A New Classic
Yamaha Builds The Cadillac Of Cruisers

When I was a kid, my dad would take the family down to the Cadillac dealer every year when the new models came out. We’d kick the tires and go for a ride, Dad would dicker with the salesman, and, ultimately, we’d return home in our Chevy station wagon. Dad always thought Cadillac was the ultimate, the pinnacle, the best you could do. To say you had the Cadillac of refrigerators or the Cadillac of watches or the Cadillac of lawnmowers was all you needed to say.

Caddy may have lost some of its leading-edge charm in the ’80s and ’90s, but judging from what I’ve seen recently, it’s back. And, along with it, the comparison cliché. After I rode the new 2006 Yamaha Roadliner at the press launch this fall, that cliché made its way back into my vocabulary. This is the Cadillac of cruisers. (By the way, if you don’t agree with my point of comparison, feel free to substitute Lexus, Bentley, Audi, or your favorite brand.)

Classic Looks…

I got my first close-up look at the new cruiser at the press intro in Portland, Oregon. Many of the Roadliner’s aesthetic features remind me of the flamboyance of early luxury cars. The bike’s long, low stance, along with the chrome scallops that run from the frame neck onto the tank, makes the flangeless tank seem clean and one with the frame. (A lot of other bikes, by contrast, seem to have a tank just plopped onto the frame.) Up front, the sinister shape of the huge headlight reminds me of a fencer’s mask. Flowing back to join with the triple trees at the tapered handlebar clamp, the headlight looks like part of a unified body, not just something screwed onto the bike because DOT mandates it.

The elegant, streamlined fenders, which come to a point at the tips, add to the Roadliner’s smooth, refined lines. The pointed look is continued through the trailing edge of the swingarm, the taper of the exhaust pipe, and the pointed tips of the fender braces. The LED taillight matches the contours of the rear fender, and even the signal lights have a swept look.

The speedo has a classic antique face with multiple readouts, while an LCD screen shows tripmeters, odometer, and ECU diagnostics. All the instruments can be adjusted for brightness with the two finger paddles located on the back of the hand controls. The handlebars are clean and smooth, thanks to the hidden wiring, and have an innovative shape: The massive 1.25" tube bar tapers down to 1" at the controls. The large, all-new hydraulic clutch and brake master cylinder are integrated nicely with the big handlebar.

The engine cylinder fins are machined to a high-quality finish, and what look like stainless steel bolts adorn the engine, controls, and headlight nacelle. There’s even a trick ignition cylinder cover that hides the keyhole when you’re not using the bike. (People will get a good look when it’s parked, so that’s when you want the details to shine.)

Yamaha paid attention to plenty of details on this bike, given that the Liner group represents the upper echelon of its cruiser lineup. There are plenty of nice touches, like the seat being easily removable for access to the tool kit, and the small helmet cable lock that comes with the bike. Even the rear swingarm axle adjusters are finely crafted and meld with the surrounding area. It doesn’t look like anything was an afterthought.

Jeff Palhegyi, a renowned metric custom builder and a member of RoadBike’s Tech Panel, has been developing parts and products for Yamaha for almost 15 years. He was involved in the bike’s development from start to finish, so I asked what he thought about the final product. His response: “Awesome! I can’t wait to get one of my own. I stood on the sidewalk in Portland and looked at 20 Roadliners lined up on the street, and I had a very satisfied feeling. The Roadliner has a dramatic, powerful feel in its style and performance. I can’t wait to get some customs going with this one!”

It won’t be hard for most people to customize their Roadliners right off the showroom floor, thanks to the many genuine Yamaha accessories that are already available. Yamaha created over 50 parts exclusively for the Roadliner while the bike was still in development. It even comes equipped with a button on the handlebar control for accessory driving lights, which are available as add-ons.

On the ergonomics front, the hand controls have nice big paddle buttons, and the wide handlebars offer good leverage. I found the reach comfortable for my 6' frame, while the wide, flat seat seems to provide just the right placement for anyone. Yamaha definitely engineered the “cruising posture” into its flagship bike. However, I did have some butt burn after a full day on the road. I’d like to have tried the Yamaha accessory seat.

The heel-toe shifter has adjustable front and rear halves, letting you tailor the pedal heights to accommodate your foot. There’s also a unique feature built into the brake pedal: The footpad is hinged and spring loaded, so that it pivots out of the way if you accidentally catch your foot on it. Once your foot is clear of the pad, it pivots back down into position. I haven’t seen this feature on any other bike with forward controls.

