[RedVic]

Just filled up the 2018 Yamaha Star Venture Transcontinental today after putting 218.2 miles on the tank of fuel two up riding with the wife.

It took 4.736 gallons of fuel, so 218.2 miles divided by 4.736 = 46.07 MPG

The fuel tanks holds a total of 6.6 gallons of fuel so deduct 4.736 gallons and there was still 1.864 gallons of fuel in the tank.

Great fuel mileage with a fuel tank that will give you some great range to go with it.

There are currently 23,888 miles on the odometer and I have had the Yamaha for 1 year 6 months this month.

 

[VicVisionBulldog]

Is that gentle cruising in tour mode?

Regardless that's some good range.

 

[RedVic]

Normal everyday riding, in traffic, stop lights, mix of in town open road riding on that tank of fuel.

My best mileage was a lunch ride with my wife traveling on U.S. 41 from Cape Coral up to Sarasota, again a mixture of in town, traffic lights, some open road riding traveled 145.9 miles used 2.938 gallons of fuel for a calculated average of 49.65 MPG.

We have had one other trip where we went for lunch again mix of in town and open road normal riding traveled 143.7 miles filled up it took 2.931 gallons for a calculated average of 49.02 MPG.

 

[RedVic]

Just to show the fuel mileage here are a total of eight different receipts from two up lunch runs with my wife and filling up when returning.

 

[Blowndodge]

Nice to see your post RV!! I moved to Southern Utah 3 months ago. Not sure what's going on but we rode double to Cedar Breaks National Monument up to 10,300 feet. I've been averaging 52 MPG's. This included driving up and down from Cedar City at 80 MPH. Beautiful riding day. This also happened in Wyoming and Colorado 2 years ago. I rode from the west entrance of Yellowstone to Red Lodge Montana on 1/2 tank 170 miles on 3 gallons. About 57 MPG's I'm still looking at this bike for a potential replacement for my 13 XCT. Fortunately my XCT runs great at 60K miles and runs like a top.

 

[40caliber]

i looked at that one, I ended up buying a 2019 roadmaster. (i kept by CC). I rode back from Glacier in Montanna to New Hampshire. In 4200 miles my overall average of highway as well as 25mph riding through yellowstone etc.. was 48.7...

All these numbers are amazing for such large bikes.

 

[slickvic]

Just to show the fuel mileage here are a total of eight different receipts from two up lunch runs with my wife and filling up when returning.

View attachment 526821 View attachment 526823 View attachment 526825

Impressive and informative. Hope they keep this bike in production. I want to ride one someday.

 

[spamaster]

Fuel light comes on, stop soon and get gas. How much, do not know and do not care.

 

[ForestGiant]

When this bike first came out Yamaha put figures of 34 mpg. This may still be the case, not sure. The one knock of the Valkyrie I owned was poor milage of 35 mpg. However RedVics numbers are pretty awesome for this heavy a bike and his are not alone. I have seen reviews from others with mpg in 45 mpg range. I really like the look and I have sat on a couple and they fit me really well. My biggest knock is the weight and even with the Eluder which would work the best for my purposes comes in at 875 lbs. Perhaps if I can get my lower back stenosis nerve pain resolved this winter I will take one for a ride in the Spring. I really think Yamaha should have continued the V Star 1300 Deluxe with updated info center, cruise control, abs, etc. I was impressed with the V star 1300 Tourer I had for 6 months and sold as soon as I found my CC two summers ago. Very comfortable with stretched out gears. With an Ivan's flash and bigger air kit one could coax another 13 hp out of it, and a couple more with cobra slip ons. And the weight is about 720 lbs. Heck - I wish Indian would make a mid size bagger, cruiser, maybe using some form of that 1200 motor. I am not alone. I have seen others on the Indian Forums make this wish also. Just something lighter for us older folks that still want some bells and whistles.

 

[jenkins]

When this bike first came out Yamaha put figures of 34 mpg. This may still be the case, not sure. The one knock of the Valkyrie I owned was poor milage of 35 mpg. However RedVics numbers are pretty awesome for this heavy a bike and his are not alone. I have seen reviews from others with mpg in 45 mpg range. I really like the look and I have sat on a couple and they fit me really well. My biggest knock is the weight and even with the Eluder which would work the best for my purposes comes in at 875 lbs. Perhaps if I can get my lower back stenosis nerve pain resolved this winter I will take one for a ride in the Spring. I really think Yamaha should have continued the V Star 1300 Deluxe with updated info center, cruise control, abs, etc. I was impressed with the V star 1300 Tourer I had for 6 months and sold as soon as I found my CC two summers ago. Very comfortable with stretched out gears. With an Ivan's flash and bigger air kit one could coax another 13 hp out of it, and a couple more with cobra slip ons. And the weight is about 720 lbs. Heck - I wish Indian would make a mid size bagger, cruiser, maybe using some form of that 1200 motor. I am not alone. I have seen others on the Indian Forums make this wish also. Just something lighter for us older folks that still want some bells and whistles.

