2015 Yamaha kick-only EFI equipped SR400 in the USA?

[Jeeter]

This is news to me. It's pretty cool, and I gotta wonder if the ~new~ TT engine is the same castings and so on as the original. If so, suddenly TT fans have got a source for brand new parts now. AND fuel injection for their old TT engines. At least that's my guess since the new SR400 is EFI equipped.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/2015_yamaha_sr400/

Pretty cool that these UJMs are tip-toeing back into our lives. What with Honda's CB1100 (since the chip issue has finally been cracked some decent performance is now available from the new CB). Triumph and Norton have crawled from the grave recently offering universal type bikes again. And now Yamaha's SR400. The "rumor mill" at the bottom of that same linked page seems to be making noises about Yamaha releasing a vertical twin again soon! Holy cats, wouldn't it be cool if the XS650 engine came back, air cooled and fuel injected?!?!

This SR400 is everything a bike builder needs. The stock suspension is "crap", which is a good thing since Yamaha didn't put any money into something most owners will change and fiddle with anyhow as soon as they buy it. This type of "70's thinking" is what helps keep the MSRP below $6K. Basically "don't put anything on the bike that the customers won't want anyhow".

Yamaha has always been my favorite make.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

wow! anyone else impressed by the kickstart only? very nice quality looking bike.a bit small for my needs but they are def on the right track.

a perfect entry level bike or for the short to mid range comuter seeking good mpg.

a 650 or 750 along the same lines i would think might be a hit with the retro crowd.

 

[Jeeter]

wow! anyone else impressed by the kickstart only? very nice quality looking bike.a bit small for my needs but they are def on the right track.

a perfect entry level bike or for the short to mid range comuter seeking good mpg.

a 650 or 750 along the same lines i would think might be a hit with the retro crowd.

Well, see that's just it. Hopefully Yamaha did the right thing and made this "new" engine accept all of the hot-rod stuff that has been developed for the TT500 engines over the last 35+ years. If so, all of the big-bore kits and high-zoot trickage made for the TT engines will fit up to the new SR400. So a 600cc kit should drop in as well as cams, pipes, and so on ... uh ... at least that's the hope!

 

[retiredgentleman]

SR400.................looking real fine

A modern XS650 with FI, but still air cooled, is almost a sure thing...................probably styled after the 1978 Special, for obvious reasons

 

[CDNTX650]

Bout time. 400cc is great. I like the suzuki tu250 too.

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[Jeeter]

I'm pretty sure they'll sell all they can build! The hipsters will dig on 'em pretty hard, so will the cafe-racer crowd. It's aimed directly at young college kids and commuters, but those of us with racing backgrounds will embellish it with go-fast stuff and simply have a blast on it. It's got all the right stuff, spoked wheels, crappy shocks and fork-dampers (so you won't have any guilt troubles replacing them with better stuff, and you're not paying Yamaha for some type of "look alike" Ohlins piggies that are more eye-wash than performance oriented). TONS of room for personalization, and an in-place aftermarket that is already enormous and directly focused on that bike's engine. I mean, now a person can have a TT, with a warranty! Nice, Yamaha. Really nice.

My very first street legal(-ish) motorcycle was a 1978 TT500 with a Preston Petty enduro lighting kit on it. I was barely 18, I bought it brand new, it was my very first official bank loan as well. It didn't handle well on the street with those stock knobbies, so I simply rode it like a dirt bike on the street. Super fun bike, ridiculously rider friendly powerband. And the starting sequence is a piece of cake once you get used to doing it (maybe a week of ownership or so). At that time I only weighed about 135 pounds and even with my little sawed-off ass it was no problem kicking it over.

That SR400 looks like it would wheelie for miles. (speaking of wheelies, pic is me on my TT in 1981)

 

[CDNTX650]

I'm pretty sure they'll sell all they can build!

More than likely not. Every one says they will buy one, no one does. That's why japan gets a ton of retros still, because they sell. Look at the Kawasaki W650, 5 years after the run ended dealers had to give them away. ZRX1100, Ducati Sport classics, even the Yamaha SRX which wasn't a retro hardly sold in the n/a market. The only consistant seller is the Hinckley triumphs.

North American riders want heavy chrome laden shit, or full on sport bikes. (atleast that's what stats show, I know WE don't)

I really do like the Kawasaki W800, (to bad they kicker is gone) and Canada doesn't even get it for some reason, and apparently Canada is closer to the euro market.

 

[Jeeter]

More than likely not. Every one says they will buy one, no one does. That's why japan gets a ton of retros still, because they sell. Look at the Kawasaki W650, 5 years after the run ended dealers had to give them away. ZRX1100, Ducati Sport classics, even the Yamaha SRX which wasn't a retro hardly sold in the n/a market. The only consistant seller is the Hinckley triumphs.

You're probably correct. I mean look at the Yamaha Banshee, everyone said the same thing about it when it came out in 1987 ("everyone says they'll buy one but nobody will"). And geez the Banshee only sold in dealerships for a measely twenty+ years.

Rib-jabbing aside, perhaps you are correct. If so, then all the better for the folks that WILL buy them because if they wait it out a bit they'll be able to pick one up on the mondo-cheap!

