Wonder what Yamaha is going to call this new creation?

Have a look at this! http://www.gizmag.com/yamaha-set-to-lau ... 010/12033/

 

Pretty neat looking bike. Wonder how it'll perform.

 

I see Honda came out with the same idea. I guess they are trying to think outside the box and see if people bite on it or not. I guess I'll stay in the box for now until they make something that looks better.

 

That is even uglier than the Honda crossover bike. I wonder if this will be as over priced as the honda as well.

 

Wow - that's hideous.

 

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It isn't what we are used to, but I have to admit that it has a certain amount of elegance.

 

i just threw up in my mouth a little bit

 

wtf? :?

 

2010 xj2000 maxim :roll:

 

WTF is right!!! To me; It looks like they took a 1950’s concept car, chopped it down and removed half the wheels.

 

Looks cool to me. Like right off the star wars set.

 

I hear it comes with a Darth Vader helmet, a decoder ring, and a "Mother Earth Hates Real Motorcycles" t-shirt.

 

Boys & Girls - one thing to note - the picture showing there is of the 2005 Gen-Ryu, NOT the one they're thinking of putting into production. You've got to go into the gallery and look at the drawings of what they've submitted for the production version. It's not quite so horribly FUGLY.

 

i think it is cool. i would buy one.

 

I think the 'new' direction for motorcycles that this article suggests is a little scary. Lets face it, the controls on a bike are not that complicated and if you don't have the mental abilities to do so then you probably shouldn't be driving, anything!

Also as part of the 'new generation' I resent that statement.

 

indeed - shifting is at least half the fun of riding, no?

 

It for people who want the motorcycle experience while still having the simplicity of a scooter.

Unless it gets really good milage, why would we want one? It will be higher priced than a comperable performance gas only bike. (IMO). Everyone sees hybrid and assumes green. Not necessarily the case.

 

Agreed - this sort of "bike" is aimed at people who DONT ride (like the scooter crowd and geriatrics)

Anyway, anyone who buys one will sell it once they either:

A) have a close call

or

B) get laughed at by their friends.

Either way, this bike will go down in history as Yamaha taking the wrong direction....a bit like the GTS1000....

 

i really liked it until I saw a pic of the front end of the bike. MAJOR redesign needed there! Looks like ahhhh...well...uummmmmmm......I'm not really sure. Other than that......I would consider buying it.

 

Nice try but I think I'll stick with real motorcycles!!

 

I don't get why you folks are so up in arms about the idea.

I purchased a 2002 Prius and loved it. The blend of technologies was wonderful. I don't see why it would be any less successful with a motorcycle.

As far as mileage, if the design is as effective as that of the Prius, it will turn off automatically when you are stopped, but have instant power when you twitch the accelerator. No more wasted gas at stop lights. Also, when you normally brake, all the energy that needs to be disposed of to bring you to a stop is blown off as heat. With a Hybrid vehicle, a significant portion of that energy is transferred instead captured into the battery and available for reuse.

CVT? No need to shift? Sure, the classic whine of rev/shift/rev/shift will be lost, but I got very used to the quite purr of the Prius quite readily.

 

I like the idea except for the fact that because of the smaller size of a motorcycle there will probably be less gain from the hybrid system, it will probably cost a rediculus amount, it looks bad AND you can't shift anymore.

Also motorcycles are not significant sources of emissions when compaired to cars and trucks.

Other then that I think its great.

PS I highly doubt that you'll be able to do the work on it yourself =(

 

No Thanks, Id rather walk

 

Judge Dredd: [lecturing a room full of rookie Judges] The Judge's standard-issue body armor. Yours, when you graduate. The Lawgiver: a Judge's standard-issue sidearm. Yours, *if* you graduate. The Lawmaster: a Judge's standard-issue personal transport. Yours... if you can ever get it to work.

 

What kind of mileage would it need to get to make it worth while for any body? Assume about 15% higher price than a comparable performance gas engine bike. I think they said it would be comparable to a 650 in performance. So your talking what 1500 for a new bike (difference in price). So at 2.50 a gal, thats about 600 gallons. At 50 MPG (surely a modern 650 gets that), thats about 30000 miles to break even cost wise if you never used any gas in the hybrid. However, thats not possible, so you have to double that number if it gets twice the mileage. (more than double if it gets less than double, etc).


Better off developing a all electric bike that does 90, good acceleration and a range of at least 60 miles. Then you could get people buying them as a second mode of transport.

 

A while ago I was looking into converting my gsxr 750 into an electric bike (I actually got it for this reason then figured it would be easyer to just put a new engine in it). It looked as if you spent about $8000 you could get the parts to convert the bike to electric and go about 90 km/hr with a range of about 100 km (in city/rural traffic, less on the highway). Which would be really cool but when you compair that to spending $800 on a new engine (after shipping exchange and brokerage) it doesn't look that good.

I did a rough estimate of the cost per km and it looked like the system would cost about 3x more per km then the gas. I still think that the electric conversion will be a sweet project for when I win the lottery =p.

 

and why does it have to look so futuristicaly fugly? I did follow a link to mac-motorcycles which i have just seen for the first time. gorgeous

 

Look, I hate the styling. No surprises there.

The thing that annoys me about these sorts of "bikes" is that they are taking all the normal motorcycle controls out of the equation in an effort to sell the concept to people who don't (or can't) ride a normal bike. And it's being marketed under the guise of "safety".

So Joe Nobody goes and buys one, has a wreck (mainly because he doesn't know how to ride, but possibly because he thinks he's "safe" no matter what) and runs off screaming that "motorcycles are dangerous and must be banned". He'll probably try and sue Yamaha for selling him a "safe" bike that obviously isn't.....

