Ketika Yamaha memperkenalkan Tenere 700 baru-baru ini, Pengurus Komunikasi Produk Yamaha, Fabrizio Corsi, beri bayangan bahawa Yamaha mungkin akan menghasilkan varian bersesaran kecil jika terdapat permintaan tinggi.
Pendedahan itu dibuat kepada Motociclismo dengan Corsi berkata Yamaha sentiasa melihat kepada segmen motosikal bersaiz kecil hingga sederhana.
Motosikal bersesaran kecil semakin meraih populariti di seluruh dunia susulan menawarkan harga mampu milik, penyelenggaraan mudah dan mesra penunggang.
KTM 390 Adventure
Jadi tidak hairanlah, terdapat pengeluar motosikal terkemuka antaranya KTM dan BMW yang kini memfokuskan penghasilkan jentera bersaiz kecil dan sederhana menerusi KTM 390 Adventure dan BMW G 310 GS.
BMW G 310 GS
KTM 390 Adventure menarik perhatian sejak diperkenalkan awal tahun ini tatkala menawarkan elemen motosikal ADV seperti yang terdapat pada 790 Adventure namun dengan enjin yang lebih kecil dan harga yang lebih mampu milik.
Corsi berkata, “Rata-rata semua jenama menawarkan model bersesaran kecil dalam setiap segmen. KTM membuka segmen 125cc dengan model Duke sementara pengeluar lain turut memperkenalkan jentera 300cc seperti BMW.”
Sekiranya Yamaha mahu menembusi pasaran 250 hingga 300cc, menghasilkan Tenere versi kecil sudah pasti antara langkah tepat dalam menarik pembeli.
Yamaha already has two models powered by the 300cc engine – the YZF-R3 and the MT-03.
Yamaha Italy has said that if there is enough demand, it will produce an adventure variant powered by the same 300cc engine.
The Yamaha Tenere 300 is likely to be produced but unlikely to be introduced in Malaysia.
Downsizing and efficiency among motorcycle makers is all the rage these days – after decades of upsizing in terms of weight and engine displacement.
Perhaps it is safe to say that KTM was the one that started this with the 200, 250 and 390. But there is news that Yamaha is about to jump on the bandwagon with a new Tenere 300.
This makes sense considering that the Tenere itself has proven to be such a capable bike, and the Asian region is booming in terms of motorcycle sales and has been longing for capable bikes with smaller capacity.
How did this news about a Tenere 300 come about though? Apparently an Italian motorcycle publication called Motociclismo had interviewed the Product Communications Manager for Yamaha Italy, Fabrizio Corsi, during the Yamaha MT-03 test ride.
The journalist involved in the test ride had asked about the possibility of Yamaha coming up with a Tenere 300 and Corsi pointed out that the BMW G310GS and KTM 390 Adventure has received a lot of attention.
And if there is enough demand for a small capacity Yamaha adventure bike, then yes, Yamaha will come up with something.
Though it all sound nice and interesting, especially considering that there are already two models utilising the 300cc engine – the YZF-R3 (above) and the MT-03 – an adventure variant will make a lot of sense.
And it is unlikely that Yamaha will give up on the chance to make life difficult for Kawasaki’s Versys-X 300 as well as BMW and KTM.
But before we get too excited, the chances of a Yamaha Tenere 300 making it to the Malaysian market are slim – simply because of the way our motorcycle licensing structure is set up.
The B2 license, which is what most motorcyclist have, limits the owner to 250cc bikes and below. To trade up to a full-B license will cost quite a bit of money for most people and is extremely time consuming.
Hence why most people tend to stick to small capacity bikes, and it is also why we have not yet seen the new Kawasaki Versys-X 300 even though it has been a few years since its global introduction.
So yes, the Yamaha Tenere 300 sounds like a lot of fun, but it is unlike to be offered here. At least not officially.
Fret not though, for hardcore fans of the Big Blue there is the Yamaha Tenere 250 – but that too is not offered officially by Yamaha Malaysia.
