Yamaha SRX 600

The Yamaha SRX is a motorcycle that was manufactured from 1985 to 1997 by the Yamaha Motor Company. In an attempt to repeat the success of the SR500, Yamaha placed a more modern engine derived from the XT600 into a light, sporty street bike. While still being an air-cooled, overhead-camshaft single-cylinder like its predecessor, the new engine featured a four-valved cylinder head, a two-staged carburetor, a balance shaft, and various improvements. The chassis was a lightweight steel frame with alloy wheels, a double disc brake on the front- and a single disc brake on the rear wheel.

However, unlike its cheaper predecessor, the SRX600 did not compete well on the international market. Nimble handling, light weight, and unique styling did not compete well with the heavier, faster multi-cylinder bikes available for a similar price. Still, Yamaha claims to have sold 19,000 units of the SRX.[1] In the USA, the SRX was officially sold only in 1986; in Germany, sales continued until 1990

The Yamaha SRX generates an ardent passion amongst its fans. Listen to a group of SRX owners and you could be forgiven for thinking that every third bike sold in the 1980s was an SRX: it wasn’t! That Yamaha’s big Single remains a minority interest is proof positive that Yamaha made the same mistake as many other manufacturers: they came unstuck by following the demands of vociferous customers – who then didn’t buy the bike they had been so stridently demanding.

Throughout the 1980s there was a consistent call for a true, classic, big Single – a bike drawn directly from the same gene pool which spawned the BSA Gold Star and the Velocette Venom. The arguments for the sporting Single are strong and persuasive. With a wafer-thin engine, the Single concentrates all its mass immediately down the center line of the bike and provides the most elegant and graceful of riding experiences.

Yamaha had already had one stab at the exercise, with the desperately flaccid and dull SR500 – the sort of bike Trainee Accountants would ride on their way to a seminar on tax allowances for worm breeders in Social Priority Areas. The SR had middle-aged styling, didn’t go, didn’t stop and had soggy handling which reduced it to the role of a Sunday afternoon potterer – or worse still, “sensible motorcycling.” The SRX was intended to be a completely different beast.

When launched in 1985, the bike was completely new in the sense that it bore little, or no, relation to the earlier SRs. For a start, the engine was sourced from the proven XT600E. This was, and is, an excellent motor with foolproof starting, a sweet six-speed gearbox, light clutch and willing power. In the XT/SRX trim it was also lightly stressed since basically the same power unit was used in the TT600 enduro bike and had a good reputation for longevity even when hammered off road. It was, after all, a successful Paris-Dakar race engine.

The chassis was new too and, depending on which side of the fence you stood, it was either inspired by Yamaha’s TZ race bikes or the British designed and built Seeley Suzuki. Either way, it was a neat piece of engineering which enveloped the motor so tightly that the bottom frame rails had to be made detachable.

Other bits of the first bikes were the result of raids on Yamaha’s parts’ bins. The front forks and brakes were lifted straight from the YPVS 2-strokes and the electrics were common to many of Yamaha’s bikes at the time.

Strangely, since Yamaha actually pioneered single shock suspension with their YZ motocross machines, the SRX was a twin-shocker – with a swingarm which owes more than a nod to a Seeley.

If you like big Singles, there is no question that the SRX is stunningly beautiful: not simply attractive but a pure work of art. The petrol tank looks as if someone has poured liquid plastic over the bike as it curves its way sensuously round the frame. Neat touches abound everywhere. Being a dry sump engine, the oil tank is separate and fabricated from alloy. The clip-ons are neat and precise and the instruments cafe racer-ish in a way which is completely authentic. In short, Yamaha got the SRX completely right.

The riding experience is as good as the bike’s looks. There is something utterly addictive about the thump of the huge, 96mm, high-compression piston banging away in the heart of the metal horse. Nothing else can match the Single in the spine-tingling emotion stakes. With the standard silencer replaced by something more fruity, the SRX is a Manx Norton or Matchless G50 with lights. As the single overhead cam, 608cc, four-valve engine sucks in lungs full of air and exhales them with window-rattling enthusiasm, it’s back to real GP road racing in the ‘60s. Where’s my pudding basin helmet and black leathers?

The six-speed gearbox is sweet, the clutch light and the motor bursts into life with one half-hearted prod of the kick-start. The only thing it doesn’t do like a British classic, is leak oil.

The frame too is every bit a classic. Equipped with modern tires, the handling is excellent with all the neutral predictability and stability of my Seeley Suzuki race bike. Put one of the “Continental Circus” stars of the ‘60s on the SRX and it would have won GPs.

The SRX is also a thoroughly practical motorcycle. The four-valve head is equipped with twin carburetors and this gives an effortless, fuss free performance on the road. There is none of the hesitation of a sporting big Single from low revs. Instead, the SRX just gets on with the job all the way from 2000rpm to around 5500rpm, when vibration begins to make itself felt. Peak power, a genuine 33 hp at the back wheel, comes at 5500rpm and maximum torque a thousand revs lower.

Despite the apparent lack of horsepower, on paper at least, a standard SRX will cruise effortlessly at 75 mph and will just about crack the magic “ton” – all while sipping petrol at a miserly 80mpg. This performance, and frugal petrol consumption, makes the SRX a very pleasant, if unusual, classic touring bike.

Unlike classic British bikes, it has excellent lights and the inevitable vibration which comes with any big Single is never intrusive. The only modification to watch for is that the thinner saddle, fitted to all Japanese market imports, needs replacing by the inch thicker, American-spec design so that the riding position is not too cramped. Otherwise, the SRX is a bike which will handle 300-mile trips in a relaxed classic style – and still have the reserves of power, handling and braking required to deal with modern traffic.