You may not be well versed in Japanese language or the font might show up as boxes in your monitor. Well, welcome to the amazing world of YAMAHA in Japan and not to forget the amazing website too! YAMAHA Japan has so many aces up its sleeve, all secretly hidden from the rest of the world. You will be spoilt for choices from the FJR series to the SR (yes that SR) series, to the motocrosses and Scooters. But funnily enough, at least in this website that I am referring, there was no YZF-R1 or YZF-R6 or the Star Motorcycle series although it shows up on the search engine.
They R1 is featured in the Yamaha-Motor-Co.Jp website while this site is Yamaha-Motor.Jp but thats another story for now. Let me get one thing off. I am no computer gizmo, so I was most fascinated by the 'Wallpaper' section. In the website, YOU can make your own wallpaper.
In the Cruiser section, you have a Movie link where the bike is beautifully pictured in a movie style, you have a Screen Saver link, you have a Dragster Collection link showing off the entire collection from its incept in 1996 to 2007 and then the most fascinating one, the Look and Shot link, a section for Wallpapers where the bike is seen on a 360 degree angle and more, I mean even from top angle and low side angle, all you need to do is click your mouse at whichever position you like and lo! there is your wallpaper. just try it out. Here is the link again. In the same Cruiser section, you also have the entire Dragster collection below. Below are two shots I 'clicked' on the virtual camera.
Another feature I was impressed with was the "Showroom". For instance, you have the Dragster bike, now just as the 'Look and Shot' feature, you can rotate the bike in every possible angle and to add to it, you can change the background scenario from Studio to Plain to Sea. It does take a bit of time in loading, but its fun and you will surely enjoy this Showroom feature. Below are 2 images I got from that page. The first is a 'Sea' view and the next is a 'Studio' view.
Well, if you read this blog, I cannot hide the fact that I am a big sucker for SR400. And just as I thought, the SR400 is alive and kickin in Japan, still in production since 1978 and even the logo stas that "Since 1978". This '4S OHC big single' classic styling was never meant for performance seekers, but it takes my breath away everytime I look at it. Those twin pods, classic lines in the engine, a single front disc brake, that tail light with the 60s grab rail, the single round headlamp, I can keep going on... Its priced just below $5000 and just FYI, you have to kick this CDI ignition engine to start! Yes!!! But then, it only gets better. Yamaha had launched 500 units of this bike lasy year for its 30th Anniversary,the SR400 30th Anniversary Limited Edition. There is also a special dedicated SR Cafe site where the kid and the grown-ups can learn how to kick start the bike!
My personal interest is the XT250X and WR250X, 2 Street Legal Off-road / Motocross style bikes. a 250cc 2 valved SOHC air-cooled single cylinder off-roader with a 9.5:1 compression ratio and 19 Nm of torque @ 6500rpm. It has fuel injection with Wet multi-plate coil spring Clutch and weighs 133kgs.
The WR250 is even better, its water-cooled 4 valve DOHC single. Now get this. This 250 cc fuel injected belts out 31 ps @ an screaming 10000 rpm. Max torque is 24Nm @ 8000 rpm. Compression ratio is 11.2:1 and has 6 gears to get your hormones through your head. Yes, it is expensive at $7460 (all inclusive), but just imagine the fun! It has a special dedicated WR250 website. It has 2 versions, X & R with the X being a little smaller in stature.
And then, there is the Dragster series. The Dragster 11 or DS11 which ia a 1000 odd cc V-Twin cruiser and you have an entire family of dragsters. You also have the Dragster Classic 11 or DSC11. Basically there are 2 versions, the normal one and the Classic series of 3 different cc categories, the 1100, the 400 and the 250cc. There is a link when you can actually see how your height will look beside the bikes. It will also show you the riding position which is a virtual simulation along with the 360 degree view. Its smaller sibling Dragster Classic Four or DSC4 is also there although I never knew Yamaha had smaller cruisers too. It has a 400cc air cooled V-Twin engine belting out 32 ps. And... also even a smaller version, Dragster Two Fifty or DS250.
And similarly along with the mighty XJR 1300, there is a XJR 400, an air-cooled parallel 4 cylinder with power output of 53 ps (Awesome!) and its priced at $6750 (all inclusive) while the bigger bro is priced at $11,000. The entire line up of bikes are here and with pictures here quoted with the prices.
