Another Yamaha We Can't Have
Another Yamaha we can’t have
ROUNDUP
SURE. THERE ARE: LOTS OF REAsons for preferring the wide-open spaces of America over the decadence and closed-in tightness of the Old World, but every now and again a piece of machinery comes along that makes us wish we could have our strudel and eat it too.
Yamaha's newly announced TDM 8 50 is just such a piece, an oddball melding of motorcycle styles which has. by all accounts, resulted in a highly unusual and brilliant motorcycle.
Yamaha’s brass has for some time been hearing internal noises about the need for a standardish motorcycle, and the company's design teams began drawing up informal concepts that would result in just what they thought the firm needed: an all-purpose super-sports machine that w'ould appeal to a wide range of users. The TDM850, with its upright riding position and generous suspension travel, is the result. It draws heavily from Yamaha's highly acclaimed Super Ténêré rally-style bike, which remains unavailable here, and it uses developments not only of the Super Ten's steel Deltabox frame, but of its fivevalve, parailel-Twin 750cc engine, as well. The biggest difference is that the TDM engine—which breathes through 38mm carbs and
runs through a wide-ratio, five-speed transmission —has been punched out
to 850cc.
This additional displacement yields 72 horsepower at 7500 rpm and 59 foot-pounds of torque at 6500 rpm. enough to make the
TDM the bike to have on Europe's winding Alpine roads. Vibes? Forget 'em. The engine's equipped with a counter balancer to keep buzzes and tingles to a minimum. Fat horsepower and torque production in the lowand middle-rpm ranges, thanks to careful work with the bike's airbox and exhaust system, make it an especially friendly device when being ridden two-up. according to early press reports.
Suspension is through a conventional, 41mm fork up front, adjustable for preload and rebound damping, and, in the rear, through a single shock. Travel up front is 6.3 inches, with 5.5 inches at the rear. Brakes are triple-discs, with 1 1.7inch rotors up front—each of them squeezed by a four-piston caliper— and a 9.6-inch rotor out back.
The bike’s handling, through its 1 8-inch front and 17-inch rear tire, is said to be light and precise, with the chassis' 57.9-inch wheelbase providing the nimbleness necessary for in-town use, while a 4.7-gallon tank gives the 430-pound TDM all the range it needs to get well away from town.
Will we eventually see the TDM850 here in the U.S.? Yamaha isn't saying, and we won't even hazard a guess. All we can do is hope.
—Jon F. Thompson
