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1966 Yamaha 90 Twin Motorcycle - 2-Page Vintage Road Test Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Advertisement / ArticlePage Size: Approx. 8\" x 11\" (21 cm x 28 cm)Condition: Good
Hereafter CYCLE will add to our regular monthly reports from Italy, Englandand Canada a report from Japan. It will be handled by a dedicated motorcyclist,Jack Yamaguchi.Jack is 30 years old. an active rider and well qualified, with a wide knowledgeof motorcycling throughout the world. He is employed in the Public RelationsDepartment of a large airline and has visited most of the cycle factories inItaly, Germany, France and England. Motorcycling is his hobby.Having spent three years in England, he speaks English fluently, as he doeshis native language, Japanese.We met him on our recent trip to Japan and were so impressed with hisreferences and knowledge of the worldwide motorcycle picture that we signedhim up immediately. His first articles appear in this issue. — Clymer.FIRST ROAD TEST:NEW YAMAHA90cc TWINBy Jack YamaguchiROAD-IMPRESSION - YAMAHA 90 TWINThis is the latest addition to the Yamaha family, and wasthe biggest crowd gatherer in the motorcycle section of the 1965Tokyo Motor Show, where it was publicly introduced.The 90 Twin is known in Japan as “Yamaha Autolube TwinAT-90” meaning with 90cc two cylinder engine with oil injec-tion. It will no doubt gel a fancier name when it makes its U.S.debut, like its brothers Omaha, Riverside and Big Bear. Per-sonally I will settle for, say, “5th Avenue” or “Beverly Hills.”That’s how smooth the little gem is. More on this later.Floyd Clymer was the first “foreigner” to ride the 90 Twinin Tokyo, even before I got hold of one. lie was so impressedwith it during the “sneak\" (literally) preview, that he gave meinstructions to try it a little longer. And very happily I obliged.Yamaha 90 Twin is the smallest displacement two-cylindermotorcycle in volume production in Japan, or to my knowledgeanywhere in the world (if you talk about racing motorcycles,50cc twins are quite commonplace. There is now even a rumorthat a 50cc three-cylinder engine is under development).Now, Yamaha already had, and has, a 90cc model existing,and selling well, in its extensive range. And a very good one atthat. It’s tlie “90 Junior IT-1” single cylinder machine, which isa scaled-up version of YG1 known as “Rotary Jet 80” in U.S.The single has such advanced features as rotary inlet valve andoil injection, pushes out 8 healthy horsepower and carries thehandsome bike to a respectable maximum of 60 mph. Then whybother duplicating the same displacement class with the newand costly twin? There hasn’t been any official explanation here,and everybody is wild with speculation. My personal opinionis that Yamaha’s rival is offering a racy overhead-cam enginedmodel in addition to the bread-and-butter ovh 90. What moreeffective counter offensive weapon can you think of than theT-W-I-N?Here are some vital statistics of the Twin. Bore and strokemeasure 36.5 x 43mm, and total displacement is 89cc. For theU.S. market the engine will be enlarged to full lOOcc by increas-ing the bore. In its present form, maximum power is quoted as8.2 hp at 8000 rpm.The new Twin inhales mixture through conventional ports,unlike its single brothers which have so successfully adoptedrace proven rotary disc valve system.Engine lubrication is by popular oil injection with mechani-cal oil pump. Yamaha is pioneer in this system of lubrication.Incidentally, four of the five motorcycle manufacurers of Japannow oiler oil-injection on their 2-stroke products. Yamaha callsits system “Autolube,” Suzuki “Sei mix,” Kawasaki “Superlube”and Bridgestone “Oil-Injection.” The remaining nonconformistis Honda, who is specializing in 4-strokers.The frame and suspension components are interchangeablewith the 80/90 single, but the whole machine is heavier bysome 22 lbs. than the 90 single.The new Twin looks remarkably different from the rest ofYamaha, with the shallower and longer gas tank with pointedends sharply contrasting the rounded tank of other Yamaha’s.It does give the bike that “lean and hungry” look.I he twin comes in two versions, one with kick-starter andthe other with starting motor. The machine I had was a kick-start model, but “kick” is definitely an overstatement. A verygentle “push-down” of the pedal produces the desired result,thanks to the new Mikuni carburetors (2 of them) with starter-pump which enrichens mixture for easier starting. If you shouldstall the motor in traffic, no panic for finding the neutral. Justdisengage the clutch and push down the starting pedal in anygear.Once in life the engine hums and idles quite pleasantly.Moving up from the stand-still, you will have to give a littlemore gas than yon may first think necessary. Power really startscoming on from 3500-4000 range. The Twin has very flat torquecharacteristics from 4000 up to the maximum peak power rpmof 8000.MORE>->Head-on viciu shoii\'in^, telescopic forks.Maximum speed of the 90 Twin is 63 mph, while the export100 is expected to reach 65, and it covers standing start quartermile in a fraction over 20 seconds. Very respectable figures thatcan be favorably compared with those of ,125’s.The gear shift pattern is typically Japanese with see-sawpedal. To shift up you push down the toe part of the pedal, butafter 4th gear comes the neutral, -then 1-2-3-4 again. You can,of course, use your heel to shift down.The bike is very tractable in heavy traffic of Tokyo. On thefirst afternoon of this trial run, it started raining. Now nothingis more miserable for a two-wheeler rider than Ginza (whereYamaha has Tokyo office) in wet. The surface of narrow streetsis covered with road grit and becomes extremely slippery.. Andthose Tokyo taxies are not exactly standing still. By law a lightmotorcycle rider must stay on the extremely left (we drive onthe left side) edge of the road. A taxi screeches to a stop rightin front of you, and the cabbie pops open the door (poweroperated from the driver’s seat). The blasted thing is in yourpath, and you really haven’t got much time or distance. TheYamaha always stops in time and in a straight line. It does havefantastic balance. Heavy rain did not affect the brakes, either.This is indeed one of the safest motorcycles I have ever riddenin the rain.The only complaint I had was the separate scats on themachine I tried. I measure 5’7” tall, and the delicate part of myanatomy is placed right between the front and rear scats. That’suncomfortable, to say the least. Of course the single “dual” seatthat comes as an option (should be standard on the exportmodel) should solve the problem.All in all a very pleasant runabout. Floyd Clymer gave mea little badge to wear. It says “I like motorcycles.” I am verymuch inclined to rewrite it, “I like Yamaha Twin 90.”Rear oieiu of I he I loin-note lar^e exhaust tubes for a small unitSide vieic of the \"90\" — bored out to lOOcc for U.S. market.The neat instrument panel. Don\'t let the 120 numerals on thedial fool you — the numerals are in kilos, not in miles.YAMAHA 100 YL-1 SPECIFICATIONSENGINE —Parallel Twin “100” 11 model, 2-stroke; 97cc, boreand stroke — 38 x 43mm, compression ratio —7.1:1, maximumtorque —0.805 kgm/8,000 rpm, kick starter; WHEELBASE — 45.1 in.;WEIGHT-217 lbs.; MAXIMUM SPEED-65-67 mph; FUEL CONSUMP-TION on level paved road —153 mpg at 19 mph; CLUTCH —Wet,multiple-disc.; SEPARATE LUBRICATION by Yamaha Autolube; ELEC-TRICAL SYSTEM — Ignition coil and battery; 12-volt DC generatorsystem is used; flywheel magneto ignition. ____________________17205 RL- 16536
