Like all we er traditional motorcyclists I always considered scooters to be something to be avoided, a 2 wheeled shopping trolley or something for the girls but not for we real men.
The amazing Yamaha TMax should make us all think again cos the Yamaha scooter is amazing but most motorcyclists will need to RIDE a TMax to understand me. Over the last 10 or so years I have covered thousands of kilometres through the UK and France and Italy on various of these bikes cos I have owned and loved several. Note that the engine is NOT in the rear wheel but is in the frame in the same position as every motorbike. So the handling of the TMax is the same as a real motorbike and it is simply a motorbike with an auto gearbox and more bodywork.
I need to look no further than my good mate Brian for instance. Only when I asked him to meet me in France (Troyes, one of our favourite meeting places) with my brand new 2022 560 Techmax and then return home with my 2019 530 he could not believe how good these bikes are. In a single weekend (and about 1600kms) he went from being a cynic to a fan!!! We had a fantastic weekend and talked about bikes over many beers as usual and his face was a picture, torn between his preconceptions and then his wonderful riding experience. As he says, he covered more miles in a weekend then most of his customers in a year!!!!
The UK is NOT a big TMax market mainly as the weather is so variable so a small car will cost less and keep you dry. Indeed Alf England (the best bike dealer in the world) sells MANY hundred new and used bikes every year but only sell a handful of TMaxes. The biggest TMax markets in the world are Italy, France and Spain where the weather is much kinder and the TMax is truly loved!. The world launch of the bike back in 2000 was in Iwata (where Yamaha is based) and Naples Italy, see this interesting article in Wikipedia.
So my message is PLEASE take a test ride and try to forget that this bike is a scooter, think of it as an automatic motorbike and ENJOY THE RIDE. The bodywork of the TMax means that you are quite well protected from the rain and showers and the bike is simply great fun and very practical, you can pack loads of stuff under the seat and the seat on my latest version is comfy for two as well as heated!!! Here are some of mine….
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