Dear Yamaha...

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O-ring chains don't need the constant maintenance that other chains do.

Seems like a waste of time to me that people are "lubricating" O-ring chains. The lubricant is inside the sealed bearings.

I agree that it's a nice idea to wax your O chain once in awhile.

This SR is not a complicated bike to maintain. No carbs, no electric start, 1 sparkplug, almost certainly an O-ring chain, 2 valves.
 
Sunspark said:
Small? I ran around up to Bobcaygeon on my TU250X and it did just fine! Also did a run up to Gravenhurst. The posted speed limit is 80.

I will admit I don't enjoy logging trucks tailgating but that is why I pull over to let them pass so I can enjoy a more relaxed pace.
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I like this rider.
 
Sunspark said:
O-ring chains don't need the constant maintenance that other chains do.

Seems like a waste of time to me that people are "lubricating" O-ring chains. The lubricant is inside the sealed bearings.

I agree that it's a nice idea to wax your O chain once in awhile.

This SR is not a complicated bike to maintain. No carbs, no electric start, 1 sparkplug, almost certainly an O-ring chain, 2 valves.
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Sprockets wear out too.That is reason for the lube.
 
Morrissey said:
Even though most of these bikes will be used around town, the "urban hipsters" these bikes are aimed at will probably appreciate the centre stand rather than have to find a place to store a race stand in their 400 square foot condo! ;-)
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Can you honestly imagine an urban hipster to lube a chain or work on their bike at all? A dealer will get any maintenance job .... The center stand will be just 15 pound anchor for the lifetime of the bike, or someone will buy it and convert it to a cafe racer at which point it will go real quick ...
 
The bike is in the Yamaha USA website already http://www.yamahamotorsports.com/sport/products/modelhome/691/home.aspx

and the marketing blurb talks about "endless possibilities" for customization, including this photo:

custom_inset_big.jpg


EDIT: oops, photo is truncated.... go to the link and scroll down...
 
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RetroGrouch said:
These two modern conveniences alleviate 90% of the required maintenance/adjustments compared to points ignition and carbs.
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Interesting, didn't know they were that finicky. Newer o-ring chains are another advantage, and better wiring insulation/connectors.

There's a video of a CBR250 edging out SR400, so it won't be melting tires anytime soon. A Ninja 300 would probably walk away. If there are hipsters that love them, let them buy it. We need more people buying more bikes if we want greater variety and better prices.
 
Maybe as top end speed, due to lower drag, but on acceleration SR400 should "walk" away from the 250cc low stress single. But I don't think it matters anyway as it's not a purpose why the bike was built.
 
One way of looking at this is that the W650 from Kawasaki was here in North America until it wasn't. The W800 never made it here. They weren't state of the art vehicles but there's plenty of people who wish they hadn't procrastinated on buying a new W650 when they could have.

This SR will be the same way. Maybe here 2 years then poof.
 
Sunspark said:
One way of looking at this is that the W650 from Kawasaki was here in North America until it wasn't. The W800 never made it here. They weren't state of the art vehicles but there's plenty of people who wish they hadn't procrastinated on buying a new W650 when they could have.

This SR will be the same way. Maybe here 2 years then poof.
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It's all timing. The market wasn't ready for the W650. The Triumph Modern Classics are doing very well now. Basically the same thing. I believe the W800 is a better machine than the Triumphs.
 
Way overpriced and too small.

I'd like to see someone in the target market kick start anything. Just got back from the deep south and they now force you to take a "guide" with you on a catamaran. We're losing the ability to do anything ourselves. I'd like to see someone, again in the target market, shim or adjust a valve from their urban apartment dwelling ... oh, and if you could, buy an old CB350 and wrench on an $800.00 version of something similar.

As a previous poster stated, CB500 R/FA ... $5799.00.

$3900.00 = maybe.
 
not to hijack but where the heck did you need a guide on a cat? I'll be deep south in a week, OTTO is driving and GPS is his guide. Back on topic , I'll take a CB350 for $800, I'll take 2 in fact. You can go buy a kickstart enfield for 6k, but it wont run like that Yamaha. its not a bad deal, not cheap but what is (besides us)
 
At the moment, $800 buys you some sort of 30+ year old scrapheap escapee like a Virago or Magna. Ran fine three winters ago!
 
Flywheel said:
At the moment, $800 buys you some sort of 30+ year old scrapheap escapee like a Virago or Magna. Ran fine three winters ago!
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Bingo, it usually goes "there's no points in there, do you have the casing cover? " " yeah its in that box over there with the carb" "was it running when you bought it?" " Carb was off and points were out, but guy said it was running strong 3 years ago" " last plate sticker is 1982?" " Hey, its a project and wrenching is easy on these"
 
The market is very right for this product right now, Enfield has the Continental GT, kick start and café style, Moto guzzi has the V7, Honda with the CB rebirth. Riders in North America is an ageing demographic with insurance on the moon. Capture some of that market while it lasts, best part is the curve from design board to product means just going through old filing cabinets, nobody cares about cross plane technology on a retro bike.
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