North American riders want heavy chrome laden shit, or full on sport bikes. (atleast that's what stats show, I know WE don't)

Disagree. The mainstream wants heavy freeway cruisers or prestigious sport machines that make their winkies magically larger simply from possession of said machines. That "chrome laden shit bike" stereotype is no more accurate than the idea that all Americans carry a gun and read the bible.

However there is a substantial market for the UJM type bike, this forum is proof of that. As are the nearly endless number of forums just like this one that are devoted to countless other niche machines. There are several monthly magazines that are devoted to that movement. There are nearly countless little shops out there forming an enormous cottage industry all centered around this "new" paradigm. For crap's sake it's "big" enough to bring Triumph and Norton back from the pit of dispair. There's an entire TV series devoted to nothing but the Cafe Racer movement.

Yamaha has little invested in this bike (by comparison to a brand new development machine). It's a model that has been in production in Japan for a long time, Yamaha may still have all of the tooling required for it as well. It's sortof a matter of turning the lights on at the existing SR production facility and going to work. Hell for all we know Yamaha is simply selling off existing SR stock exploiting the current interest in that type of motorcycle.

In the end time will tell. I mean I personally have zero investment in Yamaha's new bike, so if it fails it's no skin from my own nose. It's just heartwarming to see Yamaha responding to the dreams and wishes of a few of us nostalgic idiots.

 

[mick71b]

Every one says they will buy one, no one does.

Honda GB500
Suzuki VX800
Honda Hawk 650
Yamaha TDM 850
Honda 919
H-D XR 1000
H-D XLCR
Yamaha Seca 650, 750, 900
Yamaha Vision
Yamaha FZR 400, SRX 250, 600
.
.
.
.

 

[CDNTX650]

There ya go. A ton of small cc retros didnt moove off show room floors. Everyone says they will buy if the make it. They dont move. The mainstream is right....guess who makes them money on all the big honkin bikes...the mainstream. Us small cc guys are a small piece of the pie, and unfotunately.....
How many of the new w800 kaws have you seen?
Norton? Still have yet to see a new one..and for 20k+
I doubt trumpys best seller is the retro line.

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[Furious D]

Its a breath of fresh air in Yamaha's otherwise boring street bike line.


This model has been out overseas for years so I 'm sure there is a strong aftermarket following. It just might take awhile to get it here in the US.

But the price? 6 grand is way on the high side of what I would pay for a 400. If I had that kind of money I would buy six thousand dollar bikes ( or 12 $500 bikes)

 

[troopthrowback]

This is the same bike that has been offered in japan uninterrupted since 1981. The only change is the efi. By all accounts the parts interchangeability with old sr stock (as we know it) should follow. That mean big bore kits. Etc.

There is a federal mandate in the US that any new motorcycle 500cc and above must have electric start. Siding expect to see a kickstarter only 500 single or 650 twin offered with kick only. That's a natural reason for the tiered license displacement of 400cc remains for the US market.

I do hope they sell. If I were in the market for a new bike (and not constantly on the lookout for an affordable old sr or TT, I would very seriously consider this bike. Yamaha should immediately contact wiseco and some other aftermarket perfomance suppliers to begin several lines of model specific goodies for these. That and a half dozen custom builders to build concept bikes to show those parts off. That's be marketing genius!

 

[Royboy]

The SR500 has been part of my stable since I bought my first one in 78'. Other bikes have come and gone but there is still an SR in the garage. It's far and away my favorite. It's simple, elemental and a hoot to ride. The new SR400 is fuel injected which will make modification more difficult and expensive but will also make starting easier for the uninitiated.

Yamaha has sold this bike in Japan continuously since it's inception. The tooling has paid for itself many times over. They risk little in bringing it back to Western markets. I don't expect the new version to sell particularly well since it's not fast or sexy in the eyes of most and the price point seems a bit stiff. However, in 1978 I paid $1,800 for a new SR500, in today's dollars that is $6,755. Goes around, comes around.

roy

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

...in 1978 I paid $1,800 for a new SR500, in today's dollars that is $6,755...

Roy, that's a 3.75% annual inflationary rate. I've been using close to 6% (based on late-60's to early-70's commodities) for my predictive financials. Where does that 3.75% come from?

 

[Royboy]

That's what the "Google" gave me this morning and we all know the google is always right.

roy

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Haha, yeah, guess so. At the 6% rate, your SR purchase would adjust to about $14,660.

Gives me a better sense of the $ouch$ factor of buying things back then.

Fortunately (???), that doesn't apply to imported asian stuff...

 

[Dieselchanic]

A friend just got one of these today... Pretty sweet little unit. Not real powerful, but it's only a 400...

 

[CDNTX650]

There was alot of dissapointed people on adv rider. Sold tu250x to buy one only to discover its pretty much the same hp as the 250.

 

[troopthrowback]

What people aren't factoring is the huge aftermarket potential of the sr platform. It's a simple, basic motorcycle and the old sr has some pretty substantial motor hop ups. It could also go on a diet without much trouble.

 

[CDNTX650]

For the used market thats great. I wont eat the price of a new one.