Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this excellent bike.

General Comments:

Rider experience: I'm 54 years old and have owned over 50 motorcycles. In the 70's I began with Yamaha RD350's, Kawaski 900's, Ninja 900's, Kawi turbos & have lots of drag racing experience with several bikes.

I bought this Road Star off the showroom floor last year after test driving several Harleys. Instead of buying a used Harley for $10k, I bought this brand new 2012 RoadStar for less than $10k.

I almost immediately added a fairing by National Cycle, which greatly increased riding enjoyment. Without the fairing the wind is a total upper body workout all the time.

I then added 6" dog-legged 1" pull back handlebar extenders, which corrected the riding position for my 5'11" 220 lb. frame. I have "ape arms" to begin with, but these pulled back the stock bars into a near perfect position for me.

I also added Dunlop Elite 3 tires once the stock Bridgestones wore down to 25% after the first 8500 miles. I'm expecting 15-20k out of the Dunlops.

I'm almost ready to purchase saddle bags, but still cannot decide which ones I want. I'm torn between leather, plastic etc.

Faults:

No issues.

General Comments:

I just purchased this bike 3 days ago. I spent a week on my buddies Road King and felt like I had to have one. My budget unfortunately was under $8000. So I started looking for a 2007-2008 Kawasaki Nomad. I found my Road Star on Craigslist from a dealer 2 days before my appt. to test ride a Nomad. I didn't have high expectations on the bike as I was really sold on the Nomad, but thought why not look take a peek?

The Road Star was about $1500 dollars cheaper than the Nomad. My first impression of the bike's appearance was very good. The classic look of the engine with no radiator is this bike's best visual attribute. This bike has a stage 2 jet kit, and Cobra Speedsters pipes.

Being mostly a sport bike fan, I was not prepared for the sound that burst forth once the bike was started. Holy cow! I did not know a metric cruiser could sound so good. Very deep lope and rumble. Taking it for a test ride was amazed at how smooth it was. Even though the sound coming from the end of the pipes gave sense of vibration, at speed there's hardly any.

My bike has aftermarket saddle bags and a quick release windshield. I love it, and for sure made the right decision.

Faults:

Very good acceleration, massive low-end torque.

Roll-on performance good at all speeds. On the highway it seems to have plenty of reserve for passing without down shifting.

Excellent low speed handling.

Braking seems weaker than expected, but my previous bike was power assisted, so maybe it's me.

One minor repair, seat release latch broke. Dealer fixed without an appointment while I waited!

Running costs excellent except gas mileage is not that great, low 40's.

Definitely would buy another Yamaha cruiser product.

General Comments:

Very high quality fit, finish, function. Equal to my BMW in build quality at a fraction of the price.

Most comfortable stock seat I've ever had on a bike. Like the floorboards, and the sitting position while on the road is very comfortable. With a windshield you could easily ride this bike long distances, although I prefer no windshield and just use the bike to commute to and from work.

Faults:

Needed carburetor adjusting when new.

Stayed with stock pipes.

Nothing else.

General Comments:

This machine runs great for me. I put Mustang seats on, which made the ride much better for long hauls.

Moved the running boards 3" to the front. No need for a highway bar. Rides very smooth.

Not too good on gas.

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

It handles really nice and is very comfortable. I did a review on a V-star 1100, said I would not buy another Yamaha, but when I took the Road Star for a test ride... well that was it.

Very low maintenance.