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Oddball of the day - Yamaha XJ750D
by Guy 'Guido' Allen
July 2020
This domestic market-only XJ special was part of Yamaha's 1980s look into the future
Back in 1983, in the middle of the great turbo wars between the Japanese big four makers (see our feature here), Yamaha launched a more conventional variant of its XJ650 turbo, called the XJ750D.
When we say conventional, it was running a normally-aspirated 750 engine claiming near 70 horses (52kW) and a very early use of fuel injection. The latter at the time was dubbed, simply enough, Yamaha Fuel Injection System.
Like the turbo, it ran shaft drive and a five-speed transmission, while the styling was borrowed from the glamour model.
This was another variant of Yamaha's peek into the future of motorcycling, with its main claim to fame being a very sophisitcated electronic monitoring system, which communicated via a three-window LCD dash. It was titled Yamaha Cycle Communication System.
Features included fuel economy and average speed – both pretty much unheard of on a motorcycle at the time. Monitors included oil, fuel, brake fluid and battery fluid levels.
This was a Japan-only model and it's thought only 2000 were made, though so far we haven't been able to verify the number.
What brought it to our attention was one coming up for local auction, via AMCA Australia, in August 2020. See the auction details here.
(Someone thought enough of the Yamaha's wild styling to develop a model kit - below.)
SPECS:
1983 Yamaha XJ750D
ENGINE:
TYPE: air-cooled, 2-valves-per-cylinder, inline 4
CAPACITY: 749cc
BORE & STROKE: 65 x 56.4mm
COMPRESSION RATIO: 9.2:1
FUEL SYSTEM: Yamaha EFI
TRANSMISSION:
TYPE: Five-speed, constant-mesh,
FINAL DRIVE: Shaft
CHASSIS & RUNNING GEAR:
FRAME TYPE: Steel twin-loop
FRONT SUSPENSION: telescopic fork
REAR SUSPENSION: dual shocks, air -assisted
FRONT BRAKE: twin discs
REAR BRAKE: drum
DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES:
DRY/WET WEIGHT: 231/254kg
FUEL CAPACITY: 19lt
TYRES:
FRONT: 130/70-18
REAR: 240/40-18
PERFORMANCE:
POWER: 52kW @ 9000rpm
TORQUE: 60Nm @ 7000rpm
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