Hi guys, hello from Denmark.

I've been following the forum with for some time soaking in tips, while waiting to close the deal on an 83 TR1 which I finally got yesterday.

It's in pretty nice condition despite having 73000 km on the clock, needs a new battery as the old one is from 2008 and seems on it's last legs, but has otherwise been taken great care of.

Along with the bike, I got an extra TR1 that is about 90% complete, but has only driven 2600 km. Most of it's cosmetic parts have been removed when it was new and wrapped up in plastic, so it's pretty prestine. The extra bike has a bit of an interesting history, as it was used for a review in a danish motorcycle magazine in 1981 (I'll attach the article, it's in danish but might be interresting, I can translate to english if anyone is interested). The extra bike has never been registered in Denmark and vehicle tax has never been paid on it, so I'm not sure what it involve to get it on the road. It also has a bit of a weird frame (and matching engine) number compared to any other I've seen: 003G-4E-03 any help decoding that would be appreciated.

Article and pictures of the extra bike: https://imgur.com/a/pmY7S

My apologies for writing in English, I do understand and speak German, but my skills in writing it are severely lacking :)

Absolutely lovely! And yes, please go ahead and translate that article...

Cheers,
Greg

I wrote a fast translation of the article. Some sentences read a bit weird after being translated, but I hope it's eligible and of interest to see how magazines saw the TR1 when it first came out. Note the price of 40.000 DKK or 5300 EUR - equivalant to 14600 EUR in todays money. Even back then danish vehicle taxes where insane :)

Part 1:

In the last years, Yamaha have taken a somewhat special position amongst the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. While other manufacturers bet largely on multi-cylinder models around '70, Yamaha came out with their 6½ twin which is still in production. At that time when 4-cylinder chain driven bike was the big thing from other manufacturers, Yamaha was positioning themselves with a 3-cylinder shaft driven bike. When most believed that the large 1-cylinder 4-stroke was dead, Yamaha have the one legged model new life with the XT and SR500.
At the time when Suzuki and Kawasaki killed off their 2-strokes, Yamaha developed theirs and RD250/RD350 still have a unique position in the market.
Yamaha's latest lone-bet is the TR1 and it's sister model XV750 - with traditionally placed V2 engine (described in touring news 7/80). TR1 is unique by being uncommonly sedated in it's style as well as the engine contrary to usual japanese style only gives 70Hk from 981 cm2. On the other hand the engine has an impressive torque at 8.28 kgm at only 5500 rpm. Already from 2000 rpm the torque is over 6.5 kgm. This characteristic means that  the TR1 pulls powerfully from low rpm and when you release the clutch the machine delivers some of the massive pull as it's known from Ducati.  

Part 2:

By being gentle on the throttle, the engine can pull the bike up all the way from idle at around 1000 rpm - in 5th gear. From around 2000 rpm the pull is equal and efficient. However at the top end the engines performance isn't exactly fear introducing compared with other Japanese 1000 ccm bikes and our average fuel usage at around 15,6 km/l isn't impressive either.

Compared to a Ducati the Yamaha vibrates a bit, which can be caused by the difference in the V angle. Ducati's have the theoretical ideal 90 degrees between the cylinders, while the Yamaha only has 75 degrees because of space and look tradeoffs.

You can feel the TR1 engine at all rpms, but just under 3000 and around 4500 rpm the TR1 is almost vibration free, and at rpm under 6000 vibrations aren't a problem. From 6000 and up to 7000 rpm, where the red part of the rpm scale starts there are insistent and not entirely not-annoying vibrations in the handlebar. At the high rpm the image in the short armed mirrors are blurred. The riding position is OK. The rider sits significantly forward leaning and with the feet quite far behind. As the handlebar has an adequate size the TR1 offers a good compromise between slow and fast riding.

The seats comfort at extended distances isn't quite at the top. The front part of the seat is quite narrow and feels firm as soon as you get on. Already after close to 100 km, you start feeling sore. The passenger comfort is limited by the footrests being placed high which gives a leg position that isn't comfortable unless you have short legs at long distances.

Part 3:

One of the areas where the motorcycle technology is moving fastest is suspension. The TR1 front suspension is of the now common type with air supported springs. There is a separate air chamber for each fork leg which makes it troublesome to get the wanted and equal amount of air pressure in each leg, but the fork swallows both small and large bumps excellently at the medium pressure recommended in the manual, so you only seldom need to adjust the pressure.

The rear suspension is in broad strokes build like the RD350LC, with a swingarm connected to a single central shock absorber, but on the TR1 a few enhancements to refine it, in the form of adjustable air support and damping. It's considerably easier adjusting the rear compared to the front as there is only one shock absorber and no problems getting the pressure equal as with the front. The damper has 6 steps and can be adjusted without getting off the bike or stopping it. You adjust it by turning a wheel on the right side under the seat. There isn't a big difference between step 1 and 6 on the adjuster and most of the time we picked a medium setting. If you ride with low air pressure and low dampening the back suspension handles most bumps fine, but the rear feels spongy with a passenger. If you increase the pressure the system struggles dealing with sudden bumps, so just as with the RD350LC, we must conclude that Yamaha's monoshock works fine but it's not revolutionary and there are machines with conventional suspension that function at least just as well. As for the TR1's rideability, there isn't really anything to blame. The machine has really good and stable performance if we ignore bumps parallel to the direction where the machine wiggles it's rear, but which must be attributed to the Japanese tires and especially the almost worn down rear tire, we had to ride really hard to provoke any unsettling in the TR1. Only by a forceful shutoff of the throttle in a curve could we upset the machine. It's probably not possible to ride the TR1 so hard the frame can't keep up with the engine, at least we didn't.
The directional stability is also OK. The only minus we could find with the steering showed up at the racetrack "Jyllands Ringen" where you with less risk than on public roads can go hard into the corners. On the track it turned out being hard positioning the TR1 exactly into the corners, but it was probably caused not so much by the steering as the engine reacting harshly on changes of the throttle and the front brake being hard to dose 100% correctly. In the curves themselves the machine was quite easy to control and steer through.

