RE: Yamaha XVS1300 Custom: Review

RE: Yamaha XVS1300 Custom: Review

Wednesday 23rd April 2014

Yamaha XVS1300 Custom: Review

Chopper, bobber, cruiser or cafe racer? PH2 is confused, though impressed with Yamaha's XVS



Personally, I find the whole custom bike scene rather confusing. I'm not even going to begin trying to unravel Harley-Davidson's alphabetti spaghetti model designations but even the generic terms leave me confused. From what I can work out, a chopper is a bike with a raked out front end, a bobber is more stripped down and agile, a bagger has panniers and a screen and a performance cruiser is long, low and generally pretty fast. So, using this as my base, I have determined that Yamaha's new XVS1300 Custom is a chopper. I think...

US style, translated into Japanese, snapped by A1
US style, translated into Japanese, snapped by A1
Chops away
Although it has been launched in America for a few months under the name Stryker, the XVS1300 Custom has just landed in the UK. With its stretched out forks, 21-inch front wheel and fairly chunky 210-section rear, the Custom is a good looking bike. I like the fact it is generally devoid of chrome, instead favouring matt black with very few contrasting shiny bits, and the bodywork and wheels are nicely styled.

It's a bit sad that the only Yamaha branding is a very small logo on the motor, but that's the price you pay for being in a fashion-led market. And speaking of engines, the Yamaha also strays away slightly from the traditional with its choice of motor. OK, the V-twin is nothing new, but water-cooling isn't the normal, although you would be hard pushed to notice the Yamaha has a water jacket as they have done a great job of hiding the associated pipes and radiator.

Jon risks his foot pegs on a twisty road...
Jon risks his foot pegs on a twisty road...
Road rider
Part of the whole chopper feel is the bike's riding position, and with the XVS you sit 'in' the bike with the bars quite high and forward. The Yamaha's seat is nicely sculpted, which adds to the feeling of being in the bike, and I like the view ahead. Yamaha have kept the clutter to a minimum and all you get a single speedo with a digital trip/fuel gauge attached to the wide bars. Nice, simple and traditional.

On the go the V-twin engine has bags of character without being irritating. The gearbox is pleasingly clunky and each change gives the impression huge cogs are mating together. On a sportsbike you would be slating it, but on a cruiser it feels right. However it was the engine's character and performance that really impressed me. With twin balancer shafts, the XVS V-twin is super smooth on a constant throttle with virtually no vibrations. However, open the gas and the two huge pistons cause a satisfying pulse and shake as the bike accelerates. It's not a vibration, it's the feeling of two pistons slapping up and down and I like it. The throttle response is excellent and even the stock pipes are quite fruity in their output. But this isn't the only sound you hear when riding the XVS.

XVS has a cruisey nature and won't be rushed
XVS has a cruisey nature and won't be rushed
Gouge away
In typical cruiser fashion, the Yamaha has naff-all ground clearance. Like absolutely none. At the first sign of a bend the pegs go down and it isn't long until a metal bracket follows suit. I know cruisers are about going in a straight line, but if I owned this bike the sound of scraping metal would equate to my cash being ground away. The XVS's handling can certainly take a few more degrees of angle, but unless you want to pay for new pegs every week, this is a bike to take it easy on. Which is good as I felt the brakes were a bit weak. A single front disc with a two-piston sliding caliper for a bike that weighs 293kg? Cruiser riders will tell you to use both brakes, but I'm still stuck in front brake only sports bike mode I'm afraid...

Although purists, or those just wanting a cruiser as a fashion accessory, will inevitably sway towards a Harley, the XVS1300 Custom is a great alternative. There was a time when the Japanese just attempted to produce cheap Harley clones but this period has long passed. Where a Harley is more tradition and chrome, the Japanese cruisers are mean, moody and matt, something that gives them a bit of a dark edge. It is this edge that may well appeal to potential owners.