My brother has had a 1300 V4 Tourer since 2011. Agree with your observations and would add that the glaring missing update that Yamaha could have made, but didn't, was fuel injection. I believe just the fact it had 4 carbs was a deal breaker for anyone considering purchasing the bike. I have had numerous conversations about this item with many riders and haven't found any disagreement, yet. Yamaha screwed the pooch by not updating an excellent platform for many years. My $.02.
Jim

 

[ForestGiant]

My brother has had a 1300 V4 Tourer since 2011. Agree with your observations and would add that the glaring missing update that Yamaha could have made, but didn't, was fuel injection. I believe just the fact it had 4 carbs was a deal breaker for anyone considering purchasing the bike. I have had numerous conversations about this item with many riders and haven't found any disagreement, yet. Yamaha screwed the pooch by not updating an excellent platform for many years. My $.02.
Jim

About 3 years ago I thought I wanted that Royal Star Tourer or the Venture with the fairing. I got to sit on one in Monroe, MI and quickly changed my mind. For me it was to top heavy and total weight of about 850 lbs., I believe, and lifted heavy off the stand. Felt way heavier than my Valkyrie and it was. I agree Yamaha should have went fuel injection, in this day it was quite silly not to. However those owners really liked the bike and it was a good option for those wanting smooth power and more than a twin, but were cramped by the Goldwing flat six taking up most of ones leg room. This group was hoping the new TC Venture would be based on the V MAX 1700, tuned for a bagger, cruiser, tourer of course. They decided not to buy the 1900 twin and well - it just is not selling like Yamaha had anticipated.

 

[jenkins]

Yup. V-Max came up quite a few times in our discussions, too. Believe Yamaha blew it!
Jim

 

[RedVic]

When this bike first came out Yamaha put figures of 34 mpg. This may still be the case, not sure. The one knock of the Valkyrie I owned was poor milage of 35 mpg. However RedVics numbers are pretty awesome for this heavy a bike and his are not alone. I have seen reviews from others with mpg in 45 mpg range. I really like the look and I have sat on a couple and they fit me really well. My biggest knock is the weight and even with the Eluder which would work the best for my purposes comes in at 875 lbs. Perhaps if I can get my lower back stenosis nerve pain resolved this winter I will take one for a ride in the Spring. I really think Yamaha should have continued the V Star 1300 Deluxe with updated info center, cruise control, abs, etc. I was impressed with the V star 1300 Tourer I had for 6 months and sold as soon as I found my CC two summers ago. Very comfortable with stretched out gears. With an Ivan's flash and bigger air kit one could coax another 13 hp out of it, and a couple more with cobra slip ons. And the weight is about 720 lbs. Heck - I wish Indian would make a mid size bagger, cruiser, maybe using some form of that 1200 motor. I am not alone. I have seen others on the Indian Forums make this wish also. Just something lighter for us older folks that still want some bells and whistles.

Yamaha still rates the bike for 34 MPG but people with the bike are all in the 40's for mileage.

As for your concern about the weight of the bike Yamaha built the center of gravity very low in this motorcycle, it is the easiest full size touring bike to handle, My 1989 Goldwing GL1500, 2013 Victory Cross Country Tour and 2016 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited were not as easy at low speeds/parking lot speeds to handle as this Yamaha Star Venture is is.

I do not believe you get the reverse on the Eluder model like you do on the Venture and you don't get the adjustable windshield either.

But back to being concerned about the weight, the Yamaha Star Venture feels like a motorcycle half its weight and is very easy to handle at speed, low speed and parking lot speeds.

Even coming up off the side stand is not hard, just turn the handle bars all the way to the right and the bike comes right up when you are ready to lift it off the side stand.

Turning the handle bars to the right works for any motorcycle to ease the weight of the motorcycle when lifting them off the side stand.

 

[RedVic]

ForestGiant said: About 3 years ago I thought I wanted that Royal Star Tourer or the Venture with the fairing. I got to sit on one in Monroe, MI and quickly changed my mind. For me it was to top heavy and total weight of about 850 lbs., I believe, and lifted heavy off the stand. Felt way heavier than my Valkyrie and it was. I agree Yamaha should have went fuel injection, in this day it was quite silly not to. However those owners really liked the bike and it was a good option for those wanting smooth power and more than a twin, but were cramped by the Goldwing flat six taking up most of ones leg room. This group was hoping the new TC Venture would be based on the V MAX 1700, tuned for a bagger, cruiser, tourer of course. They decided not to buy the 1900 twin and well - it just is not selling like Yamaha had anticipated.

Yup. V-Max came up quite a few times in our discussions, too. Believe Yamaha blew it!
Jim

Yamaha did many focus groups on the Star Venture and spent five years developing it from a clean sheet of paper, all the focus groups overwhelmingly wanted an air cooled V-Twin.

I think the Yamaha stated 34 MPG scares a lot of people away as it did me at first when I checked the specs on the Star Venture, I was set to purchase a 2018 Goldwing but I could not find a Honda dealer who wanted to sell one to me, they either did not want to talk to give me a price or they refused to take a trade of my 2016 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited which was in excellent condition with 27,000 miles on it.

That is when I decided to at least stop in and look at the Star Venture and sat on one. I liked what Yamaha had done and how good the Venture felt, how everything was easy to reach and all the room Yamaha designed into this motorcycle. I said to heck with it and bought the Yamaha Star Venture Transcontinental and have been very pleased ever since, the excellent fuel mileage ended up being a huge bonus.

 

[ForestGiant]

I am well aware of all those facts RedVic as I studied this bike a bunch and read lots of reviews. It is all you say it is. I really like Yamy quality and their track record, just as I do Honda. As far as their focus groups I suspect they were hoping to take away from Harley and spent to much time with these folks, instead of their own core which like the V4s, but I do not know. I appreciate very much your continuing education on this bike. I have a stigma as I approach my mid 60's on huge heavy bikes and maybe 800 lbs on the CC is all I want to go. We shall see. I am still very strong for my age and a lot of folks thought I was in the low 50s for age, but how long can this continue - hopefully a long time. If Yamy continues to build this bike, I guess they are for 2020, who knows. Gosh knows they have some really good clearance prices on the 2018s.