Yamaha TDM 850

rd400f
Reviewed: 04 September 2012

A Fantastic allrounder

This is a great everyday bike. Only bettered in my mind by the TDM900. I now live in Canada but back in England I owned a 2005 TDM900 from new. Sadly Yamaha have decided not to import it here. The 850 was only available in Canada for one year, 1992. So it is very rare here and I'm so lucky to have one, I've not seen another. It is a great commuter and wonderful out on the highway, eating up the miles with ease. I'm not technically minded, all I can say is, it's starts first time and is great to ride.

A little dated now, I just wish the 900 was imported to Canada.

I love my bike!

fazerfragle
Reviewed: 11 August 2011

best all rounder I've EVER owned. LoVe It!

* good on fuel economy (around 200miles per tank) 20ltr or so.
* tons of torque
* good mirrors
* very comfortable
* extremely well mannered
* fantastic head lights
* great tyre mileage
* easy to fit R1 or R6 front callipers (for extra stopping)
* tons of road presence
* probably one of the best all rounders EVER! at the right price.
* a total mile muncher for what you pay for it.

* oil window is tricky to get to. Oil filler tricky to get to.
* No Centre Stand!
* Battery is a total bastid to get too!! (under petrol tank) Stupid!
* very little space under the seat for tools and what not.
* clunky gearbox. buts thats usual to yamaha and never a problem.

A great commuter and tourer alike. Cruises at motorway speed with relatively low revs. No need to really even change gears at lower speeds as in fifth it wallops up to speed from very low revs. I personally love the way the engine thumps out the power in a very gentle yet surpisingly powerful manner.

I'm 1m.74cm and have no problem with the extra height compared to my Fazer FZS600's I've had before.

i would recomend taking some oil with you on long journeys and topping up around half a litre for every 1000miles you rack up.

The lack of centre stand can be a pain, so i keep a small metal plate under the seat to get under the sidestand for soft ground.
Also the lack of centre stand for parking in London parking bays is a pain as you need to use up more space as it leans when parked.

Good for the purpose it was built, touring. Especially good on mountain and b roads. Thats where the comfort and great riding position comes into its own. brilliant for galloping up and down hills. Especially up them! Muswell Hill in London is a good example, it'll climb that bugger in 5th at low revs. No problem at all.
Matter of fact next time i change my chain and sprockets I'm going one or even 2 tooth up on the front cog. Great for long distance runs by dropping the revs. That done I'D have to use the gears more in town. But overall fuel economy should drop even further.

I Love this Bike. Wish could afford the 900 with 6 gears instead of 5.
Truly recommend TDM's
D.R

Martin Styring
Reviewed: 03 January 2010

Cracking! But was I just lucky..?

Amazing touring capability, but is almost Jeckyll and Hyde-like with its ability to swap to a sports bike, although not the fastest of such, but certainly agile enough to make many a sportsbike rider take notice.

I bought my red one in Melbourne in Oz with 24k on the clock and sold it just 10 months later with over 60k kms showing having meandered along the Great Ocean Road, blatted over to Perth across the Nullabor, visited Darwin, Alice Springs, Cairns, Briz and Sydney, all hardly mssing a beat.

Engine design is not the simplest making DIY maintenance difficult. Gearbox can be crunchy. Standard twin-exhausts make the poor thing sound like a hairdryer!

A fabulous bike; able to easily cover 1,000 kms in one day (without giving you back-ache); keep up with (and even set a standard for) a lot of sports bikes; happily take on highways, byways and even some dirt roads, fully-loaded, two-up and at a decent pace.

Try a TDM; you might be pleasantly surprised!

11redrex
Reviewed: 10 February 2009

NOT THE BEST BIKE I'VE HAD, BUT PRETTY CLOSE

Extremely comfortable, plenty powerful enough, good luggage capacity.

Pig Ugly. Suspension took a lot of fiddling to get right. Had to rebuild the callipers several times, should have bought blue spots instead.

Loved it, wish I'd kept it,

Rob Sutherland
Reviewed: 06 February 2009

IT'S GOOD... BUT....

It was cheap.
Sounds superb (Nexus cans)
Decent grunt
Its not a Bandit!

Bit too tall and upright - feel a bit like you are falling into corners
Teeny tiny tank (the biggest problem)
Bit thirsty!

This is my first bike, I have had it 6 months and it has been a great set of training wheels. The ride is nice, if a bit agricultural at times... and the engine sounds sweet through some aftermarket exhausts.

The riding position will probably be comfortable to most - I would have liked just a little more reach to be properly comfortable though. And the grip the thing has is tenacious (according to the mechanic that rode it back after fettling it in the rain t'other day).

The biggest weakness though, and the one that really has made me decide it is time to move on, is the teeny tank and thirst... I can only get 80 miles before hitting reserve if riding with gusto, 100 miles at a slightly more relaxed pace... and then not many miles from there to bone dry.

Been a great starter bike, but already 6 months on and I am ready to change it... infact I am in the process of doing so right now. It just never set my heart on fire in the way that a bike should. It is an absolutely competent machine though and I am sure will keep plugging away for years to come... someone is going to get a great commuter for not much money!

My scores - good for everything, as it is really... but only good... not excellent at anything.