Yamaha Szr660 Super Single
YAMAHA SZR660 SUPER SINGLE
WARRIOR FROM TWO WORLDS
ALAN CATHCART
THOSE OF YOU WHO BELIEVE THAT IT TAKES SPECIALIZED design to come up with a successful roadracing engine, listen up:
Though the other Japanese manufacturers build engines suitable for Singles racing, only Yamaha’s five-valve XTZ660 powerplant possesses the potential to beat the Ducati Supermonos and the various Rotax/BMW-engined racebikes that populate the highest levels of Singles racing. The XTZ660? It’s a dual-purpose bike. But the XTZ engine doesn’t know that, and it has powered its way to, well, roadrace ecstasy.
Is what’s good for dual-purpose and good for Sound of Singles just as good for Racer Road? Yamaha obviously thinks so, for it’s just introduced an XTZ-powered machine called the SZR660 Super Single. It’s as much a manufacturing landmark as it is a sportbike: In the face of spiraling Japanese manufacturing costs fueled by the continued strength of the yen, the SZR is built in Italy. Yamaha says that only the bike’s engine, carburetor, frame rails and front wheel are sourced from Japan. The rest is built by Yamaha’s wholly owned Italian subsidiary, Belgarda, just outside Milan. As a result of dramatically lower labor and component costs-further aided by the sagging value of the lira-Yamaha has been able to launch the SZR660 in the Italian home market at a relatively low price-the equivalent of about $7500, and that includes Italy’s whopping 20-percent sales tax. By comparison, Bimota’s new BMW-powered Supermono sells for the equivalent of about $10,500.
Did Yamaha cheap out? Nope. The SZR wears all the right stuff, including the same upside-down Paioli forks as the Bimota, as well as Brembo brakes, Lafranconi exhaust, Tommaselli handlebars and levers, Acerbis bodywork and CEV instruments.
Beneath that dramatic styling sits a close copy of the Yamaha TZR250's alloy Deltabox twin-spar chassis, fabricated locally using frame sections cut and shaped in Japan, and strengthened to support the extra weight of the 100 x 84mm, five-valve, sohc motor. Said motor is lightly modified from its XTZ roots, including a taller first gear for street-only use and a strengthened top ratio in the fivespeed cluster. Ignition curve, cam profile and compression ratio are all unchanged, say Belgarda engineers, leaving lots of scope for tuning.
In use, the SZR has the quality feel of a Japanese-built product. All the controls are light, positive and precise, and in spite of some abominable road surfaces on my 185-mile test ride, which took me over five Alpine passes, there were no squeaks or rattles from the bodywork at the end of the day. This is a very well-made motorcycle. The riding position is pretty good, especially for shorter riders. Handlebar location delivers an ideal sporting stance that isn’t at all tiring, with lots of protection from that shapely windscreen. Tucking down behind it delivered an indicated 119 miles per hour, though Yamaha's claim for the SZR's top speed is actually 115 miles per hour-pretty good for an untuned sports Single.
Yamaha has done a terrific job on this engine. For starters, it's counterbalanced, so while you still get a slight tingle at higher rpm through the footrests, you don't get the chronic vibra tion from the upper midrange onwards that the Bimota's BMW engine inflicts. You can rev it to its 7000-rpm ignition cutout without discomfort, but never mind those high revs. Instead, just ride the torque curve onward from the 2000rpm mark, where the engine starts pulling cleanly. There's an extra kick of power at 4000 rpm that makes everything happen that much quicker. 1-looking the next upward gear at 6500 rpm, where claimed peak power of 4. horses is delivered, keeps the SZR motoring hard.
Though at a claimed 350 pounds dry, the SZR66O is a bit heavier than the Bimota, you don't feel it on the move because the bike is so well balanced. You can adjust cornering lines just by flicking your body weight or stepping hard on the inside footrest in a way that instantly reminds you why Singles are so much fun to ride. The SZR is responsive with out being twitchy, stable with out sacrificing agility. It also steers brilliantly, the combi nation of a 24.5-degree head angle and 4 inches of trail, coupled with a 55.5-inch wheelbase and a 52/48-percent front/rear weight bias, all conspiring to deliver poised and nimble handling.
This is a bike with no surpris es in store-you can always predict how it'll behave. The suspension is firm, but still responsive, and the rear linkage working the fully adjustable Boge shock has an effective and pro gressive ratio-you can feel it working under you as you ride over ripples, yet it doesn't bottom out on big bumps. The 41mm Paioli fork is adjustable for compression in the left leg and rebound in the right. You're a brave road rider if you can make the front end chatter. I couldn't.
In an effort to keep weight and cost down. Yamaha fitted just a single 12.6-inch Brembo front disc to the SZR, gripped by a four-piston caliper. While the bike brakes okay, there really isn't the bite I'd expect-you can e~cn get the front brake to fade slightly with repeated hard use com ing down a twisting mountain pass. The basic problem-just as on the Bimota-is one of cost-cutting. If you're going to bet on a single front disc, then it has to use a costlier castiron rotor rather than the cheapo steel unit used here. Either that, or double up on discs, which is probably what the seri ous SZR rider will do. Belgarda thought of that: There's a caliper hanger already cast into the opposing Paioli fork leg.
Brake complaints aside, this Super Single is a terrific little road bike, a best-buy on a pure grin-per-mile basis. It even has mirrors that work-yessir, rock steady at full-blat, and you can actually see the road behind in them, not just your elbows. With clever internal ducting that optimizes airflow to the carbs and the radiator, as well as aiding the extraction of hot air under the seat, Yamaha has displayed original thought in engineering the SZR, as well as in packaging it. This is a bike with a strong dose of personality, at the right price, It isn't likely that it will appear in the U.S., and that's a shame. It's a winner on the street, and with some tuning, it'll be there on the racetracks, too.
