Yamaha

Narrow track vehicles - the convergence of the car and the motorcycle

By Mike Hanlon

01:22 November 19, 2009 PST

Since Nicholas Negroponte first came up with his landmark teething ring visualization of the coming together of communication, computing and content, the term convergence has become the uber buzzword. Now there’s convergence going on in the personal transport industry, with the car and the motorcycle morphing as car makers attempt to downsize their vehicles to make them better suited to the world’s increasingly crowded roads. This article begins with Nissan’s tandem two-seat, half width tilting car, the Landglider, and examines all the other work being done around the world as narrow track vehicles seriously begin to make their case. Read More

Yamaha's Super Tenere 'art installation' baffles Tokyo crowds

By Noel McKeegan

07:39 October 23, 2009 PDT

Tenere is a desert region in the south central Sahara - a place where, in 1977, Frenchman Thierry Sabine famously got lost on his motorbike for three days during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. The rest as they say is history - Sabine returned to France to create the Paris-Dakar rally and Yamaha's two wheeled namesake dominated the event in the 90s. The Yamaha Tenere made a comeback in recent times in with the new XTZ660, but the brand has bigger things in store with a twin-cylinder "Super Tenere" in the pipeline which will compete against the BMW R1200GS. Yamaha gave some hints as to the makeup of the new adventure bike at the Tokyo Motor Show with its eye-catchingly bizarre mock-up - which was appropriately wrapped in desert garb - sporting a shaft drive and side mounted radiators. Read More

Honda to exhibit 2WD electric motorcycle at Tokyo Motor Show?

By Mike Hanlon

18:19 September 30, 2009 PDT

Honda has released images of several new eco-friendly two-wheelers it will present at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, including the EV-Cub electric motorcycle, the EVE-neo electric scooter and its previously-announced PCX global scooter, the first two-wheeler to employ an 'idling stop system'. The most interesting of the new eco-bikes is without doubt the EV-Cub, which employs what appears to be car2car and car2driver communications dubbed HELLO! (Honda ELectric mobility LOop) and a LOOP portable communication tool that fits in the palm of one’s hand and “allows people and mobility devices to communicate with each other.” The EV-Cub also appears to have electric motors in both front and rear wheels, indicating that it is almost certainly a two-wheel-drive (2WD) motorcycle. 2WD motorcycles are expected to become commonplace in the future as, like their 4WD automotive cousins, they offer traction advantages on loose surfaces and wet roads and improve rider safety, especially for learners. Read More

Yamaha set to launch hybrid production motorcycle for 2010

By Ben Purvis

02:35 June 22, 2009 PDT

Back in 2005, Yamaha showed the wacky 2005 Gen-Ryu hybrid concept bike at the Tokyo Motor Show amidst a raft of other very non-conventional two wheelers such as the aptly named FC-Me fuel cell bike, the ingenious Deinonychus elec tric reconfigurable motorcycle, the Chivicker, Passol and the Maxam two-wheeled limousine. Now it appears certain the bike will become a showroom model in 2010. A series of patent applications detail the new motorcycle which uses the YZF-R6 600cc engine to turn a generator which in turn powers the rear wheel. History shows that every Yamaha styling patent published over the last 20 years has resulted in a full production machine, so there's little doubt this one is also heading for a showroom near you in the very near future. You can expect to see it in the flesh for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show later this year. Read More

Green guitars: a guide to eco-friendly axes

By Gizmag Team

06:33 June 10, 2009 PDT

We live in environmentally enlightened times. Familiar products have been repackaged and now proudly push their green credentials right in your face. So when looking through the racks of the local guitar shop, why is it that the now familiar “environmentally-friendly” claims are conspicuous by their absence? Given the market advantage that being green seems to offer manufacturers, could it be that no-one in the music industry gives a hoot? Perhaps the world of green awareness hasn't yet reached the world of guitars? Or maybe the kings and queens of tone and resonance are just being a bit less obvious about it? Paul Ridden cuts through the distortion to find out more. Read More

Sideways on a tilting 4-wheeler: the next generation of fun machines

By Loz Blain

05:13 May 7, 2009 PDT

If the fun we had aboard Piaggio's MP3 is any indication, motorcycles with more than two wheels have a big future ahead of them. The additional stability and traction you get from a tilting three-wheeler is quite an eye-opener, and they're still exceptionally fun to ride. If you want to take the concept one step further, though, an extra wheel at the back as well can actually make the entire bike narrower while delivering the sort of stability that can let you safely powerslide and drift all four wheels on an oily skidpan. Remember Yamaha's wild and wonderful Tesseract concept from 2007? The company is keen to get one into production, but as it turns out, Yamaha has run into trouble with patents held by an ex-courier and motorcycle safety advocate from the UK who has been working on a road-ready tilting 4-wheeler for more than 20 years. Read More

