Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

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LC Cnd
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Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#1 Post by LC Cnd » Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:25 pm

Be interesting platform. New Tesla Roadster go up for sale @ $200,000 0-60 in 1.9 sec top speed 250mph 620 mile range. Can't imagine what an RD with an electric motor be like - would probably miss the visceral aspect of the internal combustion 2 stroke - don't know. Also wonder if my shoulder sockets could stand the g-force for such a bike. It would go like stink at a fraction of the cost of a Tesla.

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#2 Post by hondaror » Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:39 pm

No.
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#3 Post by LC Cnd » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:34 am

Maybe yes. Smart helmet interesting.
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#4 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:37 am

I follow cars alot, always have. It's so funny...frankley for all practical purposes on the street NOTHING touches a Tesla, they are so friggin fast in acceleration it's hysterical. I've watched them easily dust off AMGs, Corvettes, Ferrari's, Porsche s, and leaving a car show watched one utterly leave a $120,000 Super performance 500 h.p. Shelby Cobra Replica, by the time the Cobra could even manage traction...the Tesla was 12 car lengths down the road...The only car I can see coming close is a Porsche Turbo GT2. Sure many hyper cars from Roll ons might match it, but stoplight to stoplight a Tesla has few equals, and the price although way out of my league is as good a performance bargain as a Vette.

I'm starting to see many.. many electric bicycles and have viewed several dozen electric motorcycles. The Zero I've viewed alot of. There coming, and there gonna be alot of fun. I'd love one, if they could design it to look like the Suzuki NUDA concept bike of the 80s, that bike was and still is just F-ing awesome. IMO one if the best bike designs of the last century, it was that awesome.
If you've watched road racing @ the TT and other venues...there here and ready..right now. Too cool.
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#5 Post by MK » Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:14 am

I'll never understand what's the sense of comparing one +100k vehicle against another +100k one. Especially if one of the companies did write an average 500 million $ loss per year in the last decade.

Nevertheless:
I own two alternative engined vehicles for different reasons.

1) A VW Golf TGI which is basically a normal 1.4 l 115 Hp engine just with a compressed natural gas system.
Main motivation was the current cost to operate it: Around 4.50 Euro/100 km.
It has virtually no particle emissions, low nitrogen oxides, does not need SCR catalyst or EGR valves that fail all the time and if you manage to create Methane from let's say wind energy, it's completely CO2 neutral (even better than BEV's coz you don't need to build a large battery).
Range wise it's a 5 min break every 3-400 km which is much much faster than any fast charger currently available. With 50 kW you need about 1h to charge 300 km "fuel".

2) Since April this year I have a fully electrical car (VW eUp) as a company car.
Meanwhile it's got a mileage over 6000 km ....
It was intended for my wife to be used on short distance daily trips.
It's got 4 seats, 4 doors, cruise control, remote controlled (by app) air condition/heating, automatic transmission, rear camera for parking, ...
Currently you'd pay a bit over 20k Euro if you have an old diesel that you can retire in exchange.
What I like most about it is the instant acceleration. You put down the throtte and the engine follows without hesitation. And you win every sprint between two traffic lights.
Second thing is virtually no vibrations and noise. As it's a small car you hear wind and tires when you exceed 80 km/h, but it's really much more comfortable than a usual combustion engine.
The range is something between 80 and 150 km, depending on how cold it is and where you're going to.
Charging the battery takes about 8h on a normal wall plug. As I own a house & garage and the car is not used overnight, that's absolutely no issue.
Charging in public is a major PITA. Almost all charging poles require special customer cards and do not accept major credit cards - Imagine your filling stations would do the same?

Here in Germany they currently discuss ceasing combustion engines which gave electric vehicles a giant boost. Initially the eUp should have stayed til April, but I was asked to return it ASAP and order a new one as the demand for BEV vehicles was so high. Wanted to order the next bigger size eGolf, but that one has half a year delivery time ! (So I just ordered another CNG Golf and will put out the order for a BEV the same day I fetch it ...)

In the bike region I was welding the frames for a guy who is into electric off road racing.
Off road is a perfect application for electric bikes. You don't ride for long (maybe 15 min) and don't need much performance (some 10-20 kW is enough) and as it's completely quiet, nobody complains about the noise anymore!
Meanwhile he's offering tours on rental ebikes to promote that sports.
http://www.electricridepark.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Ok, now for the initial issue. Buying a BEV motorbike or not.
From the engine character I'm in immediately. I'd love that in any of my bikes.
But when I check what I'd need to use it on the road, then I'd need more battery capacity (aka range). The Zeros have around 150 km which is not enough.
I do touring up to some 450 km a day. And I do use a speed range of up to 180-200 kph (which most bikes on the market don't cover)
And BTW: If you closely look at a Zero, everything is very thin and I doubt that this lasts for let's say 50.000 km.
Ok, then let's look at my racebike: I do some 4-5 × 20-30min heats on kart tracks and compete against 50-70 hp supermotos. Unfortunately there's no light eBike in the 40-50 kW range that has enough battery to be operated for 30min on WOT.
As charging is not feasible in any paddock of the world, you'd need 3 or 4 battery packs which would at least triple the cost of the bike!

