Yamaguy55
No difficult problems, just difficult people
ColoRider said:
This probably should be another thread, but....
Yamaha is the only one of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers that I'm aware of that does engine design for others. Sort of like Porsche design does in Europe. Honda certainly does it for themselves, and Suzuki the same. But when it comes to being a design group for others, Yamaha seems to be the only one. The earliest project I'm aware of is the Toyota GT2000 (or something like that) automobile. The Pontiac Vibe was really a rebadged Toyota Matrix, so it doesn't really count. The first series of Ford SHOs were well thought of, but not widespread. I"m reasonably sure the current ones are in-house at Ford. Honda has lured/hired/kidnapped the Yamaha software elves that had them at the top of MotoGP, which is one of the reasons why Honda is doing so well this year. But I'm confident that yamaha will be back. This is Yamaha's 50th year in racing, I found a very good link over on the MotoGP website to Yamaha (most likely the Japan main site). The other manufacturers are certainly capable, and have won many titles, but the only manufacturer that I'm aware of that is so accessible to anyone that wanted to race is Yamaha. We sold quite a few TDs and TRs years ago when I worked in a Yamaha shop. Peaky, difficult to master two stroke twins, but they worked and won races. I'm not aware of anyone else that has offered a way to go racing at the private level other than Yamaha. The original YZ, complete with silly strap to hold the gas tank on, was the first I'm aware of to offer performance at least approaching the factory race bikes to the general public. We sold every one we had, and couldn't keep them in stock. Crude by today's standards, but not bad then. Sure beat my DT1 by a lot.
I think this is one of the reasons I've stuck to Yamaha for so long: they have always been pioneers in motorcycling. Maybe not always the best, but often the first.
