Bikes

The 2004 Yamaha Road Star is a shot across the bow of psychoanalysis, serving notice to the practitioners of pricey self-help that happiness is a lot closer than perhaps they’d like their patients to know, attainable in the form of the heavily revised 2004 Yamaha Road Star. The road to wellness begins with boring out the world’s largest production air-cooled pushrod V-Twin 2mm, taking it from 1602cc to 1670cc. The countershaft sprocket has been taken down a tooth to better accommodate first gear pull-away, and fifth gear has been changed to an overdrive to reduce top-gear engine revs at cruising speeds. Yamaha’s sportbike line makes its presence felt, literally, in the form of its new front brakes. A large 320mm rotor slows the rear wheel nicely.

The Road Star’s seat has been thickened up substantially (and widened 40mm) to result in a very comfy ride. The new tank-top mounted speedo is easy to read in any driving situation and looks cool in retro styling. Throw a leg over the Road Star, settle into the plush seat, and you’re instantly aware of how low the bike sits. In redesigning the motor Yamaha engineers made sure to keep everything low in the chassis.

The relaxed ergonomics of the Road Star will suit riders better than most hammocks, thanks in part to a stretched-out 66.5-inch wheelbase. Riding last year’s Road Star back-to-back with the ’04 model really illustrates how well the changes work to make a good bike better. The