Yamaha Cruiser reviews

The Yamaha Vmax 1700 Gen2 is a great bike. After owning a 1985 Vmax I had to get the gen 2. This is the perfect muscle bike with many companies offering upgraded performance parts. I did a Nash Flash with a Arko mid pipe, K Show less

Power, beauty, reliability, fun. That is what you get with this bike. I've always loved the Warrior and the other power cruisers. They are all great bikes. What makes me prefer the Warrior is the perfect combination of old school, air cooled V-twin with beautiful pushrods, and awesome sound, paired with new technology. With aftermarket pipes, this bike sounds just amazing.It's not to heavy, but is big comfortable, and stable. It pulls so strong, is impressive and puts a big smile in my face everytime I roll that throttle. It's fast, reliable, fun, and feels great. I've owned seceral cruisers, but the Warrior is the best of all. I do not recommend this bike as a first bike, because it's to powerful, so you need to know what you are doing, and respect this beast. No other power cruiser has the perfect Combination and character of the Warrior. I love all bikes, but the Warrior is really something extraordinary. The perfect combination of size, weight, power, and sound. I've waited years for mine and it's worth IT. I would like to ride a Yamaha Raider, because it should be different but awesome too. Show less

I have a 2008 Raider I purchased from a golf pro 2 years ago. This is an incredible bike that stole my interest. I was shopping for a muscle cruiser, I had just test drove a Harley Breakout and was going to suzuki dealer for M109 when I saw this red bike that look similar to breakout. I ended up test driving it. When I got back, grin on my face would not go away. Why haven't I seen or heard about this bike before.Amount of tourque this bike has nearly scared me at first. then as I drove it, I knew I had to have it. never made it to suzuki test drive. I ride this bike whenever temps are over 50 degrees. I am not a speed demon but, I love the way this bike gets me up to speed in a blink of an eye.I wish they had designed a tachometer on this bike. even though this is a cruiser and you don't really need a tach, i would have loved seeing that needle buried so fast in every gear. I have read a few reviews and some have said this bike is therapuetic. I agree 100 percent. When I have stress, a 15 minute ride does the trick for me. My riding group is around 8 bikes, (harleys, indians and triumphs) every time people come around to check out our bikes, they always end up asking me questions about the bike. some even ask if they could test drive. i have owned many bikes in my 56 years and 40 years of riding, this bike will always have special place in my heart. Show less

The 2009 Stratoliner S that I have is very powerful, quick, comfortable, stylish, with agility. I have ridden motorcycles for 50 years and am 61 years old. The Stratoliner is the travel version of the roadliner. The only thing that I can think of that I would change about the Stratoliner is for the motorcycle to have increased breathing for the cooling system. It has an 1854 CC / 113.1 Ci engine that requires optimum cooling. Show less

My first heavy cruiser is like a big old truck. Good power to rear wheel and can pull out of 1st gear at idle speed ( like a big truck in 1st gear). Handling always suggest to (just Cruise at the posted speeds). Is capable of highway speeds with more to spare. The 1998 Yamaha 650 also I have preforms close to the 1100 and is very capable in the street and highway also! They are Not a dirt bike. Cross bike or sport bike . They have a quirky, fun and casual feel to them. Reminding me to Just Cruise and ( get there when You Get there). Whether taking a 100 mile trip or cruising around town it is reliable and casual! Outfitted with windscreen and saddlebags , it is a good fit for my riding style! Compared to larger Yamaha’s and other Brands of Cruisers, I am very satisfied with the Vstar 650 and 1100! Show less

I have ridden my 2009 Stratoliner S for nearly 10,000 miles of highway/city/country roads... The bike runs and performs very well. The finish, performance, and reliability are tops. The only problem I have had is that 1854 CC can get very hot especially in warm weather temperatures. I feel that the design did not take that into account. Other than that, the motorcycle is very attractive, runs extremely well, and has not given me one bit of trouble. The odometer currently is just past the 20,000 mark. Show less

Excellent all around Motorcycle handles fantastic extremely smooth and great on Highway and the back roads. Yamaha built quality looks fantastic and keeps up with the big Harleys and Indians. If you’re looking for an inexpensive capable cruiser look no further than the Yamaha V*950. Show less

I just purchased this 2009 MC used for $3800. 2960 miles in seemingly perfect condition w/windshield (after-market), roll bars, padded passenger/sissy bar, everything else is factory. I've owned 3 previous 1100 cruisers. The 950 seems spunkier, easy to handle, smooth, and comfortable. Several reviews on YouTube, all of which laud this bike. Now, it's too dam hot to ride! Show less

Overall very good bike for not a lot of money. Handles like it’s on rails and is extremely stable. Good power can do 85-90 miles per hour for the entire day (have done it several times) and the bike is still very stable at these speeds. The bike is pretty big a little bigger then an older model Harley Davidson Heritage Classic and heavy enough without being to heavy at 655 pounds. I traded my 2011 Yamaha V-Star 650 that I bough new in July of 2012 for a new 2015 V-Star 950 Tourer in August if 2017. I had put over 50,000 miles on my 650 and as of today I have 34,000 miles on my 950. Bottom line Yamaha makes very good motorcycles for not a lot of money and the Yamaha V-Star 950 is an outstanding all purpose motorcycle. In conclusion, it’s a reliable and very capable worlk-horse of a motorcycle. Show less

The 1977 Yamaha XS360D2 was the first bike I ever purchased back in 2004 at 16 with 2900 miles on the clock. The price was 550 from a local dealer in a small town in northeast iowa. It was pretty clear it needed carb work right from the start as most of this age will by now. It was the blue one with spoke wheels, front disc, kick starter, and points ignition. Aftermarket emgo megaphone mufflers were also fitted and were plenty quiet. I wish I had the jetting skills I have now because it seemed as though it could have been a very nice little bike. All I could do was clean the carbs back then and they were stupid lean even before I fitted foam filters. Starting was always hard. I would often run the battery down to nothing (probably weak to begin with) then continue with the kick starter until it popped off. I suspect the starter was just a bit too slow, or the idle circuit was just a bit too long (lets out way up on the top side of the carbs) also often resulting in stalls on takeoff. That said, it always idled nice once running and ran well with few flat spots besides the lean top end (my own fault). Because of this fuel economy was amazing at 60mpg+ but I often struggled to do 65. I still put over 6000 miles on it in one summer and always got compliments and questions wherever I went. When you're a kid on a metric bike from the seventies everyone notices. Handling was steady enough to enable full speed back road riding if I so desired, and at 17 and stupid I often did. The bike was also very light and I only dumped it once trying to do a u-turn on crushed rock. Ah, fond memories of learning hard lessons. I didn't get burned too bad and was actually able to lift it off my leg. The engine was a parallel twin with a 180 crank and no balancer, oddly enough. Top end was SOHC, 2 valves per cylinder and tappet type adjusters (no shims required). Something about the sound drove dogs completely mad. Weirdest thing I've ever seen and I've heard others say the same thing. Shifting was always smooth with the exception of a somewhat remote feel to the clutch. This again, could also have been down to poor maintenance (cables) but it made it a bit hard to find neutral sometimes. Suspension was also pretty soft but it mattered less to me back then. All in all it was a high quality, stable, tough, little bike that would have been dead easy to maintain. Had I been as handy back then, it would probably have been a good performer too. Show less