First Ride: 2002 Yamaha TDM900

Success should have been assured, but it wasn't. We as a nation continued to clasp sportsbikes to our bosom and we even insulted the poor old 850 "Tedium" we called it, and all the while the mainland Europeans went TDM crazy. Check out the major cities in Europe and you'll see them everywhere... Berlin, Munich, Milan, Rome and should you hear the boom of a big twin in Paris, the chances are it's a trick-as-buggery TDM with open pipes, not a Ducati...

To further illustrate... in the last decade, the TDM has been the second biggest selling bike in the 750-1,000cc category second only to Honda's VFR... So, pay homage to the TDM as people really love this bike.

In the UK, too, all is not lost. Since 1991 and after the bike's big up-date in 1996, there's still been a small enclave of people who recognise a good thing when they ride one. On average every year, recently between 200-500 people buy a TDM, making it important enough to Yamaha UK to bring it in and with rising insurance costs and Gatsos, surely it's starting to make more sense?

This latest version, launched in the same resort of Fuerteventura as the original a decade ago, is having another crack at teaching us Brits all a lesson, so listen up.

It looks similar to the last one, which is no bad thing, as since the Glynn Kerr-penned 1996 version, the styling is still markedly individual, so Yamaha has only made subtle changes, including a re-designed tail light and brighter multi-refelector headlight.

The big changes are to the engine and chassis.

In the motor you have a bigger volume, 897cc, and various bits and pieces such as new designed pistons, plated cylinders and carburised connecting rods which are all technology borrowed from the R series of machines. Power is up, up around five per cent to 86.2bhp from around 78 for the last version. Torque is up too, by a smidgeon. Compared to the older version, you don't really feel that extra power, but the way it comes in feels special. Let me illustrate. Some of the roads we were treated to on the Island are simply stunning. Climbing and diving through the arrid hills, sweeping left and right before doubling back on themselves. It pays to have a bike with a flexible motor, you don't want to be prodding the gear lever when you're concentrating so hard on the upcoming bend. Leave it in any gear (up to six cogs from five on the previous version), just make sure you've got the needle sticking at about two thousand revs and you've got plenty of grunt from that parallel twin to propell you at speed into the next switchback. Part of the flexibility is down to the bike's fuel-injection system which is new to the TDM and (surprisingly) still one of the few Yamahas to boast the system. The bike also sports an adjustable air-intake duct, which works in conjunction with the fuel-injection system to optimise the air/fuel mixture to maximize delivery of that power. From what I could gather, it works. No sucking, wheezing or farts, just lots of lovely lusty forward motion.

Fuerteventura has wonderfully smooth mountain roads, whether the local council actually de-grit the roads, who knows, but the updated 43mm Kayaba forks which now have adjustable rebound as well as preload feel too soft on the standard settings. The culprit is the new brakes. For 2002 these are R1-style one-piece four-piston calipers and they're bloody lovely. Firm up the settings and you won't risk hitting the stops so easily or find the bike pushing wide if you risk a dab mid-corner, should the road ahead tighten up. But, you really have to "re-calibrate your mind" (damn...another clichŽ..) as the brakes work so well. And should you have Cupid Stuntman tendencies, you can easily get that rear end (now with a fully adjustable piggy-back shock) waving in the air with a whiff of index digit.

Handling is confidence inspiring (another clichŽ). You still satisfyingly ground the hero-blobs relatively early if you're throwing the bike about, but it's soft-friendly nature means you rarely feel as though the bike is going to anything daft beneath you. Part of the update package is a new frame and swingarm, and the rear fork again borrows R-series technology to utilise a 40mm longer swingarm, which helps you get the power down to the ground easier, you've also got wider rubber at the rear.

Weight-wise the whole plot is down eight kilos to 190. Despite the extra weight from bulky items such as the fuel-injection system, weight loss in engine internals and the chassis - including lighter wheels - means the overall weight is down. .

On the practical front, you've got a new digital speedo in the re-designed dash, along with two trips, an LCD fuel gauge, water temp gauge and hazard warning lights. Greens among you will like air injection in the motor (makes emissions cleaner) and a cat...

Extras you can buy include heated grips, luggage, centre stand, two sizes of bigger screens - these are the sorts of extras I wager the Brits will go for, although the Gallic notion of loud pipes, single colour paint job, cut down rear fender, straight bars and sticky rubber is giving me wood...

If you're in the market for a sports tourer, try and have a crack on the new TDM first (or an old one for that matter...) just in spite of yourself, you may find you really like it. I did, I really did. So, I'm very impressed with this bike, I really think this will give a sportsbike a run for its money and still go to the Sou...

Oh God, what have I just said?

Time to invent a new clichŽ... how about this. :If there was a medal to be awarded for the decathlete of the two wheeled world, the TDM would win gold.."
Hmm, can't see that clichŽ lasting the next decade, although I wager the TDM will.

Verdict

One of the most underrated bikes on sale in Britain. It's a great bike - try it.

SPECS

TYPE - STREETBIKE

PRODUCTION DATE - 2002

PRICE NEW - £6550

ENGINE CAPACITY - 897cc

POWER - 86.2bhp@7,500rpm

TORQUE - 66ft.lbs@ 6,000rpm

WEIGHT - 190kg

SEAT HEIGHT - 825mm

FUEL CAPACITY - N/A

TOP SPEED - 130mph

0-60 - n/a

TANK RANGE - N/A

Let me see now. Ten years ago British biking was on the verge of something big. Our bike buying trends were going to be challenged by a bug-eyed kid from Yamaha - the TDM850. It promised the kind of handling and performance that would be useful against a supersports machine, with the usefulness that would be super against a tourer. Add in the fact that it had wide bars, a comfy seat, roomy riding position and user-friendly practicality and it was a dead cert to be a hit with us no-nonsense Brits.

And the initial response was good. Journalists invented the sort of timeless clichés that can still haunt to this day. "You could give a sportsbike a run for its money through the twisties and still go to the South of France and back on it, quite.

Success should have been assured, but it wasn't. We as a nation continued to clasp sportsbikes to our bosom and we even insulted the poor old 850 "Tedium" we called it, and all the while the mainland Europeans went TDM crazy. Check out the major cities in Europe and you'll see them everywhere... Berlin, Munich, Milan, Rome and should you hear the boom of a big twin in Paris, the chances are it's a trick-as-buggery TDM with open pipes, not a Ducati...

To further illustrate... in the last decade, the TDM has been the second biggest selling bike in the 750-1,000cc category second only to Honda's VFR... So, pay homage to the TDM as people really love this bike.

In the UK, too, all is not lost. Since 1991 and after the bike's big up-date in 1996, there's still been a small enclave of people who recognise a good thing when they ride one. On average every year, recently between 200-500 people buy a TDM, making it important enough to Yamaha UK to bring it in and with rising insurance costs and Gatsos, surely it's starting to make more sense?

This latest version, launched in the same resort of Fuerteventura as the original a decade ago, is having another crack at teaching us Brits all a lesson, so listen up.

It looks similar to the last one, which is no bad thing, as since the Glynn Kerr-penned 1996 version, the styling is still markedly individual, so Yamaha has only made subtle changes, including a re-designed tail light and brighter multi-refelector headlight.

The big changes are to the engine and chassis.

2002 Yamaha TDM900 Specifications