Yamaha Yzf600r
YAMAHA YZF600R
new for '94
Yamaha’s 600-class hope for ’94?
STAYING ON TOP OF today’s 600cc sportbike market is tough business, and you need look no farther than Yamaha’s track record to see why. Its FJ600, FZ600 and FZR600 models each ruled this division at one time, only to be bested in the showroom and on the racetrack by newer, more competent offerings from its competitors.
Yamaha’s current backmarker position in the class could change drastically in 1994, when it reportedly will throw a totally reworked middleweight sportbike into the 600cc fray. A '94 release would coincide nicely with the expected U.S. release of the YZF750R, a close cousin of the YZF750SP (see Cycle World, “The New 750cc Superbikes,” March, 1993).
Details surrounding the alleged 600 project were sketchy at presstime, though reports from Japan and here in the U.S. say that there will indeed be a new bike in ’94, and that it is clearly of race-replica design.
From there, the picture blurs even more, though it’s not too tough to imagine the machine’s makeup. The bike will probably pack an all-new liquid-cooled engine, not a hot-rodded 400-class motor like the one powering the current FZR600. Building an all-new engine is expensive, however, so it’s conceivable that Yamaha might use a smaller-displacement version of the power-
ful 20-valve YZF750 engine already in production. The problem there, as Suzuki well knows, is weight. Heftiness is not a trait that current 600-class buyers find attractive.
The chassis will likely be a conventional twin-spar design constructed of aluminum, though due to aluminum’s high cost, a steel spar frame-which works wonderfully on the slick-handling FZR600-is a distinct possibility. An inverted fork (perhaps the YZF750’s unit) is also a good bet, though again, it’s a cost-adding feature. Expect the bike to have wide, 17-inch wheels, probably in race-spec, 5.5-inch rear and 3.5-inch front widths.
Company spokesmen aren’t talking, but we’ve heard reports that Yamaha’s R&D guys have been testing the latest 600s from Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki. That may mean nothing, since the Big Four routinely test each other’s models in an effort to stay competitive and up-to-date. But it might be significant, especially when viewed alongside the rumors. U.S. arms of Japanese factories typically get a chance to test upcoming models in prototype form, and competitive machinery is usually brought along to gauge the competency of prototypes.
For now, all we can do is speculate, and offer an illustration of what we think the bike might look like. If the rumors are false, and Yamaha leaves the current FZR to do battle in the class, then it’s clearly missing a slice of a vitally important and lucrative segment of the U.S. market.
But if the reports are true, and Yamaha does indeed introduce an all-new 600 alongside the very competent YZF750R expected here in ’94, it’s a move that does more than simply signal Yamaha’s newfound seriousness for the sportbike business: It shows that Yamaha is out to reclaim the 600cc title it’s held so often in the past.
Mitch Boehm
