New Yamaha SR400 confirmed for USA

I've long thought that an updated SR500 type bike using the DR650 motor, i.e. a TU650, would be a fantastic bike.

I'm not sure how much of the weight gain is attributable to the rubber mount frame, but 2004 Sportsters actually weigh about 75 lbs more than the older rigid mounts. Approx. 500 pounds, depending on model, to 575 lbs.

The most comfortable stock seat I've had on a bike was a sprung cop seat on a '91 HD FXRP. The next most comfortable was a '90 Honda Hawk GT of all things.

Bold New Graphics on the HD's are the shit.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851082

Half the price of the bike they won't bring here anyway.

It would be so easy to make a tu650, but I suppose there is no market for it.
On large bikes, you can get a good seat, at least on some large bikes.

If I ever get any money, I may look for an sr500, at least test ride one.
I was in New Hope PA in the summer and had one ride by, and it looked and sounded fantastic.
It also looked to be a good size bike for an adult.
I suspect it would be easy and fun to work on also.
I just wonder if its ok running at 70 mph.

After more than 225 posts has anyone thought of contacting Yamaha USA and asking them?
Lyle

So many of you guys say you'd buy one, but if they brought it here, they'd sell about 14 of them. Same with the SRX600. Someone mentioned the CB1100F. They were here. They sold a few of them, not a lot. Same with the BKing Suzuki, a lot of people said they'd buy one if they brought it. They did, you didn't.

I've noticed. A lot of people say they'd buy this, they'd buy that, but when it comes down to it, it was just pipe dreams. I hear these excuses, well, the tank holds .2 of a gallon less than I want, it only comes in black or Kawasaki green, I want chartruese. It's got chrome handlebars, and I want clip-ons. It's got clip-ons, I want chrome handlebars. It's injected, I want carbs. It's carbureted, I want injection. It's got a 19 inch front wheel, I want a 21 or 17. It's got Pirellis, I wanted Bridgestones. The grips are different than what I'm used to.

I'm convinced that a lot of people say that they will buy this or that, but they have no intention of buying anything (or can't buy anything due to their finances or marriage issues or whatever). Am I right?

If there is something I want, I buy it. Right now, that is an Aprilia Tuono V4. In the next year, I'll have one. I'm working 60+ hours a week right now moving towards getting one. But when I have the money, there might be something else, maybe the new big KTM 1190. We'll see.

It would be pointless I suspect.
The only hope it that some big shot makes the usual stupid blunder and decides to sell it here.

For a street bike in the US, its got to be very fast, big, and modern looking, or a huge sled that looks like a Harley and has every option know to mankind, or its not going to sell.

If the SR400 does not vibrate real bad at 70 mph, I would buy one if I had the money.
Maybe even if I did not have the money.
Its a VERY short list of new bikes I might buy, and its way more expensive (Guzzi V7).

New bikes I want list:
TU250 (I have 2 of them now),
W850,
V7
CB400ss if still made,
SR400.

That is it for my new street bike list.
Since money is always an issue, the SR400 looks like it would be at the top of the list.
The w800 is more then I need or is good for me, the V7 might be too small in size.

So yes, if they imported it, I would buy one.

Yep.

Try being a product development person in the motorcycle industry. (I no longer do that) People are almost impossible to please.

You're mostly right - but often what the OEM's tease us with is not the same as what they bring to the showroom floor. The B-King is a prime example. Plus one's opinion of a bike can change once you have the chance to see it, and/or throw a leg over it.

As for me, though, I try not to say i would buy something I haven't seen. I feel like if you say you are going to do something, you should do it, There are lots of bikes out there I would like to have, but I suspect it will be a few years before I can actually buy another bike. I like the CB1100 and NC700 Hondas, the Versys 1000 and 650. If Honda brings the Crossrunner I would be very interested. Can't buy them all...

Can it be ridden 400 miles? I would definitely buy that bike at that price if it is as good mechanically as it looks.

I isn't mine but I'm sure it is as capable as any SR500 built that long ago. 400 miles wasn't a real obstacle in the 1970s, even with a 2 stroke!

But I bet you are sick of it within 100!

I bet you would say that about most bikes I have loved...

And you mine!

You guys should get a room.

I doubt we could agree on what channel to have on the TV.

Matlock or 21 Jump street?

The answer to that question appears to be, 'sort of'... Here's a quote from a post written by an owner on another forum:

There is little that is different in the 400 and 500 engines. Almost all parts are the same, the main difference being the crank, which in the 400 creates a different stroke reducing the capacity to 399cc. This does however make a real difference to the way the engines feel. The 400 prefers 6-800rpm higher in most situations – whether it comes to getting the power on, cruising on the highway, or lugging along. It also revs more easily. If I was building a café racer I’d seriously consider the 400 over the 500, as I have seen others do (who go out of their way to secure a 400 crank for their 500). It is a more revvy engine and arouses more adrenalin in me than the 500. It feels more sporty. The 500 is much nicer for chugging along while fantasising about the upright big singles those gentlemen of old rode. On the 500 I find myself rarely leaving the 3000-4000rpm range, and on the 400 I'm more inclined to sit between 4000 and 5000rpm.

At 100kph the 500 sits on about 4,200rpm, though this can be lowered slightly without problems by use of a 17 tooth counter-shaft sprocket, rather than the stock 16. The 400 does about 4,900rpm. Ironically the 400 feels less strained on the highway than the 500. This is important because both engines feel strained at 100kph. They are both capable of running all day at that rpm, but unless you’re a petrol head or are used to making bikes scream, you might find your sense of mechanical sympathy causes you to wince, and to prefer 90kph. For this reason the SRs are not great highway touring bikes. They can do it, they have done plenty of it over the years, and I have done 600 to 700km days many, many times. But I have to constantly over-rule the nervousness that the strain arouses in me with the knowledge of the cold fact that I’m doing no damage. And I find that my throttle hand feels over-worked by the day’s end, as though strained in sympathy with the tension of the bike. You have to remember that the SR is essentially the XT500 dirt bike tarted up with street-going clothes. It has the dirt bike’s gear ratios. To be fair however, I really only notice this on my long Mallee rides - on straight hot roads that stretch ahead with no change of direction or heat. The sensation of strain seems much less apparent on winding roads even when riding for a long time. The ambient temperature also makes a difference - the SR likes the cold rather than the heat.


link to the thread, you might find it of interest.

I rode my SR500 from Europe to West Africa in 1979. The only trouble I had with it was a leaky gearbox seal caused by a jammed chain when something fell off my luggage into the sprocket. I never even got a flat tire through Algeria, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon. I wonder if I would get as much enjoyment out of an SR400 in the 21st century. I'd like the chance to try because the design of that old single convinced me of it's merits.

I read that, and like anything else, its subjective to the rider.
I am used to bikes that vibrate since most of my life I rode old Triumphs and Harley's.
If parts crack and fall off, bulbs blow, it bothers me, if not, it does not.
I also tend to gear my street bikes tall as I can.

There were some old thumpers that were just nasty, and the old 500cc twin Triumphs were nasty at high rpm's, where they made all their power, the 650 and 750 bikes were great I thought, old sportsters were ok.

I had a 79 SR500 that had a big bore piston and a race cam (yeah flat trackers!), that was just a fun bike to ride. Not fast, but it ran good. I wish I still had it. I keep saying that about bikes from years gone by. Quite a few of them i wouldnt mind having again. I don't have to have the latest, fastest bikes anymore.

My SR500 felt like the handlebars were 3 inches 'round at 70+.............a interstate/slab bike it wasn't.