Yamaha Joins the Retro Race

YAMAHA JOINS THE RETRO RACE

YAMAHA HAS RESURRECTED its popular 1970s roadster, the XS650. Reminiscent of the original, the decidedly retro machine is powered by an air-cooled, dual-carb vertical-Twin. But it uses

pushrods to actuate an octet of overhead valves, a la the new Road Star cruiser. Up front, there's a modern disc brake, but the rest of the chassis, from the spindly conventional fork and

small-diameter frame tubes to the narrow, spoked wheels and chrome twin shocks, is old school all the way. According to Japan's Young Machine maga zine, the bike will debut domes tically next year for the U.S. equivalent of $5825. Don't look for it stateside anytime soon, though. "The XS650 is a product-planning ex ercise," advises Yamaha's Scott Heath. "At this point, there is no firm commitment from the fac tory to produce it. But even if

the factory did decide to pro duce it, we might not get it in the first, second or even third

year, as has happened with other products." Politics aside, would such a machine sell successfully in the U.S.? "The XS650 was a prod uct of its time," says industry analyst Don _~ Brown. "I don't think it ever gained the notoriety or pop ularity of a Triumph, the bike upon which it was based. There was enough of a market in those days that it caught on pretty well. Whether customers today would be in the market for it, I don't know." Similarly unanswered ques tions surround Kawasaki `s W650 (Roundup, December, 1998). At presstime, company officials hadn't decided whether to import the 1960s Triumph lookalike. "It's a big gamble for us," admits Kawasa ki's John Hoover. "Mv feel-

ing is that the bike would sell well right away, maybe 1200 units in the first year. Then, everyone who wanted one

would have one, and that would be it." Hoover has ridden the bike, and while he says the engine is great," the chas is right out of the late 1960s. "There is a group of people 50 to 60 years old who really want this type of bike' he says. "Would it also appeal to younger riders? I don't know. We'll wait to see what the reaction is to the Drifter because, as far as the Japanese are concerned, the W650 fits that same image." Regardless of what Kawasaki and Yamaha decide, retro is cool. Everything from bellbot toms to beach cruisers are sell ing like popsicles in the Sahara. "People are buying fashion," Brown points out. "We should never forget that. The Japanese would like to have another venue, something unique, some thing that is all theirs. Right now, everybody has to have a cruiser. And the bigger, glitzier and more expensive, the better. That won't last forever." Matthew Miles