Has anyone here rode a yamaha rader motorcycle? I haven't seen or ridden one yet but it looks interesting. Just looking for opinions.

 

You mean the Raider? It's supposed to be Yamaha's competition to the V-Rod. A performane cruiser, if you will. No, I have not ridden one yet, but I hear they are sweet.

 

Got the chance to walk around and sit on one last weekend while having a tube repaired on my yz250. The local Yamaha house had one (in blue) on their show room floor. It is very solid and quite substantial, really nice. It sits low and is very easy to reach the handlebars and forward controls. That front wheel is massive. I think they said it measured 21" They said that the rear could handle a 240. The one they had there, was equipped with straight pipes. I thought this made the bike look much better.

 

Odd, we agree on bikes!?!?! I have not ridden one yet, but I have ridden the Strataliner. Both bikes have the same motor, and both are extremely fast. The Strataliner and Raider both with beat anything Harley puts on the floor. Yes, even the sissy Screamin' Eagle.
The Raider looks like Deuce, with a Dyna rear fender (has the swoosh at the rear).

WHat year is your YZ? Have you thought about the Barnwell trip this weekend? I am taking my old KX. I ride my Roadstar on the street, and the KX in the dirt...due to the price that I could pick it up for.

 

I like the styling on the Raider. Nice, simple, clean. Has lots of chrome to keep you busy polishing, but looks real nice. Can't speak about performance, since I wasn't able to road test one. But with that motor and a low center of gravity, I'm certain that it would make for a fun ride.

My yz250 is a 2002. Not possible to be at Barnwell this weekend. Supercross is in Houston, so that is where we will be. I may get a chance to hit that ORV park in the near future tho. Might be relocating to Marshall/Tyler to take a position with TPWD within the next month.

 

Ha....I sat on that very same bike last Saturday. I love the Raider....very sharp bike

 

I rode a demo unit not to long ago. It looks like it would handle poorly, but it rides and handles awesome!!! The only thing I noticed that caused any kind of trouble was the length. It made you make a wider turn than normal. It felt like a regular cruiser would turn a tighter corner, but I did not ride it very long.

 

I went to see the Raider today. It was mean looking but I was enraged at the amount of black covers instead of chrome. That and the polished, instead of chrome, wheels were the only thing holding the bike back in appearance from being a total knock out. I thought it looked a lot better than the pictures I had seen that's for sure.

I had forgotten about the S model, with the extra chrome, that bike ought to kick ***!