Yamaha Stryker
Wow, how much is that worth’, one of my many co workers asks upon spying the new low slung outstretched cruiser. ‘Waddyareckon?’ I shoot back. ‘Ooh, ah, I dunno, $100,000?’ Clearly Yamaha has priced its Stryker all wrong. A car guy happens along, and is equally entranced. He too asks how much and I get him to guess. ‘I’m no bike expert but it has to be over $30,000, surely.’
‘You’re right, you’re not’, I stir him. ‘It’s yours for $17,499’ I tell them and both are taken aback. Neither can believe that this much style is available for such a comparative pittance.
Yes, the Stryker does have some serious wow factor, especially with the matt grey finish which adds $300 to the tally. It’s worth it for the look. Some matt paintwork marks easily and ages quickly but this is seemingly finished with a protective coating and looks likely to last the distance. Otherwise, you spend the $300 on an appropriate retro-style black helmet and stick to the gloss black bike.
Yamaha’s Stryker is a minor star among custom cruisers, doing what many of the genre cannot and that’s actually take a corner without scaring the rider witless. In many parts of the US that aspect may not even be relevant, given the lack of bends but we’re glad Yamaha designers thought to engineer a bike for the rest of the world as well. Moreover, it’s not so heavy as to be unwieldy with a full tank it’s 290kg and has a decent lock that makes manoeuvring the job easier, not that performing U-turns is exactly its forte.
If you’ve a hankering to be like Peter Fonda of Easy Rider fame, Yamaha makes that all possible without having to do the custom work yourself the geometry is of this raked-out low rider is already factory sorted. Moreover, it does ride comfort like so many of the low-riding offerings don’t, and that’s easy to become ac-custom-ed to, if you’ll excuse the pun. Yes, it does touch down easily enough if you fire into corners a bit quick, not accepting anything more than moderate lean angles. But the bits that touch down first are the footpegs, and they’re easily replaced.
What makes this such a likeable thing is its ease of direction changes, not something that you’d expect given its length. Offset triple clamps mean trail is limited to 109mm, explaining its enthusiasm to tackle bends. Given its sizeable 210 rear tyre and distance between wheels, you’d expect tighter curves to tie it in knots, but that’s just not the case.
As to performance, the best thing we can compare it with is Honda’s Fury which arrived here in 2010. It used to sell in the mid20s, and at the time we thought that was a big ask. It had a virtually identical engine to the Stryker’s, a liquid cooled 1300cc sohc four valver, but weighed in at 308kg, the extra mainly attributable to shaft drive; the Stryker uses belt drive. Yamaha doesn’t state output but a little digging revealed power of 56kW, and torque of 105Nm at 3000rpm. On a day-to-day basis riding the beast, it’s the torque that does the lugging. With only five gears, you’re better off upshifting early, preloading the shift lever beforehand to get the smoothest changes. Six would improve things, as gearing overall is a shade tall. Round town you’re generally sloping around in third gear, at not a lot above idle.
On an out-of-town run, 120 in fifth gear is an easy canter. That in reality (GPS checked) corresponds to 111km/h and 110 is actually 102km/h. So you have a little speed credit on the go, and shouldn’t get nabbed if you’re just out there easy riding as you do. ABS isn’t on offer here, nor is lever hand span adjustment but brakes do the trick, providing they’re used in tandem.
The Fury looked feistier than it really was, taking almost seven seconds to reach 100km/h. The Stryker has an almost identical peak torque output, but another 10kW and it ended up being almost two seconds quicker to the legal limit, and ditto for an overtake. That it also costs $8000 less makes it hugely better value.
So it looks bad ass, goes well and rides and handles surprisingly, the latter unlikely bonuses in something you’re buying because your image needs a lift. And the Stryker will most certainly give it that, providing you decide to dress right for the occasion. White full face helmets? Purlease. You will need some form of face bandana, preferably black with a skull or skeletal face painting, and fingerless gloves because you don’t feel the cold. Johnny Reb Rogues footwear, naturally. Figure on a grand extra for the correct apparel.
The looks is one thing, the sound another. Straight out of the crate this isn’t quite noisy enough, more’s the pity. It makes the right kind of rumble, only not nearly enough of it. If you want to live the easy rider dream, you’re going to need to get creative with agricultural tools, or sort some aftermarket mufflers Honda got both market timing and pricing a bit wrong with the Fury. Now that cruisers constitute one in every three new bike sales, and with vastly more sensible pricing Stryker
stands a good chance of doing much better business. That it’s also better on the dynamic and performance fronts shouldn’t harm its chances either. Now, all it really needs to do is find its voice.
Yamaha Stryker
Price $17,799
0-100 km/h 5.05
80-120 km/h 3.75 (105m)
Speedo error 93 at an indicated 100km/h
Engine Capacity 1304cc
Format Air cooled, Liquid-cooled
fuel-injected 60-degree V-twin
Max power (kW@rpm) 56kW@5480rpm
Max torque (Nm@rpm) 105Nm@3020rpm
Cylinder head Sohc, four valves
Gearbox 5-speed constant mesh
Drivetrain belt final drive
Suspension front Telescopic forks, unadjustable
Suspension rear Monoshock, unadjustable
Brakes front Single disc, 320mm
Brakes rear Single disc, 310mm
Wheels and Tyres Bridgestone Exedra
Tyres front 120/70x21
Tyres rear 210/40x18
Wheelbase 1755mm
Seat height 670mm
Rake/trail 34°/ 109mm
Fuel capacity 15L
Measured weight 292kg
Weight bias f-129kg, r-163kg
Verdict The Yamaha Stryker arrives at a time when cruisers are making waves. Looks like a proper chopper, and could sound like one with help. It actually steers well, though hangs up a bit early as you’d expect. Good value but.
