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/128133
Yamaha TOM900 ha's desert racer to match the traction of a V -twin without sacrificing the compact build of a vertical twin), sounds unlike anything else on the road. The restyled bodywork has the rear of the fuel tank narrower than before, even though it's .265 of a galIon bigger in capacity, allowing your knees to tuck in quite nicely to its flanks in a rational and relaxing riding position. This is a nice place to spend a day, because thanks to the relatively rearset footpegs and a fairly plush seat pad, you don't get saddle-sore after a long run - nor do you get buffeted about unduly at speed, even though the screen-cum-wind deflector isn't that high. Two optional windscreens that are respectively 80mm and 150mm higher are available as part of Yamaha's extensive TOM900 accessory package, which also includes FJR 1300-inspired hard luggage with detachable liners, heated handgrips, a factory-approved alarm that will also cut your insurance premium - and an optional main stand which most owners really ought to fit, especially since there's already a humungous amount of ground clearance, and you have to work really hard at decking the long hero tabs on the flipup footpegs. The sidestand is a good one, though; with a well-positioned tab that makes it easy to use. The rearview mirrors are superlative - zero vibration, and great visibility, and they look quite good, too. Same goes for the redesigned dashboard, which sees a central analog tachometer with digital clock in its face, a water-temp gauge on the right and a digital speedometer on the left, adjustable for miles/km., including a trip and very truthful fuel gauge - all extremely readable, as well as classy looking. There's good passenger accommodation, just like on the old TOM850, with handgrips cleverly incorporated in the neat but quite small luggage rack out back, and relatively low-set companion footrests, thanks to the low placement of the twin exhaust silencers in spite of their increased bulk, owing to the catalysts and the extra silencing now incorporated in them compared to 10 years ago. The only thing Yamaha has left out is a convenient way of altering the preload on the rear shock for when you carry a passenger or some heavy luggage: instead of an easyaccess external knob like on the Aprilia Futura, you have to attack the shock with the C-wrench carried in the quite complete toolkit - pity. Unlike before, however, that rear shock is now fully adjustable, and delivers 133mm of rear wheel travel combined with 150mm at the front from the cartridge fork that is adjustable only for preload and 10 DECEMBER 5.2001 • eye rebound. However, the standard suspension settings at both ends proved too soft even for a solo rider with no luggage, and the reason is the efficacy of the R1-type front brakes. These stop the TOM brilliantly, with great modulation on the lever when you need it - but with one downside: when descending a winding mountain pass, or riding along a twisty country road, where after each short squirt you have to repeatedly brake hard to get around the next tight turn, the soft suspension gets out of shape when you grab the five-way adjustable brake lever, then release it to get back on the power agajn. The weight transfer sends the bike pitchjng back and forth - a problem that can easily be resolved by stiffening up the fourposition front rebound damping to maximum, then doing the same thing at the rear (only with four clicks off maximum). Adding a turn of preload to the rear shock completed the job and made the TOM much better behaved on and off the gas, without compromising the excellent ride quality from the long-travel suspension, which ate up the worst that Fuerteventura's roads could throw at it. You can get serious angles of lean from the pretty capable 0220 Sportmax Ounlops, which thanks to the 50/50-percent weight distribution permit quite high corner speeds without any strife - the TOM900 feels slim and agile at slowspeed corners, but planted in faster turns: that new, more conservative steering geometry definitely works in giving extra stability, but not at the cost of making the Yamaha heavy to steer. Nice. But then, if you just want to go with the flow and cruise along in traf- As usual with Yamaha products, the TDM looks good. fic, the TOM will let you chill out as happily as it will put on a race face, with the smooth-action cable-operated clutch picking up easily in a line of cars. That's when you encounter the single greatest improvement over the old TOM850 - the gearbox. Instead of the clunky change and occasional transmission snatch that was all part of life's rich passion with the old model, the new bike's sixspeeder changes gear faultlessly provided you use the clutch for upward shifts: trying to do so clutchlessly still produces a harsh, rather notchy action, whereas doing so "properly" is much smoother, if a little slower - which really isn't an issue on this kind of a bike. That's because the big-bore engine has a mile-wide powerband and an ultra-flat torque curve which really makes it pointless to shift gear more than you need to - especially as it has a sweet spot as wide as 4500 to 7500 rpm that you find yourself operating in almost automatically. There's a notional 9500 rpm revlimiter, but nobody in his right mind will ever encounter it, since the 10-valve engine pulls hard and clean from 3000 rpm upward, where its lowdown lumpiness smoothes right out, with loads of lazy torque and more than enough power for the TOM's purpose. The six-speed gearbox is not only quieter and less graunchy in operation, it also inevitably has a much better choice of ratios than before, closer but still evenly spaced with an average 900 rpm between changes. Combined with the 86 hp on tap, that's quite sufficient to give the TOM900 reasonably muscular acceleration - but the real strong point is its midrange roll-on from 4000-7000 rpm, which together with the crisp pickup from the fuel injection makes this a great bike for twisty roads. Yamaha's decision to locate the single injector per cylinder south of the throttle butterfly means that the TOM isn't as snatchy in mid-turn as some other fuel-injected bikes with an external injector, especially when you open the throttle again after shutting right off for a tight bend. But there is still a slight jerk that you notice most on a loose surface - realIy, this is a bike best treated as a totally tarmac tool. Yet performance at the other end of the scale is excellent for a real-world sportbike, with 100 mph touring surprisingly comfortable with the tach needle parked on the 6000 rpm mark, without requiring you to hold on too tight though wind it up to 120 mph at 7000 rpm, and you'll find yourself exercising your arm muscles unduly, especially if you go for the 142 mph indicated top speed I saw with the tach needle just creeping into the 8000-rpm red zone. Pretty pointless, though - for if ever there was a versatile, go-anywhere sportbike that excels in realworld riding conditions, where the fun of attacking a switchback mountain pass or a fast, sweeping B-road is more important than trying to set off speed cameras, the Yamaha TOM900 is it. This is a refined version that is hard to fault of a bike that over the past decade has already established a design benchmark in terms of its total package, which no other manufacturer has yet succeeded successfully in copying. Over to you, Bologna: your turn to try. But beware, Yamaha just raised the goalposts. CN