Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Bel ow) Air-cooled. two-valve engine is composed of parts from the 900 SeC8. 750 Seca. and 650 SeC8 Turbo. Test: Yamaha XJ700N Yamaha's h~brid • cruiser By Jim Wolcott Five years ago, few would have imagined 100 horsepower 750cc street-bikes - or five va lve cylinder heads, box-section aluminum p erimeter frames, turbocharging, and other features now common on motor-' cycles. Fact is, modem motorcycles are very different from those o f t h e recent p ast. 22 I •• And it was just five years ago that the japanes~~otorcyclemanufacturers badly misj udged market demand, sh.ouldering their U .S. distributors wl!h warehouses fu ll o f un sol d rna chi nes , Even toda y, brand new 1981and 1982-m odel machines are a va ila ble at barga in -basement prices. In 1979 Yama ha h ad launched an ambitious p rogram to surpass Honda as the world 's nu mber-one motorcycycle man ufacturer. and as a result . produced far more motorcycles than could be sold during the sales lull of the early '80s. Early this yea r, Yamaha (. • I 1. J ': J • I I got serious about liquidating that unsold inventory, and.it was easy !o see that any new machm~ released m 1985 would be cornpenng on the showroom floor with those still-n ew "non-current" machines - somesel ling for half their ori gina l sticker price. Yamaha 's so lution to this problem was to make their new models very special ized , narro w-ma rket motorcycles. For insta nce, the V-Max is intended to co nquer a ll comers in dragstrip wars, th e FZ750 is a " P u re Sports" motorcycle, and the Venture Ro yal e - the stripped Venture has been discontinued - is targeted for the full -luxury touring market. With the 1985 lin eu p co m posed of special-purpose motorcycles. Yama L' ~ ,, 1 • t ~ I I ~ (. l ) 1 1 ) I. I J ha's plan is that th e demand for gen eral -purpose machines will be met by th e wareh ouse g lu t o f in ex pensiv e non-current mod els. Which br ings u s to a curious feature o f Yamaha 's 1985 m otorcycle lineup: two mo torcycles th a t wea r th e nam e " Ma xi m," have virruall v id entica l styli ng, a re powered by inlin e four-cyl in der engines, a nd d isp lace 700ci:. Surp risi ngly, bot h are new 'desig n s for 1985 - not holdove rs from previous mod els. In spi te o f th eir appeara nce . the two machines are ver y differ ent, a nd ta rge ted at differ ent market s. T h e hot blood ed Xj700XN Max im, with its h ig h-ou tp u t five-valv e engine derived from th e FZ750, wa s designed as a s ta te -o f-the-a rt high -perform ance cru iser. On th e other hand is th e Xj700N , whi ch wa s built to a co mpl etel y differen t performance criteria: retail price. Thi s budget-minded aircoo led cru iser trips th e scal es on th e showroo m floor at $2995 ; a full $500 less than its water-cooled brother. Aside from being a simpler and less-expensive design to manufacture. th e two-va lve Maxim is made from drivetrain components of Yamaha 's discontinued models. trimming R &D cos ts for the new machine. The crankshaft is straight out of Yamaha 's ill-fated 650 Seca Turbo; th e only change is rebalancing to match the different weight of th e larger pistons. Connecting rods are also from the Turbo. and incorporate the same oi l jets to aid in piston cooling. Pistons and cylinder head are from the European -spec 750 Seca: the 65mm bore of the 750 engine, coupled with the 52.4mm stroke of th e Turbo 's crankshaft creates an engine with a tariff-p leasing 696cc d ispl acem ent. New for the 700 Maxim a re lowfriction piston ri ngs, claimed to a llow the engine to rev more free ly, a nd to provide a better sea l a t high rp m . The European Seca head was chosen fo r its slightly larger intake va lve 34.lmm vers us 33m m for the U.S .