New bike issues - 2018 GW and Star Venture

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09-03-2018, 09:58 AM
VStarRider

New bike issues - 2018 GW and Star Venture

I was poking around the Star Bike forum, a place I was a regular with two VStars in my past.

I ended up on the Star Venture/Transcontinental sub-forum. As expected with any new design, there are issues cropping up and people getting pissed off.

1. The first 500 bikes or so had a leaking crank seal, so Yammi halted production and fixed each of these early models by hand. In doing so, in putting the engine back together, they either under-lubricated or did not lubricate at all, the camshaft (apparently, they use some sort of lube for cold starts to prevent wear, prior to engine oil reaching the top of the motor). This has resulted in a few wearing out very prematurely and having to get a new top end on the back cylinder. I guess bikes 501+ do not have this issue.

2. There are navigation system issues that require some debugging.

3. One guy had his cruise control system fail and the dealer and Yamaha have yet to figure out why.

Otherwise, they seem to happy with them.

Another interesting catch from Star Bike -- apparently , they have quite a few leftover 2018s that Yammi is trying to clear out before the 2019s arrive soon. They are letting them go for as low as $20k (list is $27K).

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So ... just wondering ... what issues are popping up with the new Wings? Cruiseman has a video or two on how uncooperative the Nav system can be and some fit and finish issues. Others are bitching about the rear suspension not allowing the bike to handle as well as the 2001-17 chassis, and, of course, the front end issues we have all heard about.

Anyone hearing anything else?
09-04-2018, 07:43 AM
STRaider

$20,000? That is interesting. I once bought a ticking FJR (used from a yammi dealer). These bikes had quite an issue on a good number of them. Yammi acknowledge the issue and took care of some bikes, totally ignored it on others. Yammi ignored mine, wouldn't acknowledge the issue, and it pissed me off, and I vowed to never buy another one. Sounds like their quality control is no better than it was back then. That bike has a lot of appeal, but I just don't trust yammi's.
09-05-2018, 07:42 PM
VStarRider

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRaider

$20,000? That is interesting. I once bought a ticking FJR (used from a yammi dealer). These bikes had quite an issue on a good number of them. Yammi acknowledge the issue and took care of some bikes, totally ignored it on others. Yammi ignored mine, wouldn't acknowledge the issue, and it pissed me off, and I vowed to never buy another one. Sounds like their quality control is no better than it was back then. That bike has a lot of appeal, but I just don't trust yammi's.

Time will tell. Thing is, in my experience, Yammi is hesitant to change things until several years into a model. For example, they knew they had premature starter failures in the VStar 1100s from 99-04, and it took them that long to correct it. On my four Yammi sleds, it was often three years before well-known issues were addressed.

Myself, I have not noticed quality control concerns in my two bikes, WaveRunners, sleds, generally speaking. They are all well-built, but, when problems do occur, they are slow to respond.