Star Stratoliner: The newest motorcycle line's newest cruiser gets outfitted for the long haul

Story by Bill Andrews, photos by Tom Riles and Bill Andrews

When Yamaha introduced its new Star brand Roadliner earlier this year, it was hailed for exceptional handling, fun power and unique art deco-style looks among cookie-cutter cruisers. When you've got a killer combination like that, the next obvious step is to make it comfortable for longer relationships—as in touring.

The Star Stratoliner is the answer for those who say, "I like this town, now let's see the next town."

Yamaha admits you could start with a Roadliner and build a Stratoliner by choosing carefully from the company's parts catalog. The Stratoliner is just the company's effort to do the outfitting for you.

The Stratoliner differs from the Roadliner by offering a quick-disconnect windshield, a passenger backrest and the nicely molded, hard, leather-covered saddlebags. Mechanically, the Stratoliner and Roadliner are identical except for an extra 6mm of preload dialed into the rear suspension on the Strato'—which also can be dialed in on the Roadliner.

To purchase all these items separately for the Roadliner, you'd be looking at about $2,200, not including labor for installation. By getting the Strato' upfront, you can save approximately $600, and of course the labor.

Yamaha again deserves credit for making a quick-disconnect system that is so easy you could strip the bike down in less time than it took you to read this sentence. The windshield comes off by simply pushing it forward. The backrest comes off by accessing two levers on either side of the support arms. Both have locks to deter others who also know just how easily the system works.

Though the bags also come with quick-release fasteners, they leave behind the mounting hardware, which means for appearance's sake you'll probably just leave the bags on.

The bike started out with good handling, and I'm happy to report the extra hardware takes little away. On the contrary, I'm rather impressed by how well the fork-mounted windscreen handled some rather intense sidewinds encountered in the Palm Springs area during the press intro.

Riding through a desert storm that created a partial whiteout from sand blasting across the highway, the Strato' tracked beautifully. Winds strong enough to yank magnetic tank bags off didn't deter the bike from its assigned course.

In the curves, the Stratoliner tracks better than any 758-pound (claimed dry) machine has a right to. Spot-on maneuvering without hesitation or wandering through the winding stuff sets a higher bar for other big cruisers to reach.

If you decide to get real crazy, the fold-up floorboards will make first contact. Bolted to the bottom of the floorboards are replaceable skid plates that take the brunt of the grinding.

If I could find a nit to pick it might be the fact that at night that gorgeous dash glow tends to reflect at about eye level in the windshield, forcing me to look over the screen to see the road ahead. Yamaha says you can tone down the glow, or even turn it off, but the procedure requires turning off the bike—a more convenient on-the-fly adjustment would be better.

The bags are rather compact for a full-on tourer—rather shallow— and obviously a concession to style. It's best to think of them as state-to-state capable rather than coast-to-coast. Thankfully, the Star catalog provides for the addition of luggage racks that can increase cargo-carrying capability.

What impresses most about the Stratoliner and Roadliner is the attention to detail the designers gave the line. Even the selector switches on the front of the handgrips are curved and molded for better ergonomics. The closer you look at the bike, the more you notice these fine details that weren't just plucked from the universal parts bin.

The unique styling will ultimately have the biggest say in whether the buying public votes in favor of the Stratoliner, in the form of sales.

But with all the good things this bike has going for it (looks, handling, performance) one would be hard pressed to imagine it being anything but a success.