Yamaha's methane powered golf cart

By Darren Quick

20:46 April 22, 2009 PDT

We've all heard of vehicles that run on the smell of an oily rag, but what about one that runs on the smell of cow dung? A new prototype golf cart developed by Yamaha does just that - sort of - by running on the methane. The golf cart was tested with the assistance of the Osaka Gas Co. which provided methane at low cost to Yamaha for the vehicle tests as part of efforts to promote the use of cow dung biomass as a fuel. Read More

Yamaha's hybrid digital piano - the Avant Grand

By Darren Quick

23:34 March 1, 2009 PST

Yamaha’s new Avant Grand digital piano fuses twenty-first century technology with Yamaha’s more than a century of piano-crafting experience. The result is a digital piano that mimics the touch of an acoustic piano by using the same key, level, and hammer mechanisms of an acoustic piano combined with special embedded speakers to recreate the feel of an acoustic piano's keys to the player's hands. Read More

MotoGP stars launch the all-new 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 in Vegas

By Loz Blain

04:00 September 9, 2008 PDT

Yamaha's superstar MotoGP team, including Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and James Toseland, have assembled to throw their star power behind a completely reworked 2009 R1 launch in Vegas - but the magnificent machine barely needs any help to stand out on its own. One hundred and eighty two horsepower (before ram air kicks in) and 206 kilgorams dripping wet, for less than US$15,000 - aren't these magnificent times for motorcycle fans to live in? Read More

Advanced Digital Control for Yamaha Outboard

By Jack Martin

00:26 July 22, 2008 PDT

July 22, 2008 The concepts of drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire were initially eyed with much suspicion by automotive aficionados – how could a computer possibly hope to do a better job than a human being? Well, computers can do a much better job of these tasks, and will eventually be able to turn every aspect of our mere mortal fumbling into Lewis Hamilton-like driving capabilities. Now drive-by-whatever is invading the marine industry with Yamaha’s new second generation 250hp F250B outboard motor. Read More

Yamaha developing CVT enduro bike

By Mike Hanlon

17:00 June 29, 2008 PDT

Yamaha is developing a CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission) enduro machine according to recent patent applications. Conceived by Leonardo da Vinci 500 years ago, the CVT power delivery characteristics could well be a boon in slippery off-road conditions, particularly with some help from a computer. The CVT's biggest advantage is ensuring the motor is always running “in the power band” and as the infinitely variable gear ratios change, it should deliver one smooth rush of power from standstill to top speed. Read More

Yamaha set to release world's quickest motorcycle

By Mike Hanlon

20:23 June 3, 2008 PDT

June 4, 2008 Yamaha will release what is expected to be the world's quickest accelerating production motorcycle at a press conference later today in Madrid. The production 2009 V-Max will come almost 25 years after the original and groundbreaking 1200cc monster custom was first seen, and is expected to be almost identical to the concept machine shown at the 2007 Paris and Tokyo Shows (pictured above). With an 1800cc fuel injected motor, the new V-Max will produce 210 bhp and feature state-of-the-art everything. The launch is due in Madrid later today and Yamaha is using the internet for a simultaneous unveiling here. If you can’t wait until then, here’s our photo gallery from last year’s Paris and Tokyo Shows. Read More

Yamaha builds a giant fishtank on wheels

By Mike Hanlon

22:51 January 23, 2008 PST

January 24, 2008 Intent on driving the marine market size and retaining its share, Yamaha Australia has created two of these massive, 15 metre long, three metres tall, and 2.5 metres wide fishtanks on wheels to tour dealerships and boat shows. Part portable fishing show, part mobile fish tank and part educational program, the 13,000 litre Yamaha SupaTanks are designed to give the public a fish-eye-view on the world of angling. Read More

Yamaha unveils Rossi’s 2008 YZR-M1 MotoGP machine

By Mike Hanlon

04:13 January 19, 2008 PST

January 19, 2008 Yamaha unveiled its 2008 YZR-M1 MotoGP machine this week in a large event held in conjunction with sponsors Fiat in Turin, Italy. Last year the M1 was one of the slowest machines on the grid and played a major role in Valentino Rossi’s worst season for a decade, prompting Rossi to roundly criticise the machine publicly and Yamaha to test a V4 configuration and pneumatic valves in the hope of closing the horsepower gap to Ducati’s desmodromic valve system. With Honda employing a pneumatic valve system in its 2008 machine, Yamaha will be the only contender relying on traditional valve springs to close its valves this year. Despite this, Yamaha’s frightfully expensive throttle control system (Rossi) shares favouritism for the title with Ducati’s Casey Stoner (both 6/4). Read More

