OK JB, Here's Your New Yamaha

Pretty cool actually! Be sure to check out the video!

2009 TMAX



:clapping:

I went on a ride with my CMA group this past Sunday. Rain was in the forecast, so one fellow with a brand new Goldwing did not want to take it out and get it dirty. He brought along his '8x Honda Elite scooter. We all had a lot of fun and he could sure could ride that little thing real well. Later on, I noticed a sticker on the dash of the thing that said "Scooter Trash".

I had a Suzuki Burgman 650 for about two and a half weeks. Finished the break in and did the service. It was a water cooled parallel twin and was geared to do about 120 mph in overdrive on its CVT. I never had it over 100 mph, but it was stable at that speed, and felt like it would easily continue to climb. I got over 59 mpg on a couple of tanks, but usually gas mileage was in the mid 50's.

Two and a half weeks on a scooter was enough. I had bought it to keep riding through a bout of shifter toe blues (arthritis in the left big toe). When I discovered that you could move the shifting to your left hand on the FRJ AE, the scooter was toast.

Its a whole different culture and riding style.

I'm keeping the FJR and my 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor Mk II with standard British shift pattern on the right as God originally intended. Maybe I can wear out my right big toe too.

Last night in the AutoZone parking lot there were two scooters - a Honda Helix and a Yamaha Majesty. The Honda had clearly been dropped on the left side.

The riders were a middle aged man on the Majesty and a middle aged woman on the Helix. Both had shorts. Neither had gloves. Both had tennis shoes. Both had short sleeves. Off they went.

$8K????

Whoh! That's a bit steep for anything with the name "scooter" on it.

GunMD said:

$8K????

Whoh! That's a bit steep for anything with the name "scooter" on it.

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The maxi-scooters, like the Burgman 650 and Burgman Executive 650 often have OTD prices that break $9500.

Folks are going crazy to get this kind of stuff. I read the Burgman forum for a week or two, and folks were falling over three times on the way home from the dealership.

They had the same NEPRT stuff, Amsoil, Octane, Tires, etc... but they let it be the main body of the forum.

It was interesting, but I won't miss it.

Meanwhile, the Burgman I bought was a leftover 07, but these just about all got bought as I bought mine, and two and a half weeks later there was general panic from people who were desparate to spend $8K or more to save money on gas. The Burgman 400s were even more in demand.

Yamaha is going to have trouble with their 47 mpg figure. This is not competitive for a 500cc scooter, and the people who buy scooters are generally very conscious of the gas mileage.

Kind of looks like a girls' FJR. No offense to you women, of course.

SacramentoMike said:

Kind of looks like a girls' FJR. No offense to you women, of course.

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Yep. My wife wants one.

El Toro said:

<snip>...Yamaha is going to have trouble with their 47 mpg figure. This is not competitive for a 500cc scooter, and the people who buy scooters are generally very conscious of the gas mileage.

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Maybe? But, they won't have trouble with performance -- according to the British m/c press, the TMAX is the 'sportbike' of scooters. It also has BMW technology (from the YAM website): "horizontally opposed reciprocating balancer for uncommon smoothness." How de do dat...? A little BMW twin just for balancing...?

My local dealer (Suz) is selling all the scooters he can get. He recently added the 'Priller/Vespa franchises -- primarily just to get more scooters.

Scab said:

Yep. My wife wants one.

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Would she still run you down with it?

Kudos to Yamaha for seeing the 'future' (high gas prices, folks want better MPG, scooters need some design improvements). The fork is making me very confused. It does look like a regular MC in the forks! Scooters will blur more an more with MCs.

Woh - I need to run go look at my FEEJER to get my head back on straight.

Scott

My wife has the Honda Silverwing, 582cc scooter, looks like a Burgman.

She loves the twist and go operation, no fussing with foot controls.

Anyway, it is pretty smooth and has more than enough power to support highway speeds.

I've seen over 90 on the speedo with plenty more throttle available.

I bought it used with 5500 miles on it for waaaaay less that $8K. A good deal I think.

I haven't checked gas mileage but I would get it would be similar to a 650cc bike- maybe 55 mpg? Don't really care. I know it uses much less fuel than her Mustang GT.

You can get it with a top case and "touring windshield"

What's next?! A NATO Rally in Golden?? (N.Am.Tmax Owners)

bad pun intended...

We finally got the TMAX, that's good -- but we lost this beauty (not for '09):

Dealership I work at has sold four TMax's, actually pre-sold as they're nowhere close to coming in yet. Also have Schwinn scoot's which are in short supply. Owner has feeling you'll see more smaller bikes, 250-400cc in future. He's trying to get Mother Yamaha to build a bike to compete with Kawi's Ninja 250. VStar 250s are just about unavailable now also.

Thank you. I just found my next bike.

James Burleigh said:

Thank you. I just found my next bike.

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Maybe it'll allow your pucks to see some action! :yahoo:

Looks like a Lay-Z Boy recliner on wheels.

wfooshee said:

Scab said:

Yep. My wife wants one.

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Would she still run you down with it?

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My guess is, yes. But her excuse about slipping the clutch lever won't fly this time. I think the civil suit will be a little easier to win with this one.

You can sue your own wife, right?