SOLID ALL-BLACK ATTITUDE ON WHEELS

+ Click to Enlarge DON'T ARGUE: Yamaha calls the XV1700 Midnight Warrior a power cruiser – and it has the credentials to back that up. Images: Dave Abrahams

January 22, 2009
By Dave Abrahams

Most cruisers, whatever their origin, use a big 'n lazy V-twin engine to produce relatively modest power but lashings of torque at low revs. With the right gearing that means phenomenal acceleration then a fat, rumbling V-twin soundtrack but not a lot of top end.

It's the time-honoured American Way - taking life a quarter-mile at a time - but until now most cruisers also handled like wheelbarrows and took for ever to stop.

Now you get what the marketing guys call power cruisers – long, rangy bikes with muscular V-twin engines, decent suspension, world-class brakes and aggressive names.

Such as Yamaha's 1670cc Midnight Warrior. Yahoo, and head for the tattoo parlour!

We're talking about a long-stroke, pushrod mill with pentroof combustion chambers housing two plugs and four valves apiece and fed by Nippon Denso electronic fuel injection through a 40mm throttle body for each cylinder.

Yamaha won't quote power output for this all-black lump of attitude on wheels but will admit to 135Nm at 3750rpm. The Warrior pulls like it means it from 2500rpm to the red line at 5000, hitting 100km/h from rest in less than four seconds and blasting through the standing quarter-mile in 12.7sec at 165km/h.

The grunt reaches the ground through a rather remote-feeling but predictable clutch with a very firm take-up, a slick five-speed gearbox and a clean, smooth, toothed-belt final drive.

The clutch takes up rather suddenly, especially when it's hot, and, together with a slight flat spot just off idle, makes the Warrior embarrassingly easy to stall if you're not concentrating. But that same solid hook-up makes it possible to reel off a string of consistent hot launches.

The gearshift action is a little noisy in the lower gears but very positive, with or without the clutch, adding not a little to the bike's quarter-mile prowess. Shortly thereafter, however, it runs out of steam, with Mr Garmin and his friends in the sky reporting a true 175km/h and 4500 showing on the bike's bar-graph rev counter.

But top speed is not what this bike's about and, anyway, 175 is plenty fast on a bike with a radically feet-forward seating position, 'bars wide enough to give your pecs a workout and no protection whatsoever from the elements.

What's more important is that it's rock steady at that speed – or any other – thanks to a rigid frame welded up from alloy castings (rather than the usual tubular steel), a long, rugged swing-arm derived from that of Yamaha's R1 sports flagship and top-drawer sports suspension.

The front end rides on 41 Kayaba upside-downies - now adjustable for preload – and even on the factory's median settings they're harder than usual for a cruiser so the bike turns in accurately, predictably and a lot quicker than you'd expect from one with a 1666mm wheelbase, helped by a five-spoked, sports-style front wheel wearing 120/70 rubber.

Under that long tailpiece there's a low-profile 200/50 gumball on a 17" rim. It's so much wider than the front that the two wheels sometimes seem to follow slightly different tracks around long bends.

'SPORTY' CRUISER

The result is that the bike never "goes to sleep" – you have to steer it all the way round - but even chopping and changing lines in the middle of a corner will do no more induce a brief headshake.

I was able to go through the "ride and handling" section of my standard test route at a steady 120km/h, making the Warrior the "sportiest" cruiser I've tested.

The foot pegs are way far forward but they're well tucked in and the only things I managed to scrape during my time with the bike were my heels – the conventional wisdom of riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs doesn't apply to cruisers!

The Sumitomo radial-mount brakes are superb but lack the ferocious initial bite of Brembo's best.

The Yamaha isn't the most comfortable of tourers, however, so I glad of the breaks imposed by the bike's 7.12 litre/100km thirst. It is, however, a marvellous boulevard bike, capable of stunning robot-to-robot performance, and an enjoyable Sunday morning hooligan tool. It is, ultimately, a cruiser for sports-bike lovers.

Price: R141 585.
Test bike from Yamaha SA

ENGINE
Cylinders: Two.
Capacity: 1670cc.
Bore x stroke: 97 x 113m.
Compression ratio: 8.3:1.
Valvegear: Pushrod with four overhead valves per cylinder.
Torque: 135Nm at 3750rpm.
Induction: Nippon Denso electronic fuel-injection with two 40mm throttle bodies and throttle position sensor.
Ignition: Digital electronic with 3D mapping for each cylinder and two spark plugs per cylinder.
Starting: Electric.
TRANSMISSION
Clutch: Cable-operated multiplate wet clutch.
Transmission: Five-speed constant-mesh gearbox with final drive by toothed belt chain.
SUSPENSION
Front: 41mm inverted Kayaba cartridge forks adjustable for preload.
Rear: Link-type rear suspension with monoshock adjustable for preload and rebound damping.
BRAKES
Front: Dual 298mm discs with Sumitomo radial-mount four-pot opposed-piston callipers.
Rear: 220mm disc with twin-pot opposed-piston calliper.
TYRES
Front: 120/70 - 18 tubeless.
Rear: 200/50 - 17 tubeless.
DIMENSIONS/WEIGHT
Wheelbase: 1666mm.
Seat height: 730mm.
Dry weight: 274kg.
FUEL TANK/CONSUMPTION
18.2 litres, 7.12 litres/100km (measured).
TOP SPEED
175km/h (measured).
ACCELERATION
0-100km/h: 3.93sec (claimed).
MANUFACTURER SUPPORT
Two years unlimited distance warranty.
SERVICE INTERVALS
5000km.
PRICE
R141 585.
RIVALS
R108 995 – Kawasaki VN1600 Mean Streak
R141 500 - Suzuki Boulevard M109R
R236 000 – Harley-Davidson V-Rod

Bike from: Yamaha SA.