Preview '77
Yamaha
Bids For Number One With Serious Enduro Bikes, Improved Monocrossers And A 1000-cc Flagship Four
When the stick is big enough, speaking softly is an option. The head man at Yamaha's new American motorcycle company, now separate from the U.S. corporation if not the home office, stood before the national dealer convention, gestured toward the sky and announced that Yamaha plans to take the sales lead from Honda during 1977.
The dealers cheered.
The stage darkened, movies flickered, dancers danced and Presto! There on the stage was the 1977 Yamaha XS1000, gleaming chrome and maroon, four cylinders, shaft drive, alloy wheels and the perfect weapon for the sales war, just the machine to fill the last gap in Yamaha’s model line.
Again the dealers cheered, this time with feeling. Yamaha Motor Corporation is serious. No telling yet whether Yamaha will take Number One from Honda, or whether the victory will be short-lived, but for now, Yamaha wins the 1977 Most Improved Model Line Trophy.
Begin at the top. The XS1000 closely follows the other seekers of the big touring market in that the displacement goes into four figures and the top model has everything a road rocket is supposed to have. There’s room for two people and the basic bike has been designed to accept Yamaha’s own line of fairings, saddlebags and such. Long distance riders are bound to like it.
Performance? Our clever reporter was on the phone with a man deep in Yamaha’s tech section. That Four will be a good match for Kawasaki’s big ’un, hinted the reporter.
A match? said the insider. Shoot, we’ve got one of both here on test and . . . (voices in the background) . . . I’m not supposed to talk about that.
Perfectly all right, said the press, your silence is eloquent.
Details are lacking. Yamaha engineers at the show pointed out that the engine in the display bike was die-cast and thus not a pilot or prototype. The DOHC Four isn’t a Three plus One, but has its own camshaft drive and power take-off inside the cases. The cylinder head design, camshaft timing, carburetion, etc., are quite similar to the smaller engine. So is the transmission and the drive train. Wheelbase is a bit
long, weight is up, as you’d expect. Exhaust is 4-into-2, arranged for clearance and service but not power. The suspension appears to be like that on the XS750-2D. The headlight and turn signals are square, partially to give a square and more controlled light pattern, the tech men said, but also as a styling distinction. No figures are provided here because the XS1000 isn’t scheduled for delivery in the U.S. until early fall and the marketing plans are to let us know what’s coming while not giving away all the details until public interest can be translated into sales.
The other new road bike for 1977 is the XS400D, an enlarged and styled version of the XS360: Four-stroke Twin with cast alloy wheels, disc brakes, electric starting and those handy self-canceling turn signals.
Carrying over in the lightweight sporting/utility market are the RD400D, twostroke Twin with discs and cast wheels; the XS360D, last year’s neat street four-stroke with wire wheels, a front disc brake and electric starter, and a low-budget version of the original, the XS360-2D, like the plain 360D except for drums at both ends and kick start only.
In between, so to speak, are the XS7502D, tested for this issue, and the carry over XS750D Triple, the XS500D four-stroke Twin and the evergreen XS650 Twin.
OFF-ROAD AND COMPETITION
The off-road news at this point must be the newest serious enduro line, the IT 175, IT250 and IT400. Yamaha became involved in this market last year and the IT series was impressive if not completely successful.
The 1977 series is the logical extension of new off-road Yamahas introduced a few months ago. Like the DT dual-purpose bikes and the YZ motocrossers, the IT for 1977 combines second-generation DeCarbon-developed monoshocks, lighter, more precise and more easily tuned, with leading-axle front forks which also can be tuned for each rider, on site. Engines are second-generation two-strokes, stripped and tuned for their intended use.
The three models vary in detail. IT400 and IT250 share a 56.3 in. wheelbase, compared with 54.5 in. for the IT 175. Claimed dry weights for the enduro models are 254, 247 and 216 (!) lb. All three come complete with U.S. Forestry Servicelegal spark arrestors, skidplates, small head and taillights, even tool bags strapped to the rear fender. They share wide plastic fenders, quick-change fittings for the rear wheels and a sky-blue paint scheme. At press time we’re told we’ll have one to test two months from now.
The other off-road and racing models have been reviewed already, but for the record, Yamaha has done good things to the DT, YZ and XT models, from 500 to 80-cc, in their various forms. @
preview '77
Charles Schmidt
