Yamaha's Tasty Trio For 1996

YAMAHA'S TASTY TRIO FOR 1996

ROUNDUP

YAMAHA'S LONG-AWAITed twin-cylinder sportbike, the TXR850, will appear in April, a couple of months after the debut of a revised YZF600 and YZF750, according to Japanese sources.

A sporting Twin has been expected from Yamaha since its 849cc engine appeared in the TDM850, an unusually styled machine that did not sell well.

Sources say the TDM engine will be modified for use in the TXR. For starters, a 180-degree crank will be used instead of the original 360-degree setup. As one observer noted, “With a counterbalancer and alternate crankpin phasing, you could even make it fire like a V-Twin.” Also expect the engine to be canted seven degrees farther forward than it was in the TDM, and to produce about 75 horsepower. The parallcl-Twin will be housed in a lis-style frame, and dry weight should be in the 400-pound range. A U.S. Yamaha spokesman said he was not aware of such a motorcycle, and would not comment on reports of revised YZFs.

Details are sketchy about the revamped sportbikes, but changes apparently don’t involve anything dramatic like Omega frames or alternative front ends.

In other Yamaha news, the GTS 1000, which possesses both of those features and more, will not be offered in the . U.S. this year. A Yamaha spokesman says the bike will continue to be produced for sale in other markets.

We may have seen the last of the GTS, but we haven’t necessarily seen the last of the James Parker-invented, forkless front end, adds the spokesman, who wouldn’t comment on specific future applications for the design.

Parker, who is not privy to Yamaha’s plans, was disappointed, but not surprised to hear that the GTS won’t be sold here. “When I saw the price and the styling of the bike, 1 thought, ‘This is going to be a tough sell,”’ he said.

-Robert Hough