VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P115
deftly and was well-suspended at
each end. Far from being a hin-
drance, the staff concluded that the
extra weight helped the rider carry
momentum, which "can keep you
going straight, while smaller, lighter
bikes are bouncing back and forth
like ping-pong balls."
The test crew gave the bike
a good workout! Photos show
the bike sliding on the dirt track
and bounding through the brush
in the desert. One staffer even
took the TT road racing, where
"the stock TT 500 made a better
road racer than anyone would've
guessed." The TT lost out on the
fast straights at Willow Springs
but made up for it in the corners,
thanks to its ample ground clear
-
ance and predictable handling.
Yamaha borrowed some old-
school technology with their de-
sign of the XT, TT and SR (street
version) singles. The frame's
front downtube served as an oil
reservoir, making practical use
of the empty space. The Yamaha
was kickstart only like the BSA
Goldstar and other big singles
before it. Kicking a 500cc single
to life can be a job fit for a lum
-
berjack, but Yamaha made the
process friendly even for pencil-
pushing cubicle dwellers. Thanks
to the bike's compression release,
the rider could easily bring the
piston to top-dead center. A quick
glance into the spiffy window by
the cam would give you a view of
the engine internals, and with a
little choke and a
lot of kick, the TT
would come to
life. Easy peasy!
It was that
same BSA Gold
-
star that seemed
to be living on in
the new Yamaha
single. Also
praised for its
versatility, the
famous British
single had left BSA's lineup in
1963 (before BSA's entire lineup
would disappear 10 years later).
For years, motorcycle magazine
staffers had whined and pined
for the rebirth of a big, do-it-all
single. Yamaha responded. The
large displacement four-stroke
single had returned to the dance
floor, and it didn't matter if you
were waltzing, mincing or do
-
ing the foxtrot; Yamaha's TT 500
was everybody's favorite dance
partner.
CN
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...off-roading one
weekend...
... race flat track
on it the next
weekend...
...and take it road racing
the following weekend.
And, yes, even motocross
it on another weekend.