- " spec 750 Seca - which is more co nd ucive to h ig h -rpm p o wer. T he Seca head also fea tu red the Yamaha Inductio n Control Syst em (YICS ), a network of i nta ke sub-tracts designed to promote addi tional turbulance in th e intake mixture. Whether the YICS actually improves co m bus tio n has • • • • • • • • • &.& • • • • ~ . . . . • • • • • • lo ng been a topic of de ba te, but th e Xj700N Maxim is th e o n ly bike in Yamah a 's 1985 lin eup with th e system - probabl y beca use th e YICS plumbin g wa s a lrea dy in p lace o n the European-spe c cylinde r head . T o han dl e th e extra power of th is new hi gh-revvin g engine , th e cl u tch asse rnblv from th e 900 Seca is mounted behind ih e crankshaft. Yamaha en gin eer s wer e a lso a ble to ada p t the 900 Seen's transmission a nd drive shaft to th e package, making the new Xj700N Maxim 's entire drivel in e composed o f o ff- the -s h elf p arts from o ther models - an unusual a nd cos t-effective approach to desi gning a new motorcycl e. While a workable en gine may be assem bled from driveline components of discontinued models, the frame a nd suspension had to be updated to be competitive, More important ly, to co m m a nd a realistic retai l price, it had to be better than simi lar no n current machi nes la ng u ish ing in the ware ho use. Accordi ng to Yama ha spokes men , the Xj700N Maxim is their firs t cru iser-styled mo torcycle where handling was a design priority, T he frame is made of mi ld steel, is a do u ble-down tu be enclosed cradle design, and the right side frame tube is remova ble for m ajor engine service . . . nothing out of the ordinary. T he front suspension has a lon g, ki cked-out cu sto m appearance. th e mufflers are upswept with megaphone styling, and a deeply step pe d seat perches just ahead o f a bobbed rear fender - standa rd cus to m stuff. The new s for th e Xj700N Maxim is th e way th at performance a nd handling changes have been di sguised as styling. Fo r ins ta nce , th e lower tri pl eclam p mounts are o ffset to clamp higher o n th e fork tu be. giving th e illusion of lon ger fork tu bes. The mufflers a re cu t short a nd upswept. which adds co rnering cleara nce a nd allows for a hi gh er cen tersta nd mount. The steeri ng head is mounted high o n th e frame, whi ch mean s th e handl ebars don 't have to resemble a wh eelbarrow for a co mforta ble riding position . Th e co m bina tio n o f co n tro l placements mak e fo r a m ot orcycl e that looks like a rak ed-out cruiser, but fee ls li ke what used to be ca ll ed a " sta nda rd" model m otorcycle: a co mfortab le a nd sens ible rid in g position that invites da y-long riding. Considering the styling, even more surprising is that th e Xj700N Maxim's handling package works. Whe n th e 1985 Yamahas wer e introduced to the press last November a t Willow Springs rac eway, Motorcyclist Magazine staffer Brent Ross and Cycle N ew s Editor john U lric h both found themselves aboard Maxims. and on the track with much larger and more powerful bikes. Bo th ed ito rs were surprised to find th e Maxim had sta ble and predictable handling; in fact U lrich later co m mented t hat the Xj700N Maxim was th e most sta ble cruiser-st yled motorcycle in memory, with the least suspension jacking of any shaft-drive motorcycle he'd ri dden o n the track , When pressed to the lim it , the undercarriage - p ipe s, pegs, stands, every thing - wou ld hit the deck. but th e bike remai ned stable a nd predictable in spite of metal dragging on the ground. Durin g its time at Cycle News, the Maxim was use d for daily commu tin g , occasiona l Sun day rides, and a h alf-do zen blas ts do wn the dragstrip. Wh a tever th e a pplication, the biggest prob lem with th e Ma xim was h ard starting. Eve n in moderate tem peratures, the Maxim demanded full ch o ke starts - only to behave as though i t was warmed up a nd rea dy to ride. H o wever, a s soon as the throttle was ro lled and th e clutch d umped •••••• • • • a •• • • ~. ~ ~ • ~.. • • ••

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