A JAPANESE-LANGUAGE press release tumbled into the inbox at Visordown towers this morning to trumpet the minute news that Yamaha has revealed the 2014 colour options for its Japanese-market Serow and Tricker 250cc singles.
Not something that’s likely to be of much interest to the average UK-based reader, who cant get their hands on such a bike because neither is sold over here. But looking at them had us wondering whether Yamaha isn’t missing a trick – the market for small bikes has changed massively over the last few years, and these days every manufacturer and their dog is jumping into the 250cc-ish market. Even Yamaha, which will reveal its 250cc R25 sportsbike in production form later this year.
OK, so the Serow and the Tricker – which are so closely related that we might as well refer to them together, since only styling details and wheel size distinguishes the two – aren’t cutting-edge bikes. And they have had a chance here before; the Tricker in particular was launched back in 2005 as a bike-for-the-kids, with BMX-ish styling overtones and endless optional extras. Yamaha called it ‘a whole new kind of urban fun’ – and with a weight of just 118kg it really wasn’t as bad as its 19bhp power output might have suggested.
These days things are different and the Tricker and Serow, despite their age, still look interesting.
What do you think? Would these bikes make you stop and look? Or even consider buying one?
