Go and visit Obiboi right NOW and check out his last 5 or 6 sketches. I’d be wildly encouraged if just one of his ideas were to bear fruit.
Warning: (rant alert) And by the way, Hey Yamaha! If by some fluke you ever see this post. One of my favorite bikes on earth (that I currently own) is my trusty 2001 DR650 Suzuki ( and it’s 15 year old technology!!). As a kid I used to annoy the Yamaha dealer by always oogling the early XT/TT500′s. So if you won’t do the decent thing and build a modern bike like Obiboi’s version how about at least bringing over the 660 Tenere? Not every American want’s to go trail riding on a 1200cc 650 lb BMW GS/Yamaha Super Tenere/KTM990. There are a LOT of us waiting patiently for an updated version of the big DR or KLR and you have it in your lineup but you won’t share it… and to put it bluntly, you suck for it. Hell even the small BMW GS series is dated. You’ve completely surrendered the market to KTM which would be fine if I had a 40 inch inseam. The 650 market is ripe for reasonably priced updated competition. What the F### are you waiting for. I’ll buy one already and I know I’m not alone. (rant off. back to our regularly scheduled posts..)
I second all your thoughts. The world has put americans in the ‘only buy big’ category. Truth alert: not all americans are fat, wasteful pigs, some of us like the small bikes and cars.
The dealers say they let the market do the talking, but that’s an impossibility until we have all the options to choose from.
And you are damn right!!!
ps:verification word is:yamiclow!