Classic, simple and actually rather appealing
Classic, simple and actually rather appealing
The market for the XV1300 in the UK is never going to be huge, but with a price tag of £8,999 it is a few quid cheaper than the Harley Sportster 1200 and a damn sight more modern feeling to ride. The range of accessories Yamaha has launched alongside the XVS is fairly comprehensive and with a bit of exhaust wrap, loud pipe and possibly a funky set of wheels, you could start to get quite excited about customising the bike. It's certainly no Harley, but in my book that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 



2014 YAMAHA XVS1300 CUSTOM
Engine:
1,304cc V-twin
Power: 72hp@5,500rpm
Torque: 76lbft@3,000rpm
Top speed: 115mph (est)
Weight: 293kg (wet)
MPG: 56mpg (est)
Price: £8,999







   

 

Author
Discussion

P4ROT

Original Poster:

1,219 posts

192 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
Horrible

squirdle

60 posts

150 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
Yuk.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
On the fence with this one.

yellowstreak

613 posts

151 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
I just don't get these type of bikes. Sorry but I am clicking the thumbs down icon.

Jazoli

9,086 posts

249 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
They are not very nice really, I really can't understand why they build them with no ground clearance, I followed my dad round a very gentle curve on a slip road at 50mph and his vt750 was scraping everywhere.

LordFlathead

9,641 posts

257 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
Uninspiring, rubber banded, ape mobility unit with no power and no torque.

The apes are going to love that - not irked

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
ste fake HD. If you want a noisey slow bike that doesn't handle at least buy the right one rather than a fake. Plus they are bloody ugly in the real world.

J B L

4,199 posts

214 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
£8999 is good going these days of 5 digits price tag for bikes. I don't know what Yamaha has done to their manufacturing process but they are rolling out some keenly priced interesting products these days with that (if you're into these sort of bikes) and the MT range.

Bring on the next R1 at £9999 and the R6 at £7999 hehe Imagine that !






(i know, it won't happen)

InsolentMinx

94 posts

140 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
Kinda reminds me of my first bike, a 2007 Kawasaki VN900 Custom. The (lack of) ground clearance was simply irritating though and it seems this Yamaha suffers the same problem.
Cheap to buy and run, and infinitely more reliable than a Harley too. Air cooling and belt drive means extremely little maintenance required.

Shortly before selling the VN I bought a CBR600RR, hoping for a cruiser to enjoy lazy riding, and a sportsbike for a countrylane blast. I ended up no longer riding the cruiser as I was grinding the frame in nearly all corners.
I do still miss the thump and torque of the V-Twin... less so the 3 hour cleaning sessions!


This bothered me though:

"Cruiser riders will tell you to use both brakes, but I'm still stuck in front brake only sports bike mode I'm afraid..."

How on earth do you get by just using the front brake? I use the rear brake so much more than the front brake on my RR... i think you need to do some advanced rider training Sir.

Edited by InsolentMinx on Tuesday 22 April 15:01

Jazoli

9,086 posts

249 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
J B L said:
£8999 is good going these days of 5 digits price tag for bikes. I don't know what Yamaha has done to their manufacturing process but they are rolling out some keenly priced interesting products these days with that (if you're into these sort of bikes) and the MT range.

Bring on the next R1 at £9999 and the R6 at £7999 hehe Imagine that !
(i know, it won't happen)
I think its expensive for what it is, no technology, no weight saving materials, no plastic bodywork, only 1 disc at the front, should be £6999.

And no I wouldn't buy one at that.

gentleman2012

24 posts

135 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
InsolentMinx said:


This bothered me though:

"Cruiser riders will tell you to use both brakes, but I'm still stuck in front brake only sports bike mode I'm afraid..."

How on earth do you get by just using the front brake? I use the rear brake so much more than the front brake on my RR... i think you need to do some advanced rider training Sir.

Edited by InsolentMinx on Tuesday 22 April 15:01
The rear brake on my Hayabusa needs freeing off every now and again through lack of use - has never caused a problem on the road but I guess I (and most other sportsbike riders) must need some advanced rider training too! rolleyes


Edited by gentleman2012 on Tuesday 22 April 15:59

RemaL

24,967 posts

233 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
HAHA is the first pic of the bike trying to go around a very slight bend

Jon Urry

28 posts

149 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
The only time I ever use the rear brake is to control wheelies. I don't think not using it is that's much of an issue on a road bike. Without wishing to name drop here, Schwantz never used the rear brake and it didn't seem to hold him back too much! Although I'm not sure if he passed any advanced riding training...

bobyates

7 posts

127 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
what a revolting piece of crap.This maybe ok on American straight roads but a joke in the uk

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
gentleman2012 said:
InsolentMinx said:


This bothered me though:

"Cruiser riders will tell you to use both brakes, but I'm still stuck in front brake only sports bike mode I'm afraid..."

