Yamaha TMax, what a capable motorbike

Yamaha’s TMax is a simply amazing bike, it was launched in 2001 so is now 20 years old (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_TMAX). I have owned several and currently I have a 2019 530 DX and what a superb bike!! My first experience was a 2001 500 with carbs and I really enjoyed the experience despite suffering the very heavy fuel consumption, I bought her for 2k euro, sold her on for 2.5k Euro with 80k kms on the clock and the guy who bought it has ridden her well past 140k km and she is still going well!! If you just change oil and filters these very strong engines go almost for ever.

More recently I purchased 2 TMax 530s from Martin in the UK and my plan was to sell them in Italy. BUT the Italian Govt makes things SOOOOO complex and expensive to register I eventually took them back to the UK and Martin sold them on for me.

So then cos these are really GREAT bikes I bought a white 530 from Martin and rode it down to Roma in 2 days (1 day France and 1 day Italy) and I discovered what a capable long distance bike these really are!!! On the French and Italian motorways I cruised at a steady 150 kph and she averaged 22 km/l (about 60mpg) I only had to stop for fuel only every 200 miles, great ride!! I kept that one for 2 years and recently traded her in for a new one only because cos mine did not have ABS (at that time it was offered as an option).

I recently fitted a BMC air filter to my 2019 Yamaha 530 DX and she seems to breathe MUCH better, makes a bit more intake noise and responds better without any doubt. New bikes today must pass the Euro 6 or whatever standards and this means that all new bike are basically “strangled” to keep the noise down. This restrictions are mainly on the air intake and the exhaust so I generally fit a performance air filter (either K&N or BMC) and the engine goes and sounds better. An exhaust for the TMax is expensive and would make only a marginal improvement so I have not changed this yet, but they do reduce weight.

Here are a few pics of my current lovely black 530 DX. And ps of course I know that the TMax is “officially” a scooter but she has the engine where a bike has the engine and she rides like an automatic bike, so for me she is a bike with loads of handy underseat storage!!

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