The 400 horsepower PWC cometh

By Mike Hanlon

21:21 December 20, 2007 PST

UPDATED IMAGE LIBRARY - The Personal Watercraft (PWC) market is in the grip of a horsepower “arms race” with a rash of new machinery announcements including a 342 bhp 2.2 litre V6-engined PWC from Austrian company HSR-Benelli and a 308 bhp 2.2 litre V8-engined PWC from the famous Italian MV Agusta motorcycle company. It all appears to have been catalyzed late last year when Kawasaki announced its 250 bhp Ultra 250X into a market where Seadoo’s 215 bhp RXP was previously the fastest of the bunch. Subsequently, SeaDoo has announced 255 bhp RXP-X and RXT-X models, Honda has announced a turbocharged 1500cc Aquatrax and Yamaha has announced a new lightweight purpose-built, turbocharged and intercooled 1812cc Super High Output (SHO) motor in its 2008 range. Given the radical upsurge in power outputs, one wonders what might be available a year or two from now. Read on … Read More

2008 Yamaha YZF-R6 receives widespread “stealth” updates

By Loz Blain

16:36 October 18, 2007 PDT

Next year’s R6 might not look very different to the current model, but under the sharp-looking bodywork Yamaha’s 600cc Supersport missile has received some significant revisions aimed at improving the bike’s already scalpel-like handling and screaming power. As always, the 600cc Supersport road/track bike category will be extremely hard fought in 2008. With Triumph’s class-smashing 675 Daytona ruling the roost from out of nowhere for the last two years, the Japanese companies are throwing all their knowledge and technology at the category to wrestle back their supremacy. The customer is surely the winner in this battle - next year’s Yamaha YZF-R6 will contain more electronic goodies and tricky technology straight from the racetrack than anything that’s preceded it. Read More

Yamaha’s iPod ready compact electric motorcycle

By Noel McKeegan

00:32 August 17, 2007 PDT

August 17, 2007 Yamaha first unveiled the EC-02 electric motorcycle as part of a range of sustainable machines in 2005. Not wanting to be left behind in the age of the ubiquitous personal music player, the latest incarnation of the short-range commuter features a tank mounted iPod dock. Read More

Yamaha unveil 11.2 Channel flagship home theater receiver

By Gizmag Team

23:11 August 12, 2007 PDT

August 13, 2007 Yamaha have unveiled their latest a new home theatre - the RX-Z11. Aimed at setting a new benchmark in the category, the receiver carries an industry-first THX Ultra2 Plus certification and full HDMI version 1.3a including 1080p resolution with over a billion colors, supporting the latest HD formats for Blu-Ray and HD DVD technology. The 11.2 channel RXZ11 adds front and rear presence speakers to traditional configurations and includes custom install features that suit complex multi-room/zone configurations. Read More

All new Aussie Yamaha motorcycles to come with free DataDot theft protection

By Loz Blain

06:21 July 31, 2007 PDT

July 31, 2007 Motorcycles offer a boundless sense of freedom to their owners – and they’re also seen as boundlessly free by bike thieves who know it only takes two men to lift a parked bike into a van and nick-off with it. But a bike that can always be traced back to its original owner is difficult for thieves to make a dollar from and Yamaha is taking advantage of this fact on behalf of its customers. Since February this year, every new Yamaha motorcycle, scooter and ATV sold in Australia has been sprayed with DataDotDNA theft protection – microscopic dots that carry identifying information linking every part on the bike back to its original frame number and making stolen bikes extremely difficult to on-sell or part out. DataDotDNA are doing these sorts of deals across the world with a number of different manufacturers now, and becoming a worldwide standard in vehicle identification. Read More

Yamaha shows 125-class fuel cell scooter

By Mike Hanlon

October 30, 2006 Yamaha showed a new fuel cell scooter at this week’s 22nd International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exposition (EVS22), in Yokohama, Japan. Though only a prototype, it shows things can go a long way in a year. Yamaha has been developing fuel cell technology for 20 years, and this time last year it was proudly showing it’s FC-ME (wouldn’t you think such a clever company would get a Western-savvy marketing exec to vet their names), a lightweight machine powered by Yamaha’s Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) system, and with the performance of a 50cc scooter. This year the FC-AQEL hydrogen fuel cell scooter prototype has 125cc class performance – though no power figures have been quoted, that’s at least a 100 percent increase over last year’s best and enough grunt to make the FC-AQEL viable in most global markets. Now all we need is a hydrogen infrastructure. Read More

