Yamaha's Radd Sport-Tourer

YAMAHA'S RADD SPORT-TOURER

Jon F. Thompson

IT SEEMS THAT YAMAHA IS poised to break ground with two new motorcycles, both likely to be shown at the IFMA Motorcycle Show in Cologne, Germany.

The first is the OW02, the company’s long-awaited reentry into the 750cc sportbike market. Look for this to be a productionized version of the YZF750 endurance racer (see Race Watch, this issue), much as Ducati’s 851 is a street-legal version of the company’s 888 Corse customer racebike.

The second machine will be the GTA1000. This RADDsuspensioned sport-touring bike-which Cycle World ran preliminary sketches of in the October, 1992, issue-álso is scheduled to make its appearance at IFMA and in global motorcycle markets shortly thereafter (where it may be called the Ultimate). It uses an all-new chassis featuring a development of the James Parkerdesigned RADD center-hub front suspension. Very few details are certain, but early indications, culled from Japanese press reports, are these: The bike is slightly larger than the FJ1200, and is powered by a fuel-injected, lOOOcc, fivevalve, EXUP inline-Four. Early reports indicate that the centerhub front suspension bolts directly to the engine or to engine side plates, a là the Bimota Tesi. There are no clear indications about the remainder of the bike’s chassis, except that it may incorporate ABS, traction control and, if production costs can be brought into line, Yamaha-Öhlins electronic semi-active rear suspension.