Diversion Decision
UP FRONT
Diversion decision
David Edwards
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY IS ALWAYS A good time to go for a ride. Nearby Ortega Highway, usually clogged with sightseers and boat-pullers, is blissfully devoid of most traffic, minimizing blitz passes on the double-yellow lines that California’s Department of Public Safety has seen fit to plaster along most of the twisting road’s length.
Last Sunday, then, as the San Diego Chargers prepared to roll over and assume room temperature against Steve Young and crew, I was checking oil and airing tires on our Yamaha Diversion 900 testbike, the review of which you can read elsewhere in this issue.
For those who don’t know, the Diversion is a new, for-Europe-only sportstandard, an enlarged, shaft-drive version of the 600cc Seca II.
As you read this, six weeks after the 49ers’ shellacking of the ’Bolts, the fate of the Diversion 900-at least in regards to the U.S. market-hangs very much in the air. You’ll note in the test
that Yamaha is concerned the bike’s
projected price of $8000-plus would get an icy reception from American buyers. Though the Diversion has some highly placed friends at Yamaha USA pulling for it, the company’s top brass won’t green-light the project without further research.
Well, I conducted my own little focus group among the Sunday-morning regulars at the Lookout Roadhouse, Ortega’s famous gathering point and purveyor of the best ribs this side of a Texas backroad barbeque shack. I make no claims that this is in any way a scientific study, just the consensus of a group of savvy, dedicated motorcycle riders whose opinions I trust. To paraphrase the several conversations I had with Ortega regulars about the Diversion:
Them: “Neat-looking bike. What’s it cost?”
Me: “What would you pay for it?”
Them: “Dunno, what’s the new
Kawasaki GPz 1100 cost?”
Me: “$8000.”
Them: “How’s this stack up performance-wise against the GPz?”
Me: “The GPz makes 35 more horsepower, is 1.4 seconds quicker through the quarter-mile and 30 mph faster in top speed.”
Them: “Hmmm. But this has shaft drive and the GPz doesn’t.”
Me: “Right.” Them: “Just a guess, then, but $7500 seems a fair price for the Yamaha.” Agreement all around,
I don’t know if Yamaha could sell
the Diversion 900 at that price. I do know that the Diversion 900 (hopefully that silly name would be dropped in favor of “Seca 900”) is a motorcycle that many U.S. riders have been asking for, the type of machine Cycle World has been championing for
years. Sensible, versatile, comfortable, modern yet not overly compilcated. Some will choose to see the Diversion, with its simple suspension and 77 rear-wheel horsepower, as a throwback bike. Fair comment, but I prefer to think of the Yamaha as proof that you don’t need liquid-cooling, five valves per cylinder and a rap sheet of race wins to have fun on a motorcycle. I have seen the performance mountaintop, and while it’s a swell place to spend a Sunday morn-
ing, I don’t want to live there. I’m much more impressed by a motorcycle
that can capably dispatch a set of
curves at an 8/10ths pace, then turn
around and take me cross-state in
comfort, or pull commuting duty with-
out complaint during the week, The Diversion 900 is just such a
motorcycle, Some cautions to Yamaha, though, The first thing I’d do if I were in the 900’s thumbs-up/thumbs-down loop is
make sure the company is 100 percent behind the product, convinced of its viability, fully committed to spending money on an advertising and PR campaign. The Diversion is a really good motorcycle, but it will not sell itself. The discontinued TDM850 Twin, bugeyes and all, was another really good motorcycle, but it never had a chance in the U.S. The lack of support it got from Yamaha bordered on the criminal.
The second first thing I’d do is target the 900’s various audiences and go after them hard. Prime pickings would be the thousands of Seca II owners out there already, many poised to move up to something bigger. Re-entry buyers, easily intimidated by big-bore sportbikes, might be attracted to the Diversion’s spread-out riding position, two-up accommodations and lack of all-enclosing bodywork. How about playing up the Yamaha’s long-distance abilities for those who want a sport-tourer but can’t swing the monthlies on an ST 1100 or RS-series Beemer? And here’s a thought: How many of those RUBs with new Harleys in the garage could be enticed into adding something sporty to their stables, as long as it wasn’t painted like a surfboard, with clip-ons mounted somewhere down around the front axle?
I’d also suggest arranging for the extended loan of several bikes each to my friends Werner Wachter of Edelweiss Bike Travel and Rob Beach of Beach’s Motorcycle Adventures. Diversions should make excellent Alps bikes, and good times in the mountain passes of Europe will translate in excellent wordof-mouth-if not outright sales-back in the USA. Just some thoughts.
In all of this, there is a chance for you to make a difference. If you have strong feelings about the Diversion 900, let the powers-that-be at Yamaha know about it by writing to Diversion Decision, Yamaha USA, 6555 Katella Ave., Cypress, CA 90630. Tell ’em Cycle World sent ya.
It’s already almost too late for the 1996 model year. Given the go-ahead, the Diversion would have to pass EPA tests, be outfitted with U.S.-spec equipment, etc. If I had to guess, though, I’d wager that with enough favorable input, the 900 will be on sale here mid-1996 as a 1997 model.
Of course, I also had money down on the Chargers to beat the point spread.... E3
