Yamaha Motorcycles
Yamaha have carved out a niche for themselves in the motorcycle market that none other can hope to. When you think ‘Yamaha’ you think ‘speed’, and why not – some of the fastest bikes ever to hit the roads have been Yamahas. They’ve been in all kinds of markets – Yamaha makes musical instruments and electronic gadgetry apart from motorcycles, and won them all!
To Yamaha or Not to Yamaha!
The first thing you need to ask yourself before you go out and buy a vehicle is ‘Why do I want it?’…If you want to cruise city to city, maybe you don’t need a Yamaha. If speed and racing are your passion on the other hand, well, go for a fast Yamaha bike. Lets put it another way – a bike is in many ways an extension of the personality of the rider – you need to ‘be’ a Yamaha person, or you need to ‘be’ a Triumph person. A Triumph person would be very very unhappy on a Yamaha you know, and vice versa! So if you have decided you want speed and reliability you would probably be happy with something like a Yamaha- not that Yamaha never made a cruiser, but lets say that’s not what the Yamaha image is about. The next thing you need to worry about is the power of your bike – who doesn’t love more power huh? But there’s really no point in spending a small fortune on a racing bike if you will need a special permit to take it out on the road. For city usage, its hard enough getting your bike to fourth gear, leave alone sixth! To get a better idea of what you want, do visit a Yamaha dealer, physically or over the internet.
Some classic bikes
The 100 cc range is great for general city use – these bikes are light and give you decent fuel economy. The Yamaha RX 100 was a runaway success story in the late eighties and early nineties. Unfortunately, someone woke up in the nineties and decided that two strokes were bad for the ozone layer and for the atmosphere in general, and banned them (our respects to the ozone problem at the same time). Following this, manufactures, including Yamaha decided it was time to concentrate on 4 strokes and fuel economy and the likes of that. Unfortunately, these things come at the price of power and that ‘feel’ that the two strokes gave.
Anyone who was into bikes in the seventies and eighties will have a few tales to tell about the Yamaha RD series – the RD 350 was one hell of a bike – light weight, 2 stroke and set the road on fire! It was a true racing bike that could be used on road without a special permit. The RD 350 could give a 700cc bike a run for its money, any given day!