Cashing in on the bagger craze, Star motorcycles expanded its bagger lineup to include a second model, the V-Star 1300 Deluxe. The bike will be available in February, 2013 and comes standard with a fork-mounted fairing, locking luggage and other touring essentials.
It’s based on the V-Star 1300, which has been around for a while. The eight-valve liquid-cooled 1304cc sohc 60-degree V-Twin is flexible, smooth and powerful and works well with the tube-steel chassis and decent suspension (read our first ride report here). Billed as a “mid-sized” cruiser, it’s intended for relaxed back-roads riding, but it’s still big enough to carry two adults. A standard version as well as a tourer—equipped with locking hard leather-look bags, passenger backrest and a tall Plexiglass windscreen—have been available since 2007. At 712 pounds wet, it’s light for a touring-cruiser, and with a claimed 42 mpg it’s econmical too. Belt drive should be a friend to tourers as well.
The Deluxe gives touring riders some bennies. Aside from the color-matched bags and fairing (there’s no backrest, to fit the low, clean bagger aesthetic), a Garmin Zumo GPS unit and full sound system is standard, controlled via a switchpod on the left handlebar. An iPod or iPhone jack is also included (although the unit is also Bluetooth capable), and the Zumo can deliver XM satellite radio as well as weather/traffic and lane assist services (with subscription).
At $13,690, the Deluxe is value-priced for the factory bagger category. We eagerly await our first ride on what Yamaha claims is the industry’s first midsized factory bagger.
I like the looks of this bike. I’ve heard good things about the way they ride and if you’ve done much touring in all kinds of weather you welcome a fairing. I also have ridden shaft driven and belt driven bikes, and much prefer the belt driven ones. They’re quieter with no jacking in curves, and the they have no slack. I think Yamaha could do some great things with the “deluxe” bikes if they would offer niceties like a radio and a trunk (and please don’t call it a tour pack).
I have owned Yamahas, but currently ride a Harley. They both make nice bikes, and they both could do much better.
I have ridden the 1700 Deluxe and liked the idea of a fairing. I don’t really need that big of a bike, but like the wind protection of the fairing and a radio. Two things I don’t get…1. belt drive. belts don’t really stretch, they break. Shaft drives are mostly bulletproof. 2. Radio….why not install a normal radio (AM/FM/Ipod). I know I can load a zillion songs on my Ipod, but the local radio is nice sometimes too.
Nice bike, nice color. But at 13K why? And what HP do I get for adding the radiator? a HD air cooled comes with about 60-65 HP Stock, what is this with smaller engine and radiator. I know many guys moving to radiator bikes to save their inner thighs from the burns of summer in Sturgis and Daytona. This bike is missing some of the comforts, back rest for passenger and maybe rider, Highway pegs, maybe floorboards for passenger. Will it have a tour pack accessory?
If I am not mistaken you would have to purchase these items as extras with HD as well-no?
As far as horsepower – it seems to be a non issue with the Asian OEMs- not sure why, when
that is their main mantra concerning supersports??
It’s got as much rear wheel horsepower as a 1690 CC Harley, and you don’t have to shut down a cylinder to prevent cooking your boys when sitting at a light in hot weather.
So, a 1300cc bike is a “mid-size” cruiser?
Is the idea to get less and less power from larger and larger engines so you can brag to the other guys at the bar about how big your engine needs to be to haul your fat ass around?
“Well, my bike is 4.7 liters”, “Oh yeah, mine’s 263 cubic inches”
What a freaking waste.
Gee, that fairing looks awfully familiar! I wonder where they got the idea from…
Prolly enough differences to avoid copyright infringement!
also from a touring perspective, what’s wrong with a shaft drive? Seems to me
these Yamahas were designed with shaft drive to start with!
Negative. The Star 1300 has always been belt drive. The VStar 1100 was shaft drive. The 1300 was a clean sheet design. I believe the 1100 is still available.
Ok but I think the 1300 is more of an evolution than
a revolution and I still am more in favour of shaft
drive for ” touring ” bikes
You are right, Dean Wixom (or his survivors) should sue. Some other company seems to sell lots of bikes with similar fairings, he should sue them too!
Like most things people think Harley invented (narrow V-Twins, the soft-tail, factory customs, etc.) Harley didn’t invent the batwing design, they just were smart enough to use good ideas other people came up with.
Goose
At 51, I am just starting to look at these bikes (cruisers) with an open mind. This one looks OK, but why do the manufacturers neglect the passenger accommodations so often? I am sure that there is probably a back rest available for this bike, but the seat itself looks too small, and not very inviting, and the pegs look too high. The rider, in the mean time, gets a huge, wrap-around pillow, and pegs a mile away.
Bikes with good passenger accommodations, good performance, and a less than premium price point, are getting tough to find.
I’m not a cruiser rider, but I have to say that a lot of them look good. This isn’t one of them, that’s the ugliest upper fairing I’ve ever seen, ever. The first thing I’d have to do is take a saw and cut off those wings.
You’ve never seen one of these on a Hardly?
Vrooom must be really young, otherwise he’d remember the `80s Yamaha cruiser fairings that make this version look good.