Yamaha meraikan kejayaan di GP Andalucia baru-baru menerusi Fabio Quartararo, Valentino Rossi dan Maverick Vinales.
Quartararo menghadiahkan kemenangan kedua buat Petronas Sepang Racing Team (SRT) diikuti Rossi kedua dan Vinales melengkapkan podium bagi pasukan Monster Enegery Yamaha.
Bagaimanapun, disebalik kejayaan itu, pasukan masing-masing mula bimbang tatkala ketiga-tiga pelumba itu telah pun kehilangan tiga daripada lima enjin yang dibenarkan.
Franco Morbidelli jadi mangsa terbaru apabila mengalami insiden sama yang melanda Rossi dua minggu lalu apabila enjin kehilangan kuasa secara tiba-tiba.
Masalah enjin tersebut turut menyekat Morbidelli untuk menamatkan aksi di GP Andalucia di kedudukan keempat.
Setiap pasukan MotoGP tanpa konsesi – Yamaha, Honda, Ducati dan Suzuki – dibenarkan untuk menggunakan lima enjin bagi setiap pelumba dalam tempoh 13-pusingan musim ini.
Pada masa sama, pembangunan enjin telah dibekukan sehingga 2021 sekaligus bermakna Yamaha tidak boleh melaksanakan sebarang perubahan baharu ketika ini.
Kebiasaannya setiap pasukan akan menggunakan dua enjin bagi setiap pelumba ketika pusingan pertama dan bersilih ganti sebelum beralih ke enjin ketiga, keempat dan kelima.
Setakat ini, semua pasukan telah menggunakan dua enjin dalam dua perlumbaan – GP Sepanyol dan GP Andalucia – setakat ini kecuali Yamaha.
Menurut info dikongsikan Peter McLaren, Vinales telah pun menggunakan kelima-lima enjin, sementara Quartararo, Rossi dan Morbidelli telah pun menggunakan empat enjin.
Senario ini bermula dengan Vinales apabila menghadapi masalah dengan Enjin 2 pada Ujian Bebas yang memaksa dia menggunakan Enjin 3 pada Ujian Bebas 4 di GP Sepanyol.
Kemudian Rossi mengalami masalah sama ketika perlumbaan berlangsung dengan enjin jentera M1 ditunggangnya tiba-tiba mati.
Isu tersebut jelas menandakan masalah yang besar apabila Yamaha membuat keputusan untuk memulangkan dua enjin terbabit ke Jepun untuk diagnosis penuh sekaligus menandakan bahawa kedua-dua enjin tersebut tidak lagi boleh digunakan.
Keempat-empat pelumba Yamaha – Quartararo,Morbidelli, Rossi dan Vinales – kemudiannya diberikan dua enjin baharu untuk digunakan di GP Andalucia minggu lalu.
Namun, Morbidelli – yang menggunakan enjin baharu tersebut – terpaksa bersara awal meskipun enjin itu hanya digunakan dalam tiga sesi di litar.
Morbidelli mendedahkan Yamaha sedang memeriksa apakah punca kejadian tersebut.
“Jentera saya tiba-tiba mati enjin. Ketika ini kami tidak pasti apakah yang berlaku,” jelasnya.
Menurut peraturan, pelumba yang menggunakan lebih daripada lima enjin dalam satu musim perlu memulakan perlumbaan di pit, lima saat selepas lampu hijau menyala.
Senario itu pastinya mahu dielakkan terutamanya bagi pendahulu kejuaraan Fabio Quartararo dan Maverick Vinales.
The Andalucia MotoGP round in Jerez, Spain yesterday saw Yamaha locking out all three podium positions for the first time since 2014 where Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) scored his second premier class victory, followed by Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and his teammate, Valentino Rossi. (more…)
Sejak Kawasaki memperkenalkan ZX-25R, jentera sportbike 250cc dengan empat silinder, kami tertanya-tanya adakah pengeluar lain akan mengikut jejak sama?
