Old Friend
Most bike models get leaner and meaner with age, but Yamaha’s resurrected luxury tourer got a little slower and lot baggier. Just like the rest of us.
The road, at times, can feel like an old friend. The way you drop into a state of mind about 500 km into a trip, lulled by the murmur of the tires on the road and constant shush of the wind.
That’s how it was for me as I finally settled into the cockpit of Yamaha’s 2020 Venture Transcontinental, a new twist on the company’s on again/off again luxury tourer – the Venture Royale (’83-’93) and Royal Star Venture (’99-’13) – this time powered by a 1,854 cc air-cooled V-twin instead of the liquid-cooled V-four that helped make previous Ventures popular.
This 2020 bike is big by anyone’s standards: at 2.7 metres long and 437 kg. In the weeks prior to my time on the Venture, I’d reviewed eight other motorcycles, everything from urban all-rounders to adventure tourers, and each provoked fatigue and niggling pain (primarily in the
