The Yamaha Royal Star

The Yamaha Royal Star

The Yamaha Royal Star Venture is a luxury touring motorcycle built by the Yamaha Motor Company. It was introduced in 1999 and was manufactured, largely unchanged, through the 2009 model year. Though Yamaha revived the Venture name which they used on the 1983-1993 Venture Royale models, the Royal Star Venture shares little with its predecessor except for the time proven liquid cooled V4 shaft drive power package. It departs from the earlier sport touring styling in favor of a classically styled touring look.

There are two basic models: standard and S. The standard model has brushed front forks while the S model has chrome front forks. The two models also have different color paint. Each year the standard model color has changed. During some model years the S model has retained the same color, though always different from the standard model. This is most noted in the "Midnight" version of the S model which featured Raven (black with silver metallic) paint.

The 1999-2000 had different style seats than the 2001 to current year models. The older seats were more firm than the newer "Pillow" top style seats. The older style flat panel seats were used on the Midnight models with the addition of chrome studs along the sides. The seats on the Midnight model were changed to the unstudded pillow top design for the last half of the 2006 model year. 2006 was the last year for the Midnight version of the S model.