Order your Niken here

Spoke at length to a dealer at the Scottish Show where Yamaha had a Niken on show , apparently only a small number of dealers in the UK will be selling them (same as the electric EC03 moped ) and he doubted that any would stock demonstrator bikes unless they were supplied by Yamaha UK.

His main concern was who if anyone would actually put their money down and buy the bike , Yamaha have been bitten in the arse in the past by introducing 'different' designs of bikes they though people wanted and needed to find that no-one actually bought them ie TR1, GTS, XV550 plus others.

My thought was fine if it is like the 3 wheel Piaggio and legal to ride on a car licence , however, as he pointed out it requires a full bike licence and it may well be a major stumbling block with the fairly conservative bike buying public.

Think it may well up being a development dead end

As you say, those above looking forward to kicking the three tyres on a test ride may well be disappointed.You have to register with the link I posted above and then wait for confirmation from Yamaha which supplies you with an order number which is held on reserve for 14 days. You then print out the form which also has your nominated dealer's details and then take it to them where they process it.Not sure what they do-probably take a deposit or sumfink.

I think it's a very innovative concept but judging by all the usual ignorant comments on Facebook by the typical UK biker,it won't sell in any numbers over here.
I can see some countries in Europe loving it-the Italians spring to mind and probably the French as they'll get the concept and be prepared to run with it.


Anyway,first impressions here
 
Well , if you could ride it on a car licence; park it without a side stand; and it could lap cadwell as fast as an R1; who knows, it may just make it. Like some have said, Yamaha are one of the bravest manufactures out there, and you have to admire their innovation and and engineering skills; but I Can't help but feel it won't end well. Hope I'm proved wrong.
 
I can't help feeling that Yamaha's development budgets would have been better spent getting the MT07 based Tenere onto the market last year along with a revamped Super Tenere .
 
daily_picdump_002421_031.jpg
 

Well it's got the right engine for those kind of stunts, thats for sure ; unlike the GTS another step too far for Yamaha; cutting the exups balls off did it no favours
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20180617-163118.jpg
    Screenshot_20180617-163118.jpg
    124 KB · Views: 482
The GTS is a nice bike with maybe the wrong engine. It's the price that killed it.

My mate ran one for a while; he even dispatched on it, and rated it highly; did'nt Hargreaves do a 130+ lap of the M25 on one, one evening.:D
 
When I tested a GTS at launch, the bloody ABS was cutting in all the time; along with slow steering & a strangled engine it certainly made the decision easy. Steve Linsdell sorted one for the IoM; did a brilliant job too, but that beast was more like a full on prototype. Yamaha had given up before they could incorporate Steve's ideas into a proper sports tourer.

Anyway the Niken - doesn't show much confidence, this fangled marketing strategy. They tried it with the Super10 - didn't happen. Again with the Gen2 VMax, after that launch on a US warship - limited success, mainly gen1 buyers went with it. Now the Niken, a bike that one would need to test before commitment IMHO, priced a bit OTT too. Good luck with that one Yamaha; it might just be made to work if coupled to a roadshow - looks a bit 'brave' otherwise.
 
I rode a Niken on Saturday at the MCN event at Ingliston. I absolutely loved it! A real hooligan bike if you really take advantage of the immense front grip. The most impressive thing was that you cannot tell it's got 3 wheels - rides just like a two-wheeler. Goes well, stops well, sounds good. The Yamaha escort riders took around 15 of us out as a group, but they chose excellent roads and the pace was good. The bikes were on German plates and we were told we were the first group to ride them in the UK.

At £13,500 I wouldn't buy one because I think it is too much a single-purpose machine, but if it had a bigger screen and a decent set of luggage I would be tempted.

If you go to the website it mentions 2 other UK events where it can be ridden this year. I was on it for about 45 minutes and enjoyed every one of them.
 

Attachments

  • Niken1.jpg
    Niken1.jpg
    48.4 KB · Views: 366
I rode a Niken on Saturday at the MCN event at Ingliston. I absolutely loved it! A real hooligan bike if you really take advantage of the immense front grip. The most impressive thing was that you cannot tell it's got 3 wheels - rides just like a two-wheeler. Goes well, stops well, sounds good. The Yamaha escort riders took around 15 of us out as a group, but they chose excellent roads and the pace was good. The bikes were on German plates and we were told we were the first group to ride them in the UK.

At £13,500 I wouldn't buy one because I think it is too much a single-purpose machine, but if it had a bigger screen and a decent set of luggage I would be tempted.

If you go to the website it mentions 2 other UK events where it can be ridden this year. I was on it for about 45 minutes and enjoyed every one of them.

Just booked a go on one at Matlock this weekend......I think
 
Just booked a go on one at Matlock this weekend......I think

Nice one. The Edinburgh event wasn't pre-bookable, as far as I know, but there were loads of time slots available when I booked at the event at 11.30. If I were you I would go straight to the tent as soon as you arrive to make sure you will get a ride.
 
Theres a few of us booked on at Matlock on Sunday- should be good but aparently theyre only good for 45 degrees of lean!!

But the outside wheel doesn’t break contact until 52 degrees ;-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Niken

Totally agree with Glynn, mate and I went out on them on Sunday great engine and chassis but I thought the front end was a bit harsh over rutted parts of Tarmac.
Test route was good but to many riders in the group and the instructors where having more fun than us.
I did hang back at times and wound it on and it was really secure in all corners I even managed to slide the rear wheel on some gravel out of one corner with no drama at all.
Great bike but wouldn't spend £13.5 k on it
 


Back
Top Bottom