Voted by many magazines last year as the sport-tourer of the year, Yamaha's potent, high-speed touring missile is back for 2004 and, with a host of improvements, looks set to keep its hard-earned crown.

Looking out of the window I can only see a grey curtain hanging over Morro Bay, CA. There is only one bright spot on the horizon today - the prospect of riding one of the 15 brand-new 2004 Yamaha Road Stars that Brad Banister's Yamaha Team presents to the traveling press.

The idea of converting a sportbike into a standard isn't new at all. But the better the material you start with, the greater your results at the end. The transformation of Yamaha's R1 into the FZ1 demonstrates that impressively.