Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1037465
YAMAHA T Y-E PROTOT YPE FIRST IMPRESSION P116 Very simply it means the clutch works like you expect in any riding situation. It has feel and progression allowing you to behave like "normal." Tech- nically, in a trials section, you use a clutch to remove drive to the back wheel and meter the power every bit as much as the throttle—it is a crucial part of trials skill. The TY-E's super- light hydraulic clutch allows this technique and is a remarkable feat of engineering to create an electric motor and clutch, which work to amplify the "normal" feel- ing of the riding experience of the TY-E. Having that tool in your armory makes the TY-E every bit the "normal" bike. The surprise to many is that the Yamaha TY-E has no pur- pose in life to feed any poten- tial production trials machine. Explaining the TY-E's role, Tsuji-san says: "MotoGP is very important to us and takes a lot of investment to win the world championship. The TY-E has the same goal—we develop it to improve technology and win the Trial-E World Championship, not to build production model." Mr. Tsuji's comparison to the rather higher profile world of Yamaha's MotoGP Race team is an important one. As a prototype machine, the TY-E can reason- ably be said to stand shoulder- to-shoulder with Valentino Rossi's YZR-M1. The TY-E is in very illustrious company and you could also argue it ranks higher than Yamaha's production-based World Superbike, Dakar, MXGP and World Enduro motorcycles because this is a pure-bred Yamaha prototype. BATTERY LIFE The question of battery life always raises its head when you speak about any electric bike— it's unavoidable. In this case it lasted around 30 minutes on our test. That isn't practical if you were to look at making this a BORN OUT OF HOURS Yamaha's TY-E is a prototype born out of hours by young designers developing ideas alongside their regular jobs. It is part of the philosophy at Yamaha to encourage this kind of creative exploration and that is exactly how the TY-E began life with engineers passionately exploring ideas. Once the TY-E ball was rolling it stopped being a side project and became a major occupation for a small team within the Yamaha Racing department. The decision to make this project a trials bike to compete in the Trial-E Cup was one taken early not least because trials is the only world champion- ship with an e-bike category at present. The nature of electric motor technology as it stands right now best lends itself to this sport. Also, careful, controlled and rapid response from a torquey power unit is exactly what trials is all about. With the TY-E, Yamaha is testing the future of electric-powered motorcycles. Although the motor is electric, the TY-E uses a hydraulically operated clutch similar to that of a gas-powered bike. The TY-E features a handcrafted, carbon-fiber monocoque frame.