Kawasaki ZX-25R
Manakan tidak, impak ZX-25R cukup besar dan mengujakan peminat dua roda seluruh dunia termasuk Malaysia yang tidak perlu menaik taraf lesen untuk merasai kesyahduan 4-silinder.
Kini timbul khabar angin daripada laporan negara jiran oleh iwanbanaran.com yang mengatakan Yamaha turut akan memperkenalkan jentera 250cc 4-silinder.
Yamaha YZF-R25
Diberi nama YZF-R25M, jentera ini dijangka menawarkan ciri yang dipertingkat berbanding yang ditawarkan R25 bagi menyaingi ZX-25R.
Sementara itu,turut didakwa Honda juga bakal membangunkan enjin sama dan akan dikenali sebagai CBR250RR-R – konsep sama ditawarkan varian 1000cc CBR1000RR-R.
Sekiranya khabar angin ini bertukar realiti pastinya akan menghangatkan pasaran 250cc serba baharu ini. – iwanbanaran.com
The 2021 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R was just launched earlier this month in Indonesia and while that news is making waves around the world, Yamaha wants a bit of that pie. Which pie? A spot in the 250cc inline-four sports bike market. (more…)
If you think that the new Yamaha Ténéré 700 is not tough enough for your taste, take a look at this 2020 Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally Edition. Inspired and developed from the world of Dakar Rally, this new Japanese adventure bike is regarded to be one of the best hardcore machines in its category. (more…)
Hong Leong Yamaha Motor (HLYM) has announced that their latest offering for the 2020 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT will be available in the new Reddish Copper and Midnight Silver colour and graphics. Even with the new colour option, Yamaha’s top sport-touring machine is still priced at the same rate of RM58,888 (excluding road tax & insurance) as when it was launch in early 2019. (more…)
The powervalve opened up a whole new performance envelope for two-strokes, especially the YPVS.
But what is a powervalve?
And no, the RX-Z isn’t equipped with one, despite being touted at RM 70,000.
We were having a chat in Facebook when the subject of the powervalve came up, centering on the YPVS (thanks Derick). It may be a thing of the past, since powervalves served the two-stroke bikes, but it’s never too late to learn, is it?
Besides, the powervalve evolved to be present in the current breed of four-stroke sportbikes, as well. We’ll get to this later.
What is a powervalve?
To understand what a powervalve is (more specifically, exhaust powervalve), and how it works, we have to have a firm grasp on the workings of a two-stroke engine. You can click here for the full article.
To recap quickly, a carbureted two-stroke engine uses its piston(s) to cover and uncover ports in the cylinder to induct and transfer fresh charge (fuel, 2T oil and air mixture) and exhaust spent gases. However, since the fresh charge and exhaust gases are circulating within the same cylinder, some of it will mix, resulting in loss of power. Besides that, some fresh charge will get pulled out of the combustion chamber, into the exhaust pipe, and ultimately in the environment. This was why two-strokes were banned.
Also, the exhaust port is left wide open, meaning there’s no positive exhaust wave. Manufacturers/tuners overcame this by designing the right kind of exhaust expansion chamber to reflect some of the positive wave back to the exhaust port, in order to stuff some of the fresh charge back in.
But, there’s only so much that could be done. Hence why early two-strokes were peaky and needed to be revved to the stratosphere for any decent acceleration and power. What’s more, the powerband was as thin as a biscuit. You’d be lucky if you’d get 2,000 useful RPMs.
Enter the powervalve
It was Yamaha engineers who discovered that altering the exhaust port’s dimensions resulted in different power delivery throughout the rev range. The more the port was covered, the more low-down torque could be obtained. Partial coverage yielded mid-range torque, while the previous fully-uncovered port provided top-end power.
Awesome idea. Unfortunately, you can have only one but not the others. What do you do? The engineers devised an adjustable system.
They produced a slightly oval shaft which ran across the exhaust port. Controlled by the CDI (capacitor discharge ignition) unit and other sensors, this shaft, now called “powervalve” altered the dimensions of the port. It was actuated by a cable and pulley system, powered by a servomotor.
