The Next Great Sportbike?

The Next Great Sportbike?

PARIS-TO-DAKAR REPLICA Motorcycles are among the most popular bikes in Europe, but haven't yet caught on in the U.S. So even though Yamaha's new XTZ750 Super Ténéré, powered by a new-design, parallel-Twin, is grabbing headlines on the Continent, there’s little chance we will see the bike here. But a high-performance, low-cost sporting Twin built around the Ténéré’s engine could just show up in America.

What makes that idea so appealing is that much of the Ténéré's technology comes directly from the Yamaha FZR inline-Fours. Tike the original FZR engines, the Ténéré’s liquid-cooled cylinders are angled forward at 45 degrees and feature five-valve heads, here fed by two 38mm Mikuni downdraft carburetors. The engine is rumored to produce 70 bhp, with strong lowand mid-range power.

While officials at Yamaha say there is little chance of the Ténéré coming here, they are a little more enthusiastic about the prospect of a XTV750 sportbike. In fact, Ed Burke, Corporate Manager of Product Planning for Yamaha in the U.S., thinks the Ténéré engine would make a great platform around which to build a state-of-the-art, high-performance Twin. He said. “We’ve looked into it, but our concern is to find a viable package that riders can afford.”

That could easily be more than mere conjecture when you consider the interest in twin-cylinder sportbikes of late. A couple of Kawasaki’s best selling bikes lately have been Twins, the EX500 $nd the 250 Ninja. Honda introduced the 650 VTwin Hawk GT last year, and this year Suzuki has its GS500 Twin.

Certainly, a lightweight, 750cc sportbike along the lines of an EX500 would be a welcome addition to anyone’s lineup, but in light of the fact that Yamaha has no current U.S.-market 750cc sportbike whatsoever, it almost needs this motorcycle. And a sporting, high technology Twin could do more than just fill in the gap; it could start a whole new trend.

Camron E. Bussard