First Look: The New 2015 Star Bolt C-Spec

You would never think coffee and hardware
would go together...and make sense. But that's exactly where we are
at with the release of Yamaha Star Motorcycles' new Bolt C-Spec-all
the stripped-down, no-nonsense attitude many have come to love
about the Bolt, but with a hot splash of café styling. With a few
simple additions and adjustments, the Star Motorcycles design team
has turned the Bolt into a café racer for a new generation.
While the Star Bolt has only been around for an extremely brief
period of time (a little over a year) in the realm of
motorcycledom, the spry machine has already built up quite a
following and proven that it can roll with the best of them in the
form of an old school bobber, lean and mean chopper, pro-street
racer, mini bagger, sinister Southern California Club Style bike,
and just about any other style you can throw at it. And that's
exactly what the Star designers did, they threw another style into
the mix with the new Bolt
C-Spec.
Based on the same frame and 942cc powerplant
as the base model and R-Spec, the C-Spec stands apart from its
brethren with the addition of clip-on handlebars, repositioned foot
controls, taller suspension, fork gaiters, a relocated speedo, and
a two-up seat with removable cowling. The results harken back to
the lightweight speedsters British motorcycle enthusiasts used to
race from café to café back in the '60s.
Where the base model and R-Spec place the rider in a more relaxed,
upright riding position, the C-Spec is all about getting a bit
lower-lower into the bike and leaning lower to the ground. The
clip-on handlebars force the rider to lean a bit forward and for a
more "in the bike" feeling. To help streamline the riding position
and make things a bit more comfortable, the foot controls have been
moved back 5.9 inches and up 1.3 inches. With the foot controls
further back and higher up it helps improve the lean angle. In
fact, the designers intend riders to really dig into the corners
and therefore upped the suspension 9mm in the front and 6mm at the
rear (travel remains the same at 4.7-inches), and a set of
[mageProductLink sku="190-879743" title=""]Michelin Commander
II[/mageProductLink] tires wrapped around the 19-inch front and
16-inch rear wheels ensure traction is at a premium. These slight
changes result in a deeper lean angle, increased from 33 to 37
degrees, in addition, the new seat up the seat height to
30.1-inches, compared to the base model and R-Spec.
Once ad-on accessories for the base and R-Spec models, the C-Spec
is outfitted with [mageProductLink sku="1tp-f31e0-v0-00"]fork
gaiters[/mageProductLink] for a sportier look, and in a mix of
rider comfort and classic café styling, the speedo has been
relocated to the front of the top clamp. The real essence of the
café racer pours from the C-Spec through its two-up seat with the
rear section covered by a removable cowl. The cowl is a nod to the
one-piece, tapered rear sections found on classic café racers.
The C-Spec will be available in January in
two color schemes Liquid Silver and Envy Green and will most likely
find an immediately fan base amongst classic bike enthusiasts. If
there's one group that may find it difficult to appreciate the Bolt
C-Spec it'd mostly likely be the DIY'er, only because of the fact
that Star Motorcycle has already done a great job of doing most of
the customization work for them.