And then a roadbike is only available as new.
Compared to my 20+ year old used bikes that are in the 1500-3000 Eur range a new bike does not offer the same fun for buck factor.

That leaves me with either building my own design or waiting some 5-10 years until a few more of my requirements are fulfilled.
Bye
Martin

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#6 Post by T.RexRacing » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:36 am

Too bad Mission Motors couldn't make enough (any) money to stick around long enough to reap the benefits. Showed much promise.

The Tesla needs a few items tended to to for maximum acceleration. The batteries take 40 minutes or so for pre-heating and it must be set into maximum performance mode which absolutely kills any range they engineered into the car. So if anyone has a Tesla I'll put my little 2 liter WRX up against it. We'll start at my house and drive the 80 miles to the nearest drag strip. No topping off the fuel. The Tesla is a great car however the battery tech needs more time if they can find a way to store more power.
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#7 Post by LC Cnd » Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:49 pm

I'm thinking if say... call it a 'RD-E' could supplement battery storage space with a trickle charge of harvested energy from a solar cell painted bike. Greater range could be effected if tech is available at a production level. I suspect the R n' D on this issue probably causes the production costs to rocket. Besides most MC riders like to ride on sunny climate wherever you are on the globe - more energy, more riding. Keeping the batteries cool is also an issue.

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#8 Post by gpaddict » Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:29 pm

An RZ electric? Am I the only one who rides an RZ because of the wonderful sounds and smells emitted from the back end of the bike? Who the hell would want to replace that wonderful engine with a battery!
tuned to Paris Hilton specs............rich and retarded!

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#9 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:06 am

I love the sound a but I could certainly do without the smoke & oil splatter, never liked it , never will. But the sound of a set of great sounding chambers, Especially ones fitted w Toomey silencers ...or the hands down best 2 stroke sound ever a Kawasaki triple w pipes..Oh that's just :smt049 :smt049 :smt049 no 2 stroke, No 500, No GP bike , No TZ 750 ..nothing sounds like a race tuned triple. :smt049 :smt049 :smt049
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#10 Post by evan_calgary » Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:18 pm

Highly doubt they would resurrect this old line of bikes. Just throw it in their current line up with the FZ07/09.

Tesla is a stupid stupid company. Even with massive subsidies they lose insane piles of money. Who makes warranty work dependent upon a NDA?

The super fast hypercar they built was simply a marketing stunt. likely to draw attention away from their failures at just about every step of the model 3 line. Musk is a great hype guy.

Personally there is more than just the ultimate speed such as the engine sound and character.

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#11 Post by MK » Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:11 pm

evan_calgary wrote: Tesla is a stupid stupid company. Even with massive subsidies they lose insane piles of money.
Around 5 billion $ in the last 10 years.
If I'd believe in conspirstion theory, I'd ask where that money is coming from.
In my eyes it's just an expensive toy for hipsters who want to show off to their filthy rich neighbourhood.
Price- and featurewise an iPhone on wheels. You don't need it, meanwhile there's equal or better for less, but image and advertising twist your mind to selling your granny to get one.

The company I work for closes down every site that loses money or they change the product line until you're over break even.
Bye
Martin

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#12 Post by LC Cnd » Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:56 pm

With respect to Yamaha tipping its hat again to the RD brand, the 2017 Yamaha XSR 300 is Yamaha's attempt to harken to the legend - 'sorta'. I guess the tipping point, regarding an e-RD/RZ would be when fossil fuel engine is no longer cost effective sales-wise and shut down the website/company. I sence we at least are a decade away - if that, regarding that eventuallity. By then drivers will be automated off the road ways; a loss of freedom actually. Brave new (clean?) world... hmm, perhaps. In the mean time - ying, ying.

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#13 Post by MK » Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:19 pm

The day my motorbike will drive automatically will be the day I'll quit riding.

