A light pull on the large “macho” looking clutch lever, and a quick tap with the left foot has the first of the five gear ratios quietly and smoothly selected. In keeping with its cruiser style, the bike uses a heel-toe shifter that has few rivals for ease of operation. No missed or time-delayed shifts here. Just quick, precise gear changes in either conventional or heel/toe mode, depending on your personal preference. The top two ratios are both overdrives, so highway cruising speeds arrive at fairly low rpm. This does mean you need to downshift for swift passing manoeuvres, but one quick click will have you where you want to be in the power band for adequate acceleration from 110kph.

Speaking of power, the Tour Star Tour Deluxe pumps out just shy of 100 horses: 98 to be precise. This figure comes up at 6000 rpm, with a solid 89 foot-pounds of torque being delivered at 4750 rpm. Using a derivative of the venerable V-Max engine that debuted in the early ‘80s, the big V-four uses four valves per cylinder and breathes through four, 32 mm Mikuni CV carburetors that come equipped with their own heaters. The delivery is smooth and progressive, with the bike gathering speed, rather than accelerating hard. And, I have yet to ride a fuel-injected bike that has superior throttle control or such a glitch free power delivery. Ninety-eight horsepower is a useful amount of grunt, even if it is somewhat off set by the bikes weight. But power cruiser the Tour Star Deluxe is not, and rolling along the twisting rural Virginia roads, there was more than enough to get the job done.

Allowing the bike to use the power available is a taut chassis and some quality suspension components. The strong, rigid frame is made of steel and solidly mounts the counterbalanced engine. Attached to this up front is a beefy set of 43mm forks. With 140mm of travel, adjustable over a wide range with the addition and removal of air, I was impressed by the ride quality and relative lack of dive under hard braking. The forks have a 23mm rake, which certainly helps the big Yamaha steer very quickly for such a big bike. Keeping your butt off the floor at the other end, and aiding the broad, comfortable saddle in making for a super plush ride at all times, is the single rear shock. Air adjustable over a very wide 0-57 psi range, it has a useful 105mm of travel. It is also going to be very user friendly when changing from cruising to touring mode, or for the addition of a passenger.

As was expected, cranking up the pace will quickly introduce hard metal parts to the surrounding asphalt. And, while this can be a lot of fun when passing a car full of cotton-topped tourists on smooth four-lane black top, caution is needed when the road surface gets bumpy. It is not that the air suspension can’t deal with the bumps, it can; it’s just not wise to get cranked over too far in case the hard parts hit an area of raised tarmac, as the results could get ugly. Especially if “her indoors” is riding pillion. Keep your throttle hand restrained, your Miguel Duhamel instincts in check and all will be fine.

With its good handling manners and nice turn of speed, the Yamaha has thankfully been blessed with some great brakes to quickly and safely retard this forward motion when needed. Nothing earth shattering about the twin four-piston calipers up front with their 298mm discs, just a good solid system that has plenty of feel at the lever, and more than enough power to bring the bike to a very swift halt. Just don’t expect sport bike two-finger braking, as all four fingers are recommended to make the best of this system. In the rear, a larger 320mm disc also has a four-piston caliper. This provides a lot of additional stopping power, as the long, low machine doesn’t tend to drastically weight the front wheel under heavy braking. The rear wheel will lock if you are too enthusiastic, but there is a good amount of pedal travel and feel before this happens.