Before we get off to the races about JUST a high MPG, let’s get one thing clear here. We are looking at average cruisers that are available on the market today AND we excluded anything that doesn’t fit the bill. We didn’t look at sport bikes, cafe racers, dual-sport, adventure, or even full blown touring bikes. Yes, there are plenty of other types of motorcycles that give you a better gas mileage, but they either aren’t cruisers or they’re not even actual motorcycles…who want to ride a scooter after all?
Motorcycles offer many benefits both environmentally and socially. Your motorcycle is having far less of an environment impact than that big SUV. These days, taking care of the environment is being socially responsible. However, your motorcycle offers you a lot more – it’s great on gas, fast and cheaper to maintain. 2015 has been a great year for motorcycles that are good on gas.
What’s great about cruisers is that on the exterior, they look like big, mean gas guzzling motorcycles, the equivalent of the muscle car, with chrome pipes, bulging engines and fat rear tires, yet they remain great on fuel. This is especially true with a hybrid. We looked at a handful of cruisers but in the end, we’ve narrowed it down to just one – the Yamaha V Star Custom seems to have everything a rider would want, including excellent gas mileage at 52 mpg. With more and more people joining the motorcycle community, great gas mileage and a relatively low price gives the Yamaha V Star Custom a great following amongst riders.
Yamaha V Star Custom
If you were to just look at specs you just might pass by this 649 cc V Star as it looks to be the litter runt, but that would be a mistake, because this is an impressive contender. The V Star leads in a number of important criteria.
The Yamaha V Star Custom is a great choice for the first time buyer or if you are a rider on a fixed budget. The sticker’s price on the Yamaha V Star Custom is just barely over $6000. Compare this to other contenders in the cruiser category that come close in gas mileage and the cost jumps up significantly. In fact, for the cost of the a comparable motorcycle, you could buy your V Star, a beautiful leather jacket, a great helmet, and you would still have gas money in your pocket.
Less experienced or smaller riders are going to like the low weight of the Yamaha V Star Custom. At around 500 pounds, it is one of the more elegant bikes on the market while still keeping a nimble chassis. The light weight of the bike and the impressive light clutch effort make the Yamaha V Star Custom easy to ride and maneuver in heavy traffic.
Don’t let the small stature of the V Star fool you, because it has big personality. Attitude like you’d find in a much bigger, heavier, and more expensive bike. At idle this bike rumbles and shakes like its bigger counterparts but it takes of much faster than you’d expect from a red light.
It has a classic cruiser profile that reminds you of the 7/8-scale Harley Softail. Just like the Harley-Davidson’s of the past, the Yamaha V Star Custom 649 cc V-twin is air-cooled, with a pair of carburetors and a manual choke. Some of you may remember those days.
At highway speeds, the handlebars do have a bit more vibration than other bikes. If you were planning a trip across country, this might not be your first choice, nor should it; this is not that type of bike. Then again, if it’s not something you do often, you might be willing to tolerate it in your longer rides. In town and in shorter rides though, the V Star Custom is never a problem.
Larger riders or those who are bringing along a passenger need to be prepared for cramped quarters though. However, our testing passengers found the rear pillion the most comfortable of all the cruisers we tested. As a cruiser for a single rider, this bike takes the cake hands down, especially given the price point.
The V Star Custom might not be the bike you want to head out to the drag strip with. That being said, in a 0 to 60 mph…ahem…”test” it easily outgunned the larger displacement Honda that shall remain nameless. The V Star Custom also has exceptional breaking power. In fact, it came in second best for braking in all of the cruisers tested. Many test riders liked the brake feel on the V Star.
On the open road, the Yamaha V Star got nearly 52 mpg, yes, we rounded up. Overall, the Yamaha V Star Custom is an excellent buy for anyone where fuel economy and cost are the focus.
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