Tsuzumi Bike

Yamaha MT 01, questa moto è stata la progenitrice di una serie di moto che Yamaha sta fortemente spingendo. un progetto che nasce oltre 15 anni fà e che ora si evolvendo in altri modelli.

Uno dei disegner di questa moto è Jun Tamura, che ho avuto la fortuna di conoscere durante le presentazione stampa della XSR700, disegnata sempre da lui.

Un uomo talmente attento alle sue tradizioni e all'arte che durante un momento di pausa l'ho visto creare uno splendido origami di un cigno da un semplice tovagliolo di carta.

Questa è pure non essendo un novità del mercato è una moto dal forte carattere che forse avendo esplorato nuove frontiere troppo in anticipo non ha trovato la favorevole accoglienza del mercato .

Ma è interessante sapere come è statla gnesei di questa moto e da quale concetto sono partiti per arrivare al risultato finale .

In questa intervista Jun Tamura spiega la sua filosofia    

  

Jun Tamura created the MT-01 in a team with others from GK design. He actually likes sport bikes, but: "Unfortunately the roads are stuffed with slow moving cars and trucks. This is quite frustrating when you ride a modern supersport. My today's dream is a sport bike, which gives me pleasure already when leaving the garage and is enjoyable at all sorts of speed." Jun created his dream bike

Together with his colleagues from GK they found, that the big V-Twin from Yamaha's custom XV 1600 Wild Star would be a powerplant with enormous torque and enough power and pulse to realise this new type of sports concept. "I already worked on R1, R7 and XJR 1300. But MT-01 is the synthesis of my dream of how a bike should look like, simple but technology driven. This are the ingredients to make a motorcycle a passion." Indeed MT-01 looks just like a big engine with two wheels stacked on.

Don't loose time

The designers found allies in Yamaha's product planning department. Shinichiro Nishimura shares the same way of thinking: "Many riders, including myself, like to enjoy their sports bike in all kinds of situations. I find it boring if you loose one hour from your garage to the first empty road before you can exploit the potential of your machine. The MT-01 is enjoyable even at lower speeds, since the engine pulse and torque give a great sensation even when only accelerating from one traffic light to the other.And at the same time this big V-twin delivers enough power to go at any convenient speed on empty country lanes. I can imagine MT-01 ideal for alpine roads too. The bike has all the features one needs: high performance brakes, upside down front fork, a link system progressive rear suspension, wide low ratio sports tyres and a relative low centre of gravity combined with up to date sports chassis geometry."

Jun Tamura created MT01 design. His dream is a sports bike, which is enjoyable even in daily traffic on public roads.

High tech and elementary style

Jun explains his views as designer: "There is a general trend not only in automotive design towards simplicity and cleaner lines. But at the same time these simpler shapes are not a step backwards as soon as they are backed up with high technology or clever engineering solutions. That makes the difference to just simple things. MT-01 isn't a simple motorcycle. It is a highly technical machine with lots of unconventional solutions." Like the two upswept mufflers which are the support for the seat rail and the air-cleaner is part of the backbone frame. The rear suspension unit is placed almost horizontally on the right side between cylinder base and crankcase to safe space, which is needed for a short wheelbase. The massive twin is also a structural part of the chassis. So the weight and centre of gravity could be kept low. The geometry of MT-01 is like a sports bike and the machine will be agile and easy to go around corners.

From Yamaha Designcafe