…Meet Modern Tech

Yamaha went high tech on this high-end ride. The aluminum frame is made of eight pieces and weighs just 37 pounds. Its tuned rigidity enhances handling and helps lower the center of gravity. That low center is furthered by the use of a sub fuel tank, mounted below the seat, that holds .8 gallons of gas and the fuel pump. Add that capacity to the 3.7-gallon main tank, and you’ve got a total of 4.5 gallons of fuel (good for almost 200 miles on our test ride). The lowered weight distribution also makes raising the big cruiser off its sidestand much easier than I expected, and helps give it a lightweight feel once underway.

More weight savings come by way of the new swingarm, which is a scant 11.8 pounds and is produced from only five components. It’s manufactured with Yamaha’s Control Filled Die-Cast method, a technology inherited from the company’s sportbike line.

The fuel-injected, air-cooled engine is a massive 1854cc (that’s 113 cubic inches in cruiser talk these days). While Yamaha wanted the bike to bear some resemblance to its family of large V-twins, this engine has a unique design. It includes refinements such as a centrifugally operated decompression mechanism for easy starting, 100mm pistons, two spark plugs per cylinder, 12-hole fuel injectors, a dry sump oil system, lower piston cooling oil jets, and an exhaust equipped with a catalytic converter, oxygen sensor, and EXUP (Yamaha’s method of electronically opening a cable-operated valve in the exhaust stream to improve low and midrange torque — a first for cruisers). And while the Yamaha engineers wanted to create a smooth power plant, they didn’t want to lose the traditional throb of a V-twin, what the company calls the “pulse character.” Thus, a delicate balance is gained by using dual counterbalancers in the engine to reduce high-frequency vibration.

The new fuel injectors are housed in 43mm throttle bodies that breathe through a single, centrally located airbox under the tank. This allows for a straight intake tract and also cleans up the engine aesthetics. The engine oil cooler is placed neatly and unobtrusively, low and just in front of the engine.

Road Glider

The five-speed transmission shifts smoothly, and the engine delivers strong torque to the rear wheel via a belt drive. The Roadliner just glides along at relatively low rpm. I found that I could keep it in one gear most of the time and just turn the throttle to let the torque pull me around.

The brakes are plenty strong, featuring two floating 298mm rotors up front and a 320mm solid disc out back. Sportbike-like monoblock calipers, popular with Yamaha lately, reside on the forks, and a basic pin-slide-style caliper is used in the rear. The suspension is comprised of 46mm nonadjustable forks and an in-line, single coil-over rear shock with preload adjustment. The 12-spoke cast aluminum wheels are a combination of 18" front and 17" rear, wearing Dunlop D251F rubber.

Overall, I found the ride a pleasure and the handling stable. Though the tires occasionally grabbed irregularities in the pavement, it was easy to steer out of trouble. However, when I say easy to steer, don’t mistake that for light and nimble. This is a large, low cruiser, after all, with limited ground clearance and lean angle. But considering its size, the Roadliner was not difficult to direct.

I touched down with the floorboards on several occasions, something Yamaha anticipated by attaching replaceable rubbing blocks on the underside of the boards. With proper planning and an appropriate entry speed, even the tightest corners can be swept through efficiently. The bike’s handling was not twitchy at all, and the broad handlebar reminded me of the land-yacht style of steering wheels on yesteryear’s luxury cars.

The attention you attract while riding the Roadliner is sort of like the attention Elvis would get cruising around in an El Dorado softtop. There are almost no emblems adorning the body and no tank badges, either; what people will remember are the triple chrome vanes. The Star logo is embossed only in the rubber footpads on the floorboards. Yamaha is counting on the presence of this bike alone to tell everyone that it’s special.

The Roadliner and its sister ship, the Stratoliner, come in three trim levels: base, S, and Midnight. The base Roadliner has painted wheels, brushed forks, polished hand controls, and some painted engine covers. The S model will make a scene with polished wheels and chromed shifter, controls, and forks. The Midnight is cloaked in black on the headlight, top clamp, controls, and engine covers.

It looks like Yamaha set out to raise the bar on luxury cruisers with this one, and, in my opinion, the company succeeded. The destined-to-become-a-classic Roadliner is meant for a discerning rider. This top-tier cruiser will probably attract some tire kickers to the showrooms, and it’s not for everyone, but for now I’ll call it the Cadillac of cruisers. RB

SPEC SHEET

List Price: $13,580 (base)/$14,780-14,980 (S) /$13,880 (Midnight)

Engine: Air-cooled 48-degree V-twin

Displacement: 1854cc

Valvetrain: DOHC, four valves per cylinder

Compression Ratio: 9.5:1

Fuel System: EFI

Transmission: Five-speed

Final Drive: Belt

Overall Length: 101.6"

Wheelbase: 67.5"

Seat Height: 28.9"

Fuel Capacity: 4.5 gallons

Dry Weight: 705 pounds

Colors: Black Cherry (base); Charcoal/Bronze, Pearl White (S); Raven Black (Midnight)