Riding on a track, the different parts on the side of the bike, set clear limits for how far you can lean over on most street motorcycles. This is also true for the TR1 where both side and center stand hits the road just after the footrests. However on public streets we only had the foot pegs scraping, it happened a few times and was entirely unproblematic as they are hinged and has give.
As mentioned it's hard to dose the front brake precisely, but the brake effect is excellent. The rear is "only" a drum brake but it manages what it should fine. As is known it's the front brake that needs to do the majority of the work. Contrary to other chain driven Japanese bikes on the Danish market, the Yamaha TR1 is blessed with an enclosed chainbox, running in special grease. The manual specifies 50.000 km lifetime and 6000 km adjustment intervals. As usual when it comes to Yamaha the equipment is top class. Both the speedometer and rev counter on the test cycle was only a few percent off. The grips and handlebar is well shaped and the self cancelling blinker system is great, the lighting is also good. Yamaha TR1 is a motorcycle which has the Japanese motorcycles traditional qualities in the form of an easy operated bike, including the clutch and shifter.

Part 4:

The engine and it's way of pulling is different from other Japanese, but this shouldn't lead you to believe the TR1 is something like a cheaper Ducati or Guzzi. It isn't. The Yamaha doesn't have these european bikes special character, men for those that seek a japanese alternative to the more common Japanese bikes, the TR1 gives full value for money - yes at a price of DKK 40.000 (EUR 5300) it's almost surprisingly cheap compared to most other machines, no matter what angle you evaluate it from.

Picture descriptions:
Left top: The little spoiler under the steering stem and the special design of the right side cover ensures that adequate cooling air makes it to the rear cylinder. The two lower images shows Touring News electronic equipment which is used in all tests mounted on the Yamaha TR-1. On the image far left at the top arrow we see the contactless magnetic sensor that gets it's signals from two magnets on the edge of the rim (at the other arrows).  The impulses are transmitted to the gadget mounted on the handlebar. In the black square just under the tip of the arrow, we can on 3 digital numbers read speed, acceleration, both from stillstand and 80-120km/h. This gadget has been used for 5 years and is still going strong. Below: Seen from the front not much sticks out on the V-2 Yamaha. It is the footpegs and centerstand that hits the asphalt first. On the right: At first glance it looks like Yamaha bolted two SR500 cylinders on an engine block, but there is a bit difference, the TR-1 has a larger bore than stroke. The closed chain system MZ with the chain in a rubber tube has been long underway from Japan. The chain box is filled with special grease and the chain only needs adjustments every 6000 km.


Hope you enjoyed - Brian :)

briandk wrote:

Hope you enjoyed - Brian :)

Even though I only browsed over your text (I'll read it in detail later), yes thanks a lot!

Cheers,
Greg

Hi Brian,

welcome here and  thank you very much for the translation. Very interesting to read.

Greetings, Michael

Hello, Welcome, an I wich you much fun, with the TR1.  It is for myself, the best japanese machine!

The first part of the number, that you seek, is the colourcode of yamaha french blue  003G.
Look again, an we will find an answer for you.....
At best, you will look at the number, on the frame!

Greeting from the Eifel

Klaus

Hi Klaus, thank you.


I took a picture of the frame and of the engine and as you can see they are both this weird format. I actually thought they where matching, but looking closer it seems the engine is 4E and the frame is 4B.

Brian,
as it does not match to any known series number, it seems to me like pre-production series or even prototypes like automobilmakers are doing it I worked 35 years for.  This might be possible as the bike was provided for press-usage.

greetings

Jürgen

Hi Brian, ich think so too, but ich have a friend, he has a man in nederland, he is a specialist from yamaha europe, and, perhaps, he can help. He is very good in history of yamaha.  I have send the picture to him, so he can ask him. We will see, what happen.....

Klaus

Hi Klaus.

Very kind of you to try that. I realize it might not be possible to get any further information about it, but would be fun if I could track down a bit more of the back story.

The Problem , of the number, that do not match, with the normaly typ number, of the TR1 5A8 will be,
that you must change the frame.  Frames, with paper´s are no Problem, i have any frames with legal papers, but  i think, the best way, is, the Machine let, as shown ! It´s really rar!

When i have answer, i will tell it you quickly.

Klaus

Thanks Klaus.

I have also contacted the magazine that it was reviewed in to hear if they know anything about what happened with it.
I could of course build it up on a frame with papers, but that would lose a bit of it's charm and history.