Turbocharged Yamaha Niken special

YAMAHA’S Niken is a bike that’s divided opinion since it’s launch in 2017 but with its quirky looks and extra front hoop, it was always going to be a Marmite machine. To try and win some love for the leaning multi wheeler, an Aussie Yamaha dealer has done a job on the sports tourer, fitting a host of performance mods and giving it a touch sand coloured paintjob.

It’s not clear whether the factory had a hand in commissioning Trooper Lu’s with the build, although with the Antipodean branch of Yamaha sharing the image of the machine on social media make the chances of some manufacturer assistance are quite high.

The biggest change to the bike from standard is the addition of a hefty looking Garrett 0.6A turbo, mounted just in front of the rear wheel. There’s sparse information about the bike so the amount of boost its running isn’t clear. It is through reported to have a healthy 33hp increase over the standard bikes 115 – taking it to wheelie-happy 148bhp. It’s not clear if the standard bikes electronic speed limiter, set to about 120mph, remains in place or if the high-speed handling of the machine is as good as it’s ability to scythe through an apex.

Finishing of the performance mods are some upgraded KYB front fork internals, and a custom Akrapovic exhaust and carbon fibre end-can.

It’s quite strange that the bike has been given the adventure spec paint and top-box – it nods to an off-road ability that this machine really doesn’t have. The Niken is a touring machine and nothing more, the sand paint and aluminium top-box would look more at home is the bike had some spoked wheels and Metzeler Tourance tyres in my opinion.