The first Touring Yamaha, IMHO was the 1976/77 XS750D. Came naked, but many options available from Yamaha for bags, fairing, lowers, touring seat, etc. This bike was as sporty as they came in 77 and was a real mile eater. And what a great sound from the 3 into 1 exhaust system. First double wall exhaust for no blueing of pipes and second modern shaftie out of Japan. 3 cylinders with quite a bit of torque.
Soon after the XS1100 powerhouse followed with similar options.
Then:
Venture
Venture Royale
FJ1100/1200
GTS1000
Royal Star Tour Deluxe
RS Venture
Recently the Royal Star was reserected as a stripped RS Venture. No fairing or tail trunk, but same old RS Venture, sans radio, etc. It does have a real cruise control though.
I agree with your assessment of the genesis and progression of Yamaha's "Touring" lineage. Thanks for such accuracy and detail.
I want to add something about Sport Touring. That began, in earnest, with the XS1100. The XS750 was indeed able to be equipped with a "touring package". In California, we either never saw it, or it was not made available before the XS1100 was made avaiable delivered with "the package". None the less, my circle of riding acquantences never much considered the XS750 as a viable option.
By 1971, parts of the crowd that met at the Griffith Park Observatory began equiping the extant four-cylinder bike, the Honda 750 with Wixom handlebar fairings. Along with many riders, we did "sport rides" in the local mountains - giving rise to such places as The Rock Store. There were no "sport bikes" back then, and racy guys owned mostly Truimphs, outfitted as Cafe Racers. The occasional Ducati and MV showed up - along with the outrageous 1200cc Munch Manmut. Twelve hundred cee cees (Simca water-cooled). Can you imagine!
My crowd didn't quite get on down the road as quickly as the Cafe Racers, which as a new guy excited me, and I wanted to ride with them. However, they seldom rode, and when they did, they never went very far. Sixty miles of Angeles Crest was often too much for them.
We rode The Crest, and moved on to visit Big Bear, 50, a whole 50 miles further on. And then Mt Palomar which produced 350 mile days. I'm certain you get the idea. The Sierra Passes were next, and then Colorado, Montana, Calgary and Banf, and Mexico City.
Saddle bags got added, and seats got modified for comfort and Farkles abounded. Despite "outsider's" views, I don't recall thinking of ourselves as Touring folks. That was done on Harleys, and taken up by guys on the soon introduced GL1000 Gold Wing... with an add-on "touring package", by Vetter.
Our bikes morphed across the Z1, XS1100, GS1000(G), and such. They were called, and got marketed as Litre Bikes, later to be called The Unlimited Class.
The FJ1100 began life as a Litre Bike. As that class became dominated by the latest Suzuki, Yamaha warped the bike into a kinder and gentler ride. A low bar, faired bike with power, good brakes, deft handling, and moderately good suspension laid the groundwork for a class of bikes that became Sport Tourers in the European mold.
The XS11-style bikes sold in moderate numbers (Honda 900/950, Suzuki 1000 and 850 shaft drives), and emerged, and stagnated into the Kawasaki Concours. I see that class of bike being revived in the FJR, rather than the FJR stemming from some other "lineage".
I note that Sport Touring, in the US anyway, actually has not followed the "old Sport Bike" theme, many mangazines seem to foist off on our consciousness. The VF1100, as the V65 Sabre was a naked/standard bike with an ST package, much like the bikes we started doing long distance rides to then get sporty on.
BMW acually coined the Marketing Term, Sport Touring. The term was in use prior to that, but BMW adoped it, and gave it great life (and Thanks for that). BMWs, in the minds of the company, and by extension to the bike owners and onlookers were built to do Touring. Hoping to overcome some of the "stodgy" feeling about their bikes, BMW added Sport as a marketing term. Certainly, BMW had won the US Superbike championship, and yes the R90S was a great, if underpowered, sporting mount. But the "Averrage BMW" was seen as most folks as just a slug, and ugly with all that touring stuff hanging off it.
BMW changed that perception, if still offering only modest performance motorcycles until just recently. It's upcoming K1200GT is configured and dimensioned so much like the FJR1300 as to shock those accustomed to the Bavarian firms determination to do things differently if only to distinguish itself so as not to come off last in any (performance) comparisons.
I hope it's not taken as rude to point out to the originator of this thread that the FJR1300 is indeed a Sport Tourer, with a distinct lineage, if not exatly as I've portrayed, at least one that is not the lineage of "A Tourer". Yamaha, and others, indeed do make and have made fine Touring Bikes, but the FJR is not one of them. It certainly does Tour well, and deserves consideration by anyone interested in a Light Tourer (Concours, R1200RT), or Fast Touirer (ST1300). But it is indeed a (Super) Sport Tourer. With it's own lineage.
What do you think? Is it even important, or interesting to you?
Best wishes.
rc: 