‘You’re right, you’re not’, I stir him. ‘It’s yours for $17,499’ I tell them and both are taken aback. Neither can believe that this much style is available for such a comparative pittance.
Yes, the Stryker does have some serious wow factor, especially with the matt grey finish which adds $300 to the tally. It’s worth it for the look. Some matt paintwork marks easily and ages quickly but this is seemingly finished with a protective coating and looks likely to last the distance. Otherwise, you spend the $300 on an appropriate retro-style black helmet and stick to the gloss black bike.
Yamaha’s Stryker is a minor star among custom cruisers, doing what many of the genre cannot and that’s actually take a corner without scaring the rider witless. In many parts of the US that aspect may not even be relevant, given the lack of bends but we’re glad Yamaha designers thought to engineer a bike for the rest of the world as well. Moreover, it’s not so heavy as to be unwieldy with a full tank it’s 290kg and has a decent lock that makes manoeuvring the job easier, not that performing U-turns is exactly its forte.
If you’ve a hankering to be like Peter Fonda of Easy Rider fame, Yamaha makes that all possible without having to do the custom work yourself the geometry is of this raked-out low rider is already factory sorted. Moreover, it does ride comfort like so many of the low-riding offerings don’t, and that’s easy to become ac-custom-ed to, if you’ll excuse the pun. Yes, it does touch down easily enough if you fire into corners a bit quick, not accepting anything more than moderate lean angles. But the bits that touch down first are the footpegs, and they’re easily replaced.
What makes this such a likeable thing is its ease of direction changes, not something that you’d expect given its length. Offset triple clamps mean trail is limited to 109mm, explaining its enthusiasm to tackle bends. Given its sizeable 210 rear tyre and distance between wheels, you’d expect tighter curves to tie it in knots, but that’s just not the case.
As to performance, the best thing we can compare it with is Honda’s Fury which arrived here in 2010. It used to sell in the mid20s, and at the time we thought that was a big ask. It had a virtually identical engine to the Stryker’s, a liquid cooled 1300cc sohc four valver, but weighed in at 308kg, the extra mainly attributable to shaft drive; the Stryker uses belt drive. Yamaha doesn’t state output but a little digging revealed power of 56kW, and torque of 105Nm at 3000rpm. On a day-to-day basis riding the beast, it’s the torque that does the lugging. With only five gears, you’re better off upshifting early, preloading the shift lever beforehand to get the smoothest changes. Six would improve things, as gearing overall is a shade tall. Round town you’re generally sloping around in third gear, at not a lot above idle.
On an out-of-town run, 120 in fifth gear is an easy canter. That in reality (GPS checked) corresponds to 111km/h and 110 is actually 102km/h. So you have a little speed credit on the go, and shouldn’t get nabbed if you’re just out there easy riding as you do. ABS isn’t on offer here, nor is lever hand span adjustment but brakes do the trick, providing they’re used in tandem.
The Fury looked feistier than it really was, taking almost seven seconds to reach 100km/h. The Stryker has an almost identical peak torque output, but another 10kW and it ended up being almost two seconds quicker to the legal limit, and ditto for an overtake. That it also costs $8000 less makes it hugely better value.
So it looks bad ass, goes well and rides and handles surprisingly, the latter unlikely bonuses in something you’re buying because your image needs a lift. And the Stryker will most certainly give it that, providing you decide to dress right for the occasion. White full face helmets? Purlease. You will need some form of face bandana, preferably black with a skull or skeletal face painting, and fingerless gloves because you don’t feel the cold. Johnny Reb Rogues footwear, naturally. Figure on a grand extra for the correct apparel.
The looks is one thing, the sound another. Straight out of the crate this isn’t quite noisy enough, more’s the pity. It makes the right kind of rumble, only not nearly enough of it. If you want to live the easy rider dream, you’re going to need to get creative with agricultural tools, or sort some aftermarket mufflers Honda got both market timing and pricing a bit wrong with the Fury. Now that cruisers constitute one in every three new bike sales, and with vastly more sensible pricing Stryker
stands a good chance of doing much better business. That it’s also better on the dynamic and performance fronts shouldn’t harm its chances either. Now, all it really needs to do is find its voice.
Yamaha Stryker
Price $17,799
0-100 km/h 5.05
80-120 km/h 3.75 (105m)
Speedo error 93 at an indicated 100km/h
Engine Capacity 1304cc
Format Air cooled, Liquid-cooled
fuel-injected 60-degree V-twin
Max power (kW@rpm) 56kW@5480rpm
Max torque (Nm@rpm) 105Nm@3020rpm
Cylinder head Sohc, four valves
Gearbox 5-speed constant mesh
Drivetrain belt final drive
Suspension front Telescopic forks, unadjustable
Suspension rear Monoshock, unadjustable
Brakes front Single disc, 320mm
Brakes rear Single disc, 310mm
Wheels and Tyres Bridgestone Exedra
Tyres front 120/70x21
Tyres rear 210/40x18
Wheelbase 1755mm
Seat height 670mm
Rake/trail 34°/ 109mm
Fuel capacity 15L
Measured weight 292kg
Weight bias f-129kg, r-163kg
Verdict The Yamaha Stryker arrives at a time when cruisers are making waves. Looks like a proper chopper, and could sound like one with help. It actually steers well, though hangs up a bit early as you’d expect. Good value but.
Yamaha Stryker
Reviewed by Unknown
on
8:17 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
8:17 AM
Rating:
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