2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Voted Cool

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JackoftheGreen
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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#11 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

I swear, I don't intentionally try to be contrary in the BotW discussions...
But I like this "Yamahawg" just fine. I appreciate Yamaha trying to move away from the bulbous, cop-bike look they've traditionally stuck with in their cruisers, and I'm impressed with the 'understated bagger' look. It's nice that you can get all the electronic bells and whistles on this, and the hardbags, without having to endure a giant front fairing with goofy lowers. And I actually like the fairing on this (other than the tall plexi -- have to change that out right away). It reminds me of the heads on the bad-a$$ aliens on "Pitch Black". The hardbags are handsome and the instrument cluster is up in the cocpit where it should be, and they pile it all onto a 1300cc with respectable gas mileage.

This time around, I'll agree that there are fairly noticeable similarities between this bike and the StreetGlide. Where they differ though, the Yamaha gets it better rather than worse -- I'm thinking specifically of the front fender, which looks like a mullet on the Harley, and the hardbags, which look like Wal-Mart $19.99 rollback toolboxes on the Harley. Also, that one-piece saddle with the vestigal pillion on the Harley would be useless for 2-Up riding and would look horrible with a sissy, whereas the Yamaha could ride 2Up just fine. What you should be asking yourself is this -- If Yamaha can 'clone' a H-D well enough that you feel compelled to comment on it, and then ask $6,000 less for that machine, why would you ever buy the H-D?

Awesome.

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#12 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

I'm sorry, I just have to take this a step further. I read this garbage about 'clone' bikes every time a cruiser pops up in the BotW thread, and it irks me every time. The notion that one bike 'looks like' another, and that somehow that makes it less of a bike, is just silly. These aren't cars we're discussing, with oodles and oodles of design options for the engineers to mix and match. They're motorcycles, and there's only so many ways to design them. Two in-line tires, fenders over each, a saddle in the middle with an engine underneath and a gas tank ahead, and handlebars in front of the tank with a throttle, clutch and brake lever.

What do you want? Someone to build a motorcycle where the gas tank is mounted on the rear fender behind the rider, the radiator is mounted above the steering head and you steer with your feet clipped into large pylons extending from the front axle? Or the exhaust is configured sticking straight up from the sides like the stacks on a Peterbilt? If you want an indication of how a 'non-traditional' motorcycle is received by our community, go back through the archives here on TMW and read the discussions when the first Spyder RT showed up on BotW. I did, and I can tell with absolute certainty that nobody called it a clone of anything. No one called it a motorcycle, either.

So please, when deciding to write off a cruiser as a 'clone', limit your observations to the parts of the bike that can reasonably be designed and assembled in an original way. Shape of the tank, fenders, fairings and bags, profile of the saddle, layout of the instrument cluster and the shape and placement of the lighting components. And if you're not willing to stick to that when calling something a 'clone', please post some pictures of your bike with the gas tank mounted to the front forks, a bucket seat with a headrest and a square rear tire. I'd love to see what an 'original' cruiser looks like.

Okay, I'm done ranting. Let the flames begin.

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#13 Unread post by totalmotorcycle »

Wow, this vote is going to be a close one!!
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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#14 Unread post by snakedoctEr726 »

JackoftheGreen wrote:I'm sorry, I just have to take this a step further. I read this garbage about 'clone' bikes every time a cruiser pops up in the BotW thread, and it irks me every time. The notion that one bike 'looks like' another, and that somehow that makes it less of a bike, is just silly. These aren't cars we're discussing, with oodles and oodles of design options for the engineers to mix and match. They're motorcycles, and there's only so many ways to design them. Two in-line tires, fenders over each, a saddle in the middle with an engine underneath and a gas tank ahead, and handlebars in front of the tank with a throttle, clutch and brake lever.
I understand that there has to be a certain level of similarity within the cruiser market. What seems to have happened with the V-star is Yamaha's legal department told the engineering/design teams "Ok guys, we're not allowed to build a street glide, so change a few things here and there until it's not violating any copyright laws". Then the marketing department followed up with "Don't bother designing anything original, the only reason we make these bikes is to pad our lineup".

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#15 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

See, what's funny about that is that Yamaha's last cruiser featured here, the Raider SCL, was dragged over the coals for being too original. Seems they can't win...

I think this V-Star is a very real competitor to the StreetGlide, and give credit where credit is due. If you were shopping in this 'market niche', you'd have to consider the Deluxe (especially at the price point), and dismissing it as a 'clone' is just elitist HD fanboy speak. When Kia built the Optima, the automotive industry didn't scoff and call it an obvious Lexus clone -- they said 'Look out Lexus! Kia just ate your lunch!!' Same thing when Nissan bolted together the GT-R. It was open challenge to the guys at Porsche and Ferrari, a supercar that can keep up with their best models while asking 2/3 or even 1/2 the price.

This competition goes on everywhere, every day, and it what keeps manufacturers honest when deciding what their 'street cred' is worth. I acknowledge that street cred has a value all it's own, but let's be realistic when deciding just what that value is and should be.

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#16 Unread post by HYPERR »

I don't really see the similarity between the two bike... :boat:

They look pretty different to me. Fenders are different, fairing is different, hard bags are different, tanks are different, frame are different, seats are different, one is liquid cooled the other is air cooled, etc etc etc....in fact I don't see anything similar about the two bikes.
Last edited by HYPERR on Wed Sep 19, 2012 9:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#17 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

Right!!

The only similarity is that they're both mid-sized cruisers with a sort of 'half-bagger' treatment. Hardbags and a medium fairing. Niche -- more tourer than cruiser, more cruiser than bagger.

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#18 Unread post by HYPERR »

snakedoctEr726 wrote:
I understand that there has to be a certain level of similarity within the cruiser market. What seems to have happened with the V-star is Yamaha's legal department told the engineering/design teams "Ok guys, we're not allowed to build a street glide, so change a few things here and there until it's not violating any copyright laws"
OK I'll bite. What do you find to be the similarities between this bike and the Street Glide and which of these components do Harley have "copyrights"? :ninja:
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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#19 Unread post by totalmotorcycle »

Wow, is it Thursday already? Man, where has time flown! (most likely the 50 ATV models I put up yesterday and the 60 I did today...argh)..

Anyways...

I went with: Uncool.

Yes, I know, why. Well, plain and simple, I absolutely do not like the look of the wing style fairing. There I said it. :D

Now, if the new 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe rides anything like the Harley-Davidson Street Glide (or better), hey, I could live with it (but don't count on it, i like naked bikes). I do not see how Yamaha calls a 1300cc engine a mid-sized... they must be mad! In fact, there are very few bikes about the 1300cc category and many bigger ones are gone because they (I'm guessing there) too big like the VTX1800 models, the Vulcan 2000, even the (good bike it was) Valkyrie and so on. So 1300cc, it's a big bike to me.

Ok, what about this harley-clone business? Well, I did think it looks like a Harley-Davidson, both front on and side view (within 20'), I guess if it worked for H-D, it would work for Yamaha. As JackoftheGreen said above, there are only so many ways to make a bike, and that is true, but I just would like to see something that doesn't have traits of this or that or... why not a classic 80s or 90s look? Or even have Yamaha take a page out of Honda and make a faired cruiser (something like a gold wing but more like the ST1300 fairing idea). :D

Yes, crazy.

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Re: This Week - 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Deluxe: Vote & Discu

#20 Unread post by sapaul »

Can you add a

Bloody awful vote button for this one please
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