At low RPMs, the shaft closed over the port (with a small aperture being open to let exhaust gases through). When the CDI read 3,000 RPM, it sent power to the servomotor which pulled the pulley, thereby opening up the valve a little more. 3,000 to 6,000 RPM saw a larger opening, and then opening fully above 6,000 RPM. This was why two-strokes equipped with powervalves blasted off above 6,000 along with a change of exhaust note.
Yamaha called this system the Yamaha Powevalve System or YPVS in short. Its first production use was in the 1983 RD/RZ350 LC (or LC2 as it’s more popularly known).
The results were telling. The 1980 RD/RZ350 LC produced 47 hp at 8500 RPM and 40.2 Nm of torque at 8000 RPM. (Notice that there’s only 500 RPM spread between maximum torque and maximum horsepower – that’s the sign of a peaky engine.) The 1983 RD/RZ350 LC YPVS, on the other hand, produced 58 hp at 9000 RPM and 40.2 Nm of torque at 8000 RPM.
Still peaky, but what the spec sheet didn’t show was the much better low-end and midrange torque and tractability.
Yamaha had actually begun using the YPVS since 1977 in their race bikes with great results, thereby cementing their name in the history books. The YPVS gave Yamaha bikes so a great an edge that they refused to let go of two-strokes for so long.
Also note that YPVS is only available in liquid-cooled two-stroke Yamahas. So, no, the RX-Z isn’t equipped with the system despite being touted at RM 70,000.
What’s next?
Other manufacturers also began equipping their engines with powervalves of their own designs, since they had to circumvent Yamaha’s patents. We’ll cover this topic in the next part.
Hong Leong Yamaha Motor (HLYM) mengumumkan warna baharu bagi Yamaha MT-09 terutamanya bagi varian warna biru ikonik.
Warna yang dikemaskini itu meliputi beberapa panel di seluruh jentera yang kini didatangkan dengan warna kelabu berbanding hitam sebelum ini.
Jika dilihat dengan teliti, warna baharu itu melibatkan mudguard depan, winglet di lampu hadapan dan set pelindung di bahagian sisi belakang tempat duduk.
Bagaimanapun, HLYM mengumumkan bahawa kemaskini ini tidak memberi kesan kepada harga yang masih ditawarkan pada RM48,920 (tidak termasuk insurans dan cukai jalan).
Yamaha MT-09 merupakan motosikal jenis naked yang kekal popular di pasaran Malaysia tatkala menawarkan 115hp pada 10,000rpm dan 87.6Nm pada 8,500rpm hasil daripada enjin DOHC 847cc tiga sebaris.
Yamaha didakwa bakal menghasilkan sebuah motosikal retro berdasarkan jentera naked popular, MT-09.
Macam biasa, kalau laporan tersebut tidak diketahu asal usulnya, kami sendiri akan tepis dakwaan tersebut tetapi jika Young Machine yang dedahkan, lain pula ceritanya.
Kami berasakan Young Machine mempunyai kenalan ‘orang dalam’ di Jepun.
Berdasarkan gambar yang dikongsikan, pengeluar motosikal Jepun itu dikhabarkan bakal menghasilkan sebuah jentera yang diinspirasikan daripada era 80an dan 90an.
Penghasilan semula motosikal berkonsepkan retro semakin mendapat tempat dengan Suzuki Katana, Honda CB650R, Kawasaki Z900 RS dan Yamaha XSR900 kini popular.
Tambahan pula populariti enjin CP3 ditawarkan Yamaha MT-09 sangat ditagih tidak hairan jika jentera retro ini akan turut mengukir populariti sendiri.
The Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) who’s known for their efforts in the world of two-wheels endurance racing has unveiled their version of the 2020 Yamaha YZF-R6 20th Anniversary model for the European market. It seems that they’ve slightly upgraded the actual 20th anniversary Yamaha R6 which was introduced last year, the correct year to celebrate the bike’s anniversary. (more…)
