Yamaha Royal Star Venture

The Yamaha Royal Star Venture is a luxury touring motorcycle built by the Yamaha Motor Company. It was introduced in 1999 and was manufactured, largely unchanged, through the 2008 model year. Though Yamaha revived the Venture name which they used on the 1983-1993 Venture Royale models, the Royal Star Venture shares little with its predecessor except for the time proven liquid cooled V4 shaft drive power package. It departs from the earlier sport touring styling in favor of a classically styled touring look.

Vehicle Info

Appearance

There are two basic models: standard and S. The standard model has brushed front forks while the S model has chrome front forks. The two models also have different color paint. Each year the standard model color has changed. During some model years the S model has retained the same color, though always different from the standard model. This is most noted in the "Midnight" version of the S model which featured Raven (black with silver metallic) paint.

Mechanical

The Royal Star Venture is a large motorcycle. Rider seat height is 28.5 inches. It weighs dry, which yields a weight of 887 lbs when fueled up and ready to go. The Royal Star Venture has a 67.1 inch wheel base. [http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/products/modelspecs/4/0/specs.aspx] Among the stock amenities are a full AM/FM/Cassette stereo system with integrated CB. The shock absorbers are air adjustable for preload to help compensate for different load sizes. It has a large trunk and side bags. The seats are either traditional flat panel, or pillow top depending on the model and year. [http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/products/modelfeatures/4/0/features.aspx]

The drive package on the Royal Star Venture includes a liquid cooled V-4 engine. It has four valves per cylinder, overhead camshafts, and shim over bucket valves. The five speed overdrive transmission is part of the engine case and both the engine and transmission share oil. The drive shaft and differential are built into the left side of the double sided swing arm. Swing arm motion is damped by a monoshock mounted in the center of the frame. The clutch is of the wet plate design and is hydraulicly activated by the left hand lever. [Yamaha XVZ13TF series Service Manual - LIT-11616-12-60]

The brakes are all two piston design. Both front brakes are activated by the right hand lever. The rear brake is activated by the foot pedal on the right. [Yamaha XVZ13TF series Service Manual - LIT-11616-12-60] The brakes are quite robust, and are sized for a large touring machine that is often called upon to carry fairly large loads.

Clubs

Venture clubs abound with big meetings every year in the US and Europe with most countries having national clubs. The web brought about many online clubs. VentureRider.org http://www.venturerider.org is the largest and most active of these clubs with members worldwide and regular meetings (VentureIns) and more informal get-togethers throughout North America and Europe. It also has a great technical resource for all model years as well as a classifieds area for those looking to buy and/or sell. VentureRider.org is a free site.

Other online clubs have strong followings. Venturers, http://www.venturers.org has regular meetings (Rallies) and informal get-togethers. Venturers does charge a membership fee. There is also a Venture group on the Delphi Forums http://forums.delphiforums.com/vrider/start. Delphi is advertising based with no membership fees required.

Other National Venture clubs:

United Kingdom http://www.yamahaventureclub.co.uk France http://www.ventureclubdefrance.com Norway http://www.ventureclubnorway.com Holland http://www.yamahaventureclubnederland.com Denmark http://www.ventureclub.dk Sweden http://www.algonet.se/~venturen/ Germany http://www.venture-royale-club.de

Meets

The 2007 VentureRider International Rally was held July 9th - 13th in Fort Collins Colorado.

The 2008 VentureRider International Rally was held July 7th - 10th in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. http://www.venturerider.org/irally/

The 2009 VentureRider International Rally will be held August 3rd - 6th at The Hub in Marble Falls, Arkansas.

The 2008 International Venture Meet was held in Spain, July 4th-6th http://venture-spain.com/foro/index.php?topic=251.0 and there were Venture riders from all the European clubs as well as members of the Venturers attending from North America.

References