2003 Yamaha Road Star Limited Edition Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“I have a Yamaha road star that has been recalled. I have gotten horrible servie and the motorcycle has been in the shop for three months and scheduled to be there another two. Yamaha is providing no service and no compensation. The bike will be in the shop for four or five months and Yamaha doesn't seem to care. Is there anything esle I can do??”

“I was traveling down the freeway when suddenly 5th gear was gone causing me to suddenly loose speed in heavy traffic. I was able to downshift into 4th gear and continue moving at a slower speed, but 5th gear is completely gone. This is the only time it has occurred to me, but there is absolutely no 5th gear. Apparently it has happened to numbers of other Yamaha road star owners. This transmission had a recall issued on it a few years ago that was different than this issue, so this is a second problem with the same transmission.”

“I was riding south bound interstate 95 about 65 MPH when all of a sudden my Yamaha silverado lost speed and started jerking. I pulled the clutch in and let the bike slow down. I then tried to downshift but the shifter was frozen, finally I got it to go into gear. As I started to pick up speed it didn't want to go into 4th gear. I crawled home about 2 miles and attempted to hit all gears after I was parked in my driveway, it would not move. I thank god it didn't lock up the wheel on i95 at 65 MPH. I have owned Yamaha bikes for 30 years and this is the first time I have had this happen. …”

“I have a 2003 Yamaha road star limited silver edition motorcycle, which I purchased from malcolm smith motorsports, riverside. In january 2004, with 2,500 miles on the motorcycle, I had a very dangerous malfunction with the rear brake, causing the rear brake to be applied without applying force to the pedal. During that same week, I received a notice by mail of a recall on the motorcycle involving the transmition (unrelated to the brake). Upon calling the dealer, I was told the brake would not be looked at until the recall work was also performed. I was not given a date. …”

“Three months ago consumer received a recall letter regarding automatic transmission failure. Dealership still did not have the parts available to conduct recall repairs. Consumer was angry that Yamaha had not issued any statement on how long it will take to obtain the component items on recall.”