Yamaha Heritage Special
Occasional Musings
Yamaha Heritage Special
During the 1960’s management hierarchy within the British motorcycle industry exclaimed,
"Don’t worry men, the Japs may be good at producing small motorcycles but they will never successfully make a large capacity machine."
These brave Churchillian words echoed across the land, through the hills and down the valleys, on the beaches, in the streets, on the sea and in the air, before finally bouncing off the walls of every related industrial office and workshop.
"Hark!" they cried.
Workers stopped and put down their tea mugs, just for a second or two, whilst cocking their best-undamaged eardrum to these words of wisdom from on high, reverently taking solace surely in the knowledge their Great British Lion was alive and well.
"He will never surrender! He's just been eating straw since the Second World War and has a bit of a dickey tummy, that’s all. Yes, that’s all! Anyway if he dies we’ll go on strike. That’ll show ‘im!"
….and thus British motorcycle history was irrevocably unmade.
From the successful small capacity machines already produced it was clear the Japanese possessed an engineering gene or two. They had their failings but they were learning and learning fast.
How they were so sorely underestimated is beyond me. It’s incredible to believe the British industry could not see it coming. But to be fair the Brits had a certain right to crow for in 1969 the Triumph Bonneville had won the Isle of Man Production TT at an average speed of 99.99mph. An incredible achievement even by today's standards, but 1969 marked the end of the British industries domination in big bike production. The chaps who made those ‘little ring a ding ding rice burners’ had plans, and they were big ones.
Two notable ‘Bonnie beating’ machines were produced; the Honda 750 Four and the Yamaha XS1 650. These machines were the final two nails in the British motorcycle coffin and they were driven hard and deep. Indeed motorcycle manufacturing the world over had to equal or better the spec of the Honda Four, including Yamaha, for the XS1, although technically successful and on a par with the venerable Bonneville, looked dated from the outset! Consequently, Yamaha’s 650 Twin never achieved Superbike status but it did prove to be a reliable super sports model in its own class.
To say Yamaha copied Triumph’s design would be unfair, but they certainly learned from it. Although the Heritage special featured here on our page is heavily based on the Bonneville design, there are many fundamental improvements that, when taken into account, amount to an engine design Yamaha could quite rightly call their own. The fundamental Triumph geometry was in place, however the XS1 had an overhead cam, the wet sump crankcases were horizontally split, carburettors breathed through huge air filters and coupled with an efficient oil pump and filtration ensured engine longevity and reliability.
The Heritage Special is the last incarnation of the XS1 and was basically a special edition designed for American tastes. The most outstanding feature is the double-laced front wheel. It’s so delicately constructed you can almost play a tune on the spokes in harp-like fashion. Other styling cues are the usual peanut tank, two-tier seat, high bars and sixteen-inch rear wheel.
Engine specifications (general information).
Type – parallel twin air-cooled
Capacity – 653cc
Bore – 75mm
Stroke – 74mm
Power Output – 45bhp
Dimensions and Weight (general information)
Overall length – 85.8in (2180mm)
Overall width – 35.4in (907mm)
Overall height – 45.7in (1162mm)
Wheel base – 56.5in (1435mm)
Ground clearance – 5.5in (1040mm)
Net weight – 467lbs (212kg)
