An SR400 Reissue?
Oct 5th, 2009 by Leo
American motorcycle companies can be woefully backward-looking. Look at the newest rebirth of the Indian label: still trying to pump out premium priced Model-T’s. Victory is a little more “modern” by being Art Deco… Whereas Harley seems a little confused at the moment having failed (somewhat) with their more modern inventions… But I digress. Some companies are hopelessly backward looking… Japanese motorcycle companies, on the other hand, are hopelessly forward looking: Even Honda’s attempt at a chopper looked like a futuristic Jetsons version of a retro bike. Their race and auto inspired engineers couldn’t design a retro classic is one ran them over. Wait that doesn’t make any sense…but you know what I mean. The Japanese manufacturers haven’t been good with “classic.”
So how about this for an idea? How about re-making a classic STANDARD motorcycle… And how about making it cheap, with plenty of room for modifications… Maybe just upgrade the fuel system, and get rid of the kick-start… Or better yet, keep the kick start in case the battery runs out, but mate it to a simple fuel injected single with 17 inch rims.
Viola – it appears that’s what Yamaha is thinking of doing… In their lineup is a reissue of the SR400. The SR500 would be better, but if you keep the price down it would still be worth it as a hip daily ride. Click here for the article from another site – translated via Google.
For great pics of modified SR500′s check out this blog.
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