Yamaha 125 Resonator concept

October 2015

Tokyo Motor Show |  Air-cooled single | 125cc
 

Did Yamaha ever make a resonator guitar? We don't know. Never seen one, anyway (and that's an Ibanez below, which cunningly sounds Spanish, but was founded in 1957 in Nagoya, Japan).

Dobro and National are the firms mostly closely associated with resonators. These curious instruments were introduced way back in the 1920s and were designed to make a louder orchestral racket than a standard acoustic (but were later enjoyed simply for their distinct clanging-rattling sound).

But Yamaha, which began manufacturing musical instruments in 1887 (hence the company's tuning fork logo device), has certainly made a lot of motorcycles that resonated well with the biking public, and continue to make the right noises. Cue the FX1E series, the XS series, the SR series, the FJ series and the V-Max, etc.

The firm's latest creation, which is still just a concept bike, is the above single-cylinder, four-stroke Yamaha 125 Resonator. It's just been introduced at the 44th Tokyo Motor Show and, as you can see, is aimed squarely at the retro market.

So okay, at first glance this bike ain't a whole lot different from some of the great bikes that Yamaha has put into production over the years, and there are clear echoes of the aforementioned SR range of machines. Except that there's a lot of detailing that make this possible newcomer distinct from its forebears, including one or two design motifs loosely echoing guitar embellishments such as the wood-effect panels on the petrol tank and tailpiece, and the engraving on the silencer and elsewhere.

Beyond that, there isn't a lot more to say. Either Yamaha will put this machine into production or it won't. But we certainly like the look of this one (and we look forward to Triumph producing a suitable response).

Meanwhile, we're not impressed with Yamaha's latest "Revs your heart" slogan. We think they might try something more appropriate such as Yamaha "Twangs your thang." What do you think of that?

LARGER VIEW OF THE RESONATOR

— Big End