(I look forward to having it in a car though.
My recent order will be delivered in mid December and it'll have a trailer assist to backup with trailer and a traffic jam automated driving up to 60 km/h)
Bye
Martin

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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#14 Post by T.RexRacing » Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:34 pm

The money that keeps Tesla going is US tax dollars. There are a few smart people in the government. They know that the private sector is far better at developing technology. If the car sold for what it would take to make a profit they'd only sell a few units a year. Then development stagnates. They have done a lot to further battery and software technology which is what's needed to move on from fossil fuels. It will take time but it must be done or our economies will simply fall apart as oil reserves dissipate over the next century. Getting as many cars out there being used daily is the only way for the eventual bugs to surface. Hybrids are not going to do the job we need full EV cars on the road gathering miles and data.
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Re: Will Yamaha make an electric RD/RZ

#15 Post by Questo vecchio rz » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:52 pm

MK wrote: it's just an expensive toy for hipsters who want to show off to their filthy rich neighbourhood.
Price- and featurewise an iPhone on wheels. You don't need it, meanwhile there's equal or better for less, .
To each their own I suppose...?
Tesla really has NO equal, there in a class of all their own, there is simply unequivocally nothing that remotley compares.

Especially when you compare the whole package....
Luxury,Styling,Perfornance,Maintenance, Range etc.. Consider a Tesla S, The drop dead sexy good looks ,maybye only a Aston or Jaguar compare, then performance..realistically no other comes close, then efficiency..compared to a Prius the Tesla has is beat by 100% or more. Simply a awesome car.

There expensive cars yes, But not only for the wealthy. I see at least 75-100 a day when I'm in Los Angeles, I know a few people whom have them and their combined salaries are less than $130,000 a year, which is barley what it takes to make a basic decent living in So. Cal.

Credit is due where credit is due, Mr. Musk has something up his sleeve, and it's not just cars, IMO he is the modern day equivilant to let's say a Howard Hughes. He's pioneering the electric car market and many facets of development, He's going into space, and also a huge impact on solar energy. His impact and influence are beyond anything I can Imagine. He was just granted preliminary approval to develop & build tunnel under Los Angeles! How does that logistically happen in Calif in 2017? It's mind boggling.

I'm not sold that he's the messiah all the modern day "media" plays him up to be, I do have my reservations,. But hes quite the visionary, and as stated above his influence is beyond question at this point in time.

I read a quote, from the head of VW a few weeks ago, he said something in response to Musks electric car endevors to the effect that VW is not concerned, nor worried regarding Tesla's presence, That VW is poised to simply take over the world market w electric car s, and Tesla would be but a blip on the radar as far as they were concerned.

But VW, and their affiliates have alot of damage control due to the emissions scandal and Their cars, while great under warranty, become disposable not long afterwards due to complex, utterly ridiculous engineering, particularly AUDI, case & point...
I have a 2004 Scion XB(mini wagon) I paid
$13,800 out the door for, I also have a 05 AUDI A4 B6 3.0 Quattro that cost $44.000 dollars new. Today the Scion is of EQUAL value...lol. what a joke! And the maint and reliability not even on the same planet, the Toyota(Scion) is by far superior. It has 250,000 punishing hard driven miles on it, and NO mechanical problems ever save one 50.00 buck water pump and a clutch, and leaking A/C line ($300.00).
The Audi..ONLY GAS 120,000 Miles and OMG just got quoted $4300.00 for Catalytic converters, and $5200.00 for timing belt,water pump and Thermostat..The entire front end and subframe need to be removed..when I say the entire front end..it's literally everything..what a nightmare of fucked up enginerring. So consider if all you need is a W.Pump, or a Thermo..it don't matter...its 5to get in there. Can't even do it at home as there are specific(Audi) tools required to lock in all the cams etc..Just to keep the AUDI on the road ,so the interference motor does not destroy itself..if driven the same amount of distance the Scion has logged ,..the UDI would require $24.000 dollars in Timing belts at I think 70k mile intervals...lol
Where a Tesla has no equal in it's field, the Japanese have no equal for bulletproof cars that don't break the bank. I'm sold on Hondas Toyotas & the WRX, is a fantastic example. There you have a fun fast car either the base WRX or the STI either is fairly fast for a reasonably priced Jap car, take into account most are beat into the ground harder than a old 5.0 Mustang, yet they hold strong and don't die, and when the do go Boom, which many...many do due to poor tuning..they can be rebuilt at a practical figure, great lil cars.

I'm literally tying to trade a $44,000 beautiful, great handling semi Luxury car..for a 10-15 year old used Banshee ATC. So far no one want to trade a Banshee for the car...lol :smt005 :smt005 :smt005

Forgive the car ramblings...lol I had some time to kill and I love talking cars & bikes :smt021
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96 GSXR SRAD, Future Yoshimura rep.
85 custom Tri-Z
RZ/YZR bike(project)
86 VFR750 RC24 Merkel replica (project)
Royal Enfield Bullet 500

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