Yamaha Motorcycles models

As the 2012 model year arrives and the economy is struggling to pick itself up, the major OEMs have stayed rather conservative on releasing new models — choosing instead to give their current lineup a refreshing of sorts, even if that only means adding a different paint scheme or new decals. The “Bold New Graphics” approach, as we industry types call it.

Yamaha and its cruiser line, Star Motorcycles, is one of those manufacturers erring on the side of caution with next year’s street lineup. This despite being the second-best selling brand for cruisers 900cc and up last year (behind some company from Milwaukee...), and with the Raider being the best selling “high end” metric cruiser above 1300cc for the same time period. On the sport side of things, Josh Herrin’s and Josh Hayes’ success on the YZF-R6 and R1, respectively, have done little to convince Yamaha to come out with something new. But that’s not to say the company doesn’t have some exciting surprises in store.

First some bad news: those hoping Yamaha would unveil a new YZF-R6 for 2012 will be disappointed. The same basic model we’ve seen since 2008 will see its way into another year, although freshened up with some different paint schemes. In fact, not only is the R6 the same from last year, the FJR1300A, FZ1, FZ8, FZ6R and WR250R are all copies of the 2011 versions with new colors and price hikes of $100 - $200.

On the Star side, models returning from last year are the V Star 950, V Star 950 Tourer, V Star 1300, V Star 1300 Tourer, Road Star, Road Star Silverado, Stryker, Raider and Venture. These are unchanged except for different color options and a price increase of $100 compared to 2011.

New For 2012

The following models all receive updates for 2012. Some are minor, while others are rather dramatic.

Yamaha YZF-R1
$13, 990 - 14, 490

We begin with Yamaha and the YZF-R1, which is the only street motorcycle in its lineup to receive a significant upgrade for 2012. In keeping up with Kawasaki’s ZX-10 and many of the European sportbikes, the R1 will now be fitted with traction control featuring seven levels of intervention. Coupled with the R1’s existing three-level Drive Mode selector, the new ECU has 21 different settings to choose from. Details regarding the sophistication of the traction control and the amount of sensors involved were unavailable as of press time.