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/127605
eRIDING IMPRESSION ~ ... 00 ;..; fortab le the bike is - the "ergos" are simply excellent - for a sportbike, that is. Sitting atop the 'YZF doesn 't feel as though you are crammed into the ball turret in the belly of a B-17 bomber. In fact, the YZF a lm o st fe lt, well, u h ... ro omy? Oka y, perhaps roomy is going a bit too far, but it certainly is more comfortable than, say, a Suzuki GSXR7SO. We spent approxima tely a day and a half buzzing around the 2.02-mile, 1994Yamaha Y 50 ZF7 RF Speaking of the fairing, it does an outstanding job of keeping wind blast off the rider, especia lly in the tucked-in position . Jam ie James once said of the SP's aerodynamics, "You could ligh t a match under the bubble - it' s so quiet." We now know wha t he means. Clickin g up and d own through the YZF's six-speed transmission d id not reveal any flaws, but the clu tch d id get a little stiff and lose its feel after a while. Q) ~ Q) U Q) c (Above left ) Instrumentation is straightforward and simple, nothing fancy here . (Above right) The YZF is surprisingly comfortable. (Left) Yamaha will have a lucrative road race contingency program for 1994, making the YZF even more appeali ng. 8 eigh t-turn Roeb ling Road track on the YZF750R and enjoyed every minute of it. The powerful motor is easy to manag e and had n o problems reaching speeds up to 130 mph down the track's long strai gh taway. It wa s here where we really appreciated t he YZF' s extr emely powerful, yet super progressive, front b rake; tw o fin gers on the lever is all it takes to haul the bike in for the turns. Flicking the bike over in the comers is a breeze on the YZF. The bike feels well-balanced, ver y light and requires little effort by th e rider to initiate th e turns, and the excellen t ergonomics mak e it simple to move around on the bike, esp ecially w hile making the transistion from left to right or vice versa. And we didn't experience any problems with banging one's knee or ca tchi ng one's riding gear (boots and leathers, etc.) on the fairing. Ove rall, shifting was positive and we never missed a gear. Getting back to the engine, we were quite pleased with how it performed both on and off the track. We squeezed in about 100 street miles in Georgia on the YZF and we have no doubts that we could live with this motor whether or not this bike ever sees a race track. It produces decent bottom end, and pulls with authority throughout the powerband. It d oes so in a s mooth and controllab le fashion. The re is no re al vib ra tion to speak of, either. Overall, this bike is fast. Despite only riding the YZF750R for a relatively short pe riod of time - mostly track time - we left Roebling Road qu ite impressed . The bike is simply awesome on the track and seems to be quite acceptable for daily street use, as well. The YZF7SOR will have its wo rk cut out for it on both the sales floor and on the track next year, however. Honda is se t to introd uce its latest spo rt/superbike the RC 45; Su zuki now has it s lighter GSX!Y'SOR, and Kawasaki has its already -p roven ZX-7R. And, of course, there is Ducati's 916. The YZF750R d efinitely adds spice to an already hot class. ~