2018 Yamaha Star Venture

[Nice Goat]

I test rode the new Venture at Pinnacle in Bessemer, back around June or so.  Rode it back-to-back with the new Gold Wing.  The Venture has a very nice fit and finish, and the motor sounds really, really nice.  But...

I had not even made it out of the parking lot when I was scraping floorboards.  Literally within the first 20 feet, without even trying.  The ground clearance is awful.  Also, I think the rev limiter kicks in way too soon, like around 5,000 RPM.  First time I hit it, I wasn't even trying.  I thought something was wrong with the bike.

If you want to go slow and straight, the new Venture is an excellent choice.

[Timbo64]

I've put over 3000 miles on our new SVTC with 99 percent of those miles with my wife riding pillion.
I've haven't scraped the floorboards even once that I'm aware of. Even riding pretty fast on back roads like Al-65 in the Gurley area with my wife, Aly, on back.
Of course, I don't ride it like it's a FJR1300 on those roads, but it handles quite well for such a huge motorcycle.
I will say that the SVTC is VERY preload sensitive. I ride at setting 3 solo and setting 5 (max) when ridding two-up.
If the bike you took for a test ride was scraping so easily, the rear shock might have been set at zero preload.

As far as the rev limiter kicking in so early goes, the bike has so much torque that you get used to short shifting it from first to second pretty quickly. Once you get used to riding the bike, it's a non issue.
It's not uncommon for SVTC riders to skip first gear altogether and just start out in second because of all the torque the engine puts out.

I do what Longhaulpaul recommends as to using the bike's riding modes: "touring" mode when it's raining and "sport" mode when it's not raining.

I only have two problems with my SVTC:
1. The engine puts out more heat than any other bike I've ever owned ... even my 2017 HD Softail Slim and 2017 HD Heritage Softail Classic didn't put our so much heat the the rider's feet and legs. It's brutal at times!!
2. The fit and finish in the dash area flat-out sucks. I've already had to have several dash pieces replaced under warranty. It's inexcusable that Yamaha spent so much time engineering this great touring motorcycle and then used plastic that looks like it came out of a 1990 Hyundai Excel in the dash area.

EDIT:
I take the above that back.
One of my fraternity brothers had a Hyundai Excel of that era and its dash plastic was of better quality than the dash plastic on my SVTC.