The road toll rises, the public is up in arms, our insurance premiums go through the roof, the police "crack down" on motorcycle riders (IE give more defect tickets for stupid safety breaches like obscured numberplates....) and we're all worse off because Yamaha thought it could sell motorbikes to people who never should have bought one in the first place........

Rant mode off....... :evil:

Far fetched? Maybe......But more probable than unlikely.

 

Hillsy, et al.,

<sigh> What "normal" controls are you losing? The ability to shift?

What you fail to understand is that the CVT transmission setup isn't there for safety, or to make it easy to ride, etc. It is there as a *necessary* part of the hybrid vehicle. You have two different engines which will move at different speeds at the same or different times, both of which need to "talk" to each other, *PLUS* they both have to "talk" complimentarly as a pair and as individuals, with the drive mechanism. On top of that, the drive mechanism must be able to turn the electric engine while not sending any force to the ICE engine and perhaps even while the ICE engine is sending energy to the electric engine as well.

Now, if *YOU* really think that you can do all the necessary calculations from moment to moment and at the same time constantly adjust *3* sets of gears optimally all with your left hand and left foot, then I bow to your marked superiority.

I love the control of a standard transmission, whether driving a car or a bike and within that realm I know I can drive with fairly precise control and with greater advantage than an automatic transmission could ever do as it cannot sense the road and conditions like I can. I also know my limitations - the point at which I can not do things as efficiently and precisely as a computer programmed and controlled mechanism doing a singularly dedicated and complex task.

 

I dont know... all these new "features" seem to be breeding stupidity into drivers, automatic breaking systems (slows you down if your going to hit something) Roll over controll (just means people dont know the limits of their vehicle) paralel parking systems (ok really?) its all rather dumb in my eyes...

 

"riding a normal motorcycle is a frighteningly complex proposition – separate front and rear brakes, foot-operated gears, hand controls that require you to perform multiple functions simultaneously. It might all come naturally once you've been riding for a while, but with Yamaha, along with the rest of the world's bike makers, has noticed that an ever-decreasing number of people are prepared to learn to do all that. Bikers are getting old, and they need to appeal to a new generation. With no gears, no clutch, simple braking and the ability to give a computer far more control over the way the bike responds to throttle inputs than is possible on any combustion-engined machine, electric or hybrid power promises to be the solution."

I didn't "fail to understand" why a CVT transmission is important on an electric vehicle. I wasn't even discussing that.

My point was about the bike being marketed as an easy to operate solution to attract people who "aren't prepared to learn how to operate a normal motorcycle".

That's the alarming part 8O

 

I don't think Yamaha is marketing this bike at guys like us. Or other bikers, for that matter.
They have a long history of building machines are designed to bring people into motorcycling/snowmobiling/watersports, and I see this as another good shot at it. How many people want to consume less fuel? How many want to do that by riding a scooter?? They obviously aren't for everyone. If Yamaha can pull more people out of cars and put them on bikes, we're all better off. If they can give them a way to start more safely (for those noobs anyway), then let them. The noobs can 'graduate' to real bikes when they're ready. I'd love to see more of these on the road - and less SUVs.
Looks way cooler than a scooter, too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNrJOrfqA-E

I would rather see Yamaha actually make this!

 

Local news here: 2 law enforcement officers clocked by plane on their motorcycles going @ 149 mph on the I-70 ... the person in the plane didn't see the 3rd motorcycle at fist so didn't get an official "clock on him and was able to evade "capture". It turned out that one of them was known to the officer that stopped them ... somehow they got by without a ticket and the stopping officer turned off his recording mic during the stop - he is supposed to leave it on to conclusion ...

Anyways, I understand the appeal for speed to some, but personally, I want something comfortable and practical. A bike that goes that fast is a) expensive and b) impractical. I have my doubts about whether they are comfortable, but I haven't been on one. The idea of keeping your head craned back all the time doesn't sound at all comfortable.

Now put that out as a cruiser, and I'd be thrilled to ride it.

But wait, wouldn't the extra set of wheels make it too safe and easy for a real motorcyclist? <evil grin> Be expensive to change the tires, that's for sure.

 

Someone asked what kind of mileage it would have to get to consider buying one?
If that bike got 150mpg I would definetly look into it.
Preformance of a 600, $1500 more then a compareable gas model, 150mpg, I bet they would sell.

 

If the improved mpg ratio turns out to be like that of my 1st gen Prius, I would be looking for at least a 50% increase in mpg if not 70%. If I kept my speed around 60 or even 55 on the hiways/freeways, I would get around 60mpg. At 70, drafting off a truck about 150 feet back, I generally got between 53-55mpg. At 75 or so, with no one to draft off of, I usually got 48 or 49 mpg.

In this case, take the mpg of the normal 250cc bike and increase it by 50% and you'll probably have a good estimate. I say only 50% because of the increased weight over a normal 250cc.

As far as price, I wouldn't expect it to be much more than a normal bike. The mfgs know that most people won't pay a premium for fuel efficiency or the environment - just take a look at how many flipping SUVs there are out there being used by people who wouldn't even consider driving on a gravel road, let alone 4 wheel it. Instead, it is all about lots of power, big wheels, and flash. In the case of the Prius, they actually sold them at a loss for the first few years until some of the production costs came down. By doing so, Toyota was able to reduce their overall fleet emissions thereby increasing the number of their more popular pickups and such which they could sell without having to pay the fines. The same is likely in this case: with the reduced emissions, the will probably be able to sell a lot more less FE vehicles without getting fined. After a few years, mfg costs will go down and they will maintain their lower pricing,