on the Road Star, as the huge torque of the modified motor made it very difficult to launch. I usually spun all the way through 1st gear, which is not the best way to get fast 1/4 mile times.
Second wanted a short shift too, but once you hit third, hang on, because this bike pulls. If I rode it every day, I would be blasting from 30 to 80 a lot, simply because this is where I felt the acceleration was most exciting. These modified Road Stars are capable of 1/4 mile times in the 12 second range, but my traction problems kept me in the 13s.
After lunch we jumped on the Road Star Warriors, and I have to admit this was what I was really looking forward to. I would have to say that the Road Star Warrior is my favorite Japanese cruiser, mostly due to its aggressive appearance (you can read my Dad’s review of the Warrior here and here). The stock bike backs that up with a respectable power output, and is so much easier to launch than the standard Road Stars that I was actually shocked. I would guess this is related to the stiffer frame, but the Warrior provides better traction and better feel from the rear end. I actually managed to run a 13.1 on the stock Warrior, and I enjoyed riding it much more than the modified Road Stars I had just vacated.
My best times of the day came on the modified Road Star Warrior, and when I say times I’m not talking about timeslips. This bike is quite simply a blast to ride. It was easy to launch and addictively torquey, and the digital tach made consistent shifting without hitting the rev limiter much easier. This combination let me put down a 12.422 second 1/4 mile, quite a satisfying accomplishment for my first time at a drag strip (on motorcycles, at least).
If you really want a fast performance cruiser, you might buy a Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Or you could buy a Road Star Warrior, the Speedstar Stage IV kit (boosting your Yam to V-Rod eating levels of power), and have money left over for some other cool stuff like a custom paint job. I know which choice I would make. Of course, I’d use the leftover money for a nitrous kit!
By the way, in case you were wondering, I didn’t really attend the press event intending to disobey orders from the boss. Let’s just say a certain influential individual from Yamaha convinced me to ride and loaned me some gear. I still have my job . . . and that Kevin Wing photo of my burnout, too!