How on earth do you get by just using the front brake? I use the rear brake so much more than the front brake on my RR... i think you need to do some advanced rider training Sir.
The rear brake on my Hayabusa needs freeing off every now and again through lack of use - has never caused a problem on the road but I guess I (and most other sportsbike riders) must need some advanced rider training too! rolleyes
Ridden a cruiser gentleman?

I doubt it from your post. Bikes like that with lots of weight over the rear & feck all at the front just don't stop if you don't use the rear. Sports bikes might as well not have a rear brake most of the time as they don't have enough weight on the rear to make use of it normally.

stephen300o

15,464 posts

227 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
Lovely 54 Caddilac, beautiful, so much grandeur!

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
RemaL said:
HAHA is the first pic of the bike trying to go around a very slight bend
Could sell those tyres to a Ducati rider, they'd be proud of those chook strips.

theJT

313 posts

184 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
See, I perfectly "get" these types of bikes. They exist because some people - myself included - would generally rather have herpes than a modern sports bike. This is not to say that modern sports bikes are bad at what they do, or that people shouldn't be allowed to like them, it's that what they do is so antithetical to what I want from a motorcycle you couldn't pay me to ride one. I want to see the scenery, which is hard to do at sports bike sorts of speeds, and I don't care in the slightest if I can't get enough lean angle to corner at more than 60mph, because on real roads in the real world you CAN'T corner at more than 60 anyway, because

1: You'd be breaking the speed limit and would promptly get busted by the speed camera conveniently hidden behind a tree just around the corner, and...

2: You'll almost certainly be had off by the lunatic driving in the middle of the road cornering in the opposite direction at silly speeds which you won't be able to react to in time to get out of the way of...

which is before we get to

3: there's probably someone with a caravan plodding along at 40 half a mile up the road anyway, and you don't want to catch up to them in too much of a hurry and then spend the rest of your pleasant afternoon ride looking at the back of one of those.

I don't want speed. I don't want lean angles. I don't even want power. I want to cover long, comfy miles taking in the sights with a nice noise from an uncomplicated mechanical sort of contraption beneath me. I want to imagine it's still the 60s and everything isn't in such a hurry. Trying to make a bike like this fast just spoils it. I couldn't care less what name's on the tank as long as it does all that - and this looks very much like it does.

If you don't like that sort of thing, that's ok. Tere's plenty of bikes out there for you that you'll like a lot better, It's a diverse market and if you're somewhere the speed camera disease hasn't spread, or you want to go on track days then more power to you. But lay off the venom a bit.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
theJT said:
and I don't care in the slightest if I can't get enough lean angle to corner at more than 60mph, because on real roads in the real world you CAN'T corner at more than 60 anyway,
I totally 'get' why some people like cruisers/custom bikes, but the above is just daft. You don't have to be doing anything like 60mph to comprehensively ground out a cruiser like this, the radius of a bend plays an equal role in the lean angle required.

fwaggie

1,644 posts

199 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
quotequote all
theJT said:
3: there's probably someone with a caravan plodding along at 40 half a mile up the road anyway, and you don't want to catch up to them in too much of a hurry and then spend the rest of your pleasant afternoon ride looking at the back of one of those.
Ah, i see.

You are one of those strange motorbike riders who is that firmly stuck in "I am in a wide car" mode that you cannot overtake said caravan, in perfect safety, in about 2 seconds. Even on a Harley.

Try it sometime. You'll love it. It is one of *the* main reasons I try to go on holidays on my bike, with the other being the obvious "I can enjoy the gorgeous empty roads and wonderful scenery at the destination". (and no, I'm not a pocket rocket rider and I too love to (sometimes) bimble along just enjoying the whole experience)