Tweet
I posted a brief story on this bike a couple of years ago. Since then I put some paint and other work into it. Nice cheap make over. Here are some pix.
Its a beast but more fun than anything else I have ridden including my 06 Kat 750 that resides in my garage in the U.S. And that one I hope to go ride next month and get re-acquainted.
If you've never heard of it, it is worth a look. Nice big twin that sits and rides well and sounds just right. Story was that Yamaha came out with it to compete with the Ducati 900, but Ducati boosted their bike up to a 996 and that was that.
Here are a few facts on the TRX line…
The TRX was designed to exploit the 1990s craze for big twin-cylinder sportsbikes, aimed particularly at the 900 cc Ducati SuperSport V-twin, whose tubular trellis frame it copied (though Yamaha always claimed that Ducati stole the exposed trellis design from them).
The TRX dry sump engine produces 84 Nm of torque, and around 80 bhp. Uniquely, the oil tank is not remote, but is integral to the engine, sitting atop the gearbox. This design eradicates external oil lines, gives faster oil warm-up, and the shallow sump allows the engine to be sited lower, thereby benefitting the CG position. The 360° crank of the original TDM morphed into a 270° crank for the TRX.
Compared to the big tourer Yamaha TDM 850, the TRX is lighter, lower and sportier. Its front forks are conventional telescopics, while the rear suspension is a rising-rate monoshock unit.
The TRX was the first production parallel-twin motorcycle to feature a 270° crank. Its so-called “big-bang ignition sequence” yields the sound and feel of a V-twin. Unlike the 180° & 360° twins, a 270° engine never has both pistons stationary, so flywheel momentum is not interrupted. In a parallel-twin, a 270° crank gives less vibration than a 360° crank, and has a more regular firing pattern than a 180° crank (or 90° V-twin). The 270° firing interval is still not perfectly even, and this slight unevenness is claimed to allow better power delivery to the rear tyre by giving two fairly close power pulses followed by a longer "recovery gap" which supposedly helps the tyre resume adhesion to the road. Both the 2009 Triumph Thunderbird and the "Donington" Norton Commando 961 are 270° designs, and arguably, the 270° crank is becoming the optimum configuration for large parallel-twins.
Well, that was the way it was back in the 90's. Still my favorite ride.
Its a beast but more fun than anything else I have ridden including my 06 Kat 750 that resides in my garage in the U.S. And that one I hope to go ride next month and get re-acquainted.
If you've never heard of it, it is worth a look. Nice big twin that sits and rides well and sounds just right. Story was that Yamaha came out with it to compete with the Ducati 900, but Ducati boosted their bike up to a 996 and that was that.
Here are a few facts on the TRX line…
The TRX was designed to exploit the 1990s craze for big twin-cylinder sportsbikes, aimed particularly at the 900 cc Ducati SuperSport V-twin, whose tubular trellis frame it copied (though Yamaha always claimed that Ducati stole the exposed trellis design from them).
The TRX dry sump engine produces 84 Nm of torque, and around 80 bhp. Uniquely, the oil tank is not remote, but is integral to the engine, sitting atop the gearbox. This design eradicates external oil lines, gives faster oil warm-up, and the shallow sump allows the engine to be sited lower, thereby benefitting the CG position. The 360° crank of the original TDM morphed into a 270° crank for the TRX.
Compared to the big tourer Yamaha TDM 850, the TRX is lighter, lower and sportier. Its front forks are conventional telescopics, while the rear suspension is a rising-rate monoshock unit.
The TRX was the first production parallel-twin motorcycle to feature a 270° crank. Its so-called “big-bang ignition sequence” yields the sound and feel of a V-twin. Unlike the 180° & 360° twins, a 270° engine never has both pistons stationary, so flywheel momentum is not interrupted. In a parallel-twin, a 270° crank gives less vibration than a 360° crank, and has a more regular firing pattern than a 180° crank (or 90° V-twin). The 270° firing interval is still not perfectly even, and this slight unevenness is claimed to allow better power delivery to the rear tyre by giving two fairly close power pulses followed by a longer "recovery gap" which supposedly helps the tyre resume adhesion to the road. Both the 2009 Triumph Thunderbird and the "Donington" Norton Commando 961 are 270° designs, and arguably, the 270° crank is becoming the optimum configuration for large parallel-twins.
Well, that was the way it was back in the 90's. Still my favorite ride.
Comment