Motorcycle Test: Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic

When Yamaha's long-awaited new-generation middleweight V-twin motorcycle finally landed in America, it was no Drag. From the February 1998 issue of Motorcycle Cruiser magazine.

Thanks to the media and the multitude of electronic means of communicating, we can now know what's going on anywhere on the planet in every field. Usually, this access to information is a good thing, a cause for celebration even. However, sometimes knowledge can be frustrating. For example, we reported on Yamaha's new V-twin cruiser motorcycle in the April '97 issue of Motorcycle Cruiser, but we also had to report that this cool, new middleweight would only be available to the European market, not the U.S.

Now, almost a year later, we're happy to report that the cruiser, which we were denied a chance to even test last year, will be arriving in American Yamaha dealerships about a month before this article hits the newsstands. Perhaps the wait was worth the frustration since the bike arrives with a new name -- V-Star instead of the dubious Drag Star -- and two models to choose from. We're beginning to see that delayed gratification can be a good thing!