Yamaha R25

The new Yamaha R25 will be released in Australia ‘soon’ presumably in  late 2014 and marks Yamaha’s first sports bike looking 250cc in a very long time. I honestly can’t remember when the last official import was.  The 125cc sporties where great little motorcycles but lets face it they where relatively expensive compared the latest Honda CBR250R and even the old Kawasaki 250 Ninja. So welcome to the market Yamaha 25R – when it eventually arrives!

Up to now Yamaha have been selling the Virago (XV250) for as long as I can remember – 20 years essentially unchanged as their main learner and entry level motorcycle and did successfully. The Virago simply looks like what a cruiser should which is why its still for sale. In fact all the Yamaha Cruisers look better than the other Japanese manufacturers. They tried to change the name via rebranding all their cruisers to V-Star with limited success. I believe the Virago is overpriced as it uses very old tech but of course it is a well known and proven brand so there’s money in it!

Back to the R25 – with only some vague specifications to go on and the fairing design which all but matches the GP racing YZF-M1 all confirmed this 250cc looks like its got all the requirements of great sellor. However without pricing this i sonly a guess. Of course the competitors have moved to 300cc versions of their bikes now so it will be even more interesting how their marketing will approach selling this motorcycle.

The R25 looks good from what I’ve already seen. It makes the CBR300R look like a ‘family’ bike and the Ninja 300 old.  I like the rear swing-arm which resembles the 250cc sports bikes from the early 1990’s although the frame is steel. It certainly shows off the rear end as Valentino Rossi is clearly having a closer look at in their promo video!