Yamaha’s Maxam scooter bound for overseas markets

By Mike Hanlon

October 26, 2006 This time last year the motorcycling world was amazed to see Yamaha unveil a two wheeled limousine of extravagant proportions in the form of the Maxam 3000 prototype (image gallery). The 3000 in the model designation was there to signify the beastie was indeed 3000mm in length - almost 10 feet long! What wasn’t conveyed and hence wasn’t obvious to the rest of the world was the success the crossed tuning fork brand was having in its domestic market with the Yamaha Maxam 250 scooter – a similarly limousine-like scooter designed for two-up riding as a “weekend leisure cruiser.” The Maxam 250 is selling in droves in Japan and there’s a mmassive aftermarket and official Yamaha accessory listing of all manner of aesthetic and practical parts to complement the machine’s obvious strength of having loads of storage. Now it appears that Yamaha is to offer this limousine scooter to the rest of the world, beginning with a showing in Australia this week at the Sydney International Motor Show alongside its 189 bhp R1 sports machine. We can’t wait to throw a leg over this one – the seat height is so low that even the smallest of Japanese females (one of the target groups for the bike) can get both feet flat on the ground. Great image gallery. Read More

Yamaha’s all-new 189 bhp, US$11,600 YZF-R1 Supersport

By Mike Hanlon

October 17, 2006 Yamaha’s all new 2007 YZF-R1 Supersport machine hits showrooms in a few weeks time and the new bike is bristling with innovative technology, including the world’s first variable air funnel intake on a motorcycle. The YCC-I (Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake) electronically varies intake length to maximise combustion efficiency at all rev levels and so produce a more linear power curve. The new R1 also sports ‘fly-by-wire’ throttle first used on Valentino Rossi’s world championship winning YZR-M1 race bike. The YCC-T system (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle) senses a rider’s accelerator operation and an ECU instantly calculates the optimal throttle opening to provide instant response and smooth power in every situation. These high tech features combine with a strong four-valve engine to produce an astonishing 189 bhp (139 kw) @ 12,500rpm with ram air effect. Power is transmitted to the tarmac via a race-style slipper clutch and once the power gets there, a pair of six piston radially mounted front brake calipers ensure the rider is always in control. A fifth generation ‘controlled flex’ aluminium chassis and swingarm further improves stability and handling, while futuristic styling incorporating advanced air management reduces air resistance while boosting intake for maximum performance. Read More

Power steering first for Yamaha Grizzly ATV

By Mike Hanlon

August 31, 2006 In a first for the ATV market, Yamaha has introduced an electric power steering system on its new Grizzly 700 EPS. The Grizzly’s power steering system varies with both vehicle speed and engine speed (RPM), so that the rider benefits from more assistance when needed at low speeds and tight corners and less when on the move. Powering the Grizzly 700 EPS is the proven fuel injected, four-stroke forward-inclined single cylinder and liquid-cooled engine now with a ceramic composite coated, all-aluminium cylinder and a swept volume of 686cc, a reverse-facing air intake, electronic fuel injection, straight intake tracts and four valves per cylinder. The Grizzly comes in several variants including a duck hunting version complete with rifle carrier and a box to keep the ducks in (pictured). Another great photo gallery with this story. Read More

Yamaha's Fazer becomes even more brutal

By Mike Hanlon

March 23, 2006 Way back in the Northern hemisphere autumn of 2000, Yamaha released the Fazer 1000 – a more upright, naked version of its R1 1000cc supersport machine for riders who wanted maximum power but didn’t want the "praying mantis" riding position because they spent a goodly proportion of their time on city streets. Over the last few years, as competition has increased in the 1000 supersport category, the R1 has evolved considerably while the Fazer has had only minor revisions. At the Salon Moto de Paris last year, Yamaha showed two versions of an all-new Fazer - a naked streetfighter N model sporting a cutting edge headlight design and the faired S model with half-cowl and R1 style lights. Both models reach the showroom floor this week, with an all-new aluminium frame and swingarm with optimal balance between torsional, lateral and vertical stiffness for a great-handling, responsive ride … oh, and 150 bhp in your right hand and a mid-range that’s 7% stronger than the already brutal R1! The new Fazer might now be the fastest point-to-point motorcycle on the roads if there's a city between those points. Read More

Ducati narrowly leads Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha in World Superbike title chase

By Mike Hanlon

March 6, 2005 World-class racing on machinery closely related to that on the showroom floor is what continues to drive the success of the World Superbike and Supersport Championships. With four races now complete in the World Superbike Championship, it now seems certain that Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki all have realistic chances of taking the title, with as many as ten potential race-winning riders on the grid. Realistically though, championship leader TroyBayliss (Ducati 999, 75 pts), James Toseland (Honda CBR1000RR, 74 pts), Troy Corser (Suzuki GSXR1000, 63 pts), MotoGP veteran Alex Barros (Honda CBR1000RR, 55 pts) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha YZF R1, 42 pts) will be the key players with both Barros and Haga set for significant machinery improvements in the coming weeks. In the Supersport championship, the title already looks to be a race between the Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR of reigning champ Sebastien Charpentier and the Yamaha Germany YZF-R6 of Kevin Curtain. Read More