Hi to all the other 850 MKII owners. This is simply an amazing bike! Having ridden and owned just about every type of bike out there from the really old bikes like the Honda 900F's right up to the current R6's and TL1000's and many others. I was not expecting to find anything unique about the TDM. I started riding when I was about 9 years old, some of the bigger bikes back then I couldn't put my feet down and had to be either held or balanced against something to pull away and caught again when I got back. This was a problem because once I was on my way there was no way of stopping until I got back. The first big bike I rode was a BMW R90S when I was about 11 years old. Some codger at the local watering hole laughingly said YES when I asked if I could ride his bike. He was sweating profusely and stone cold sober when I brought the thing back.
The TDM is not a bike I would have usually looked at, I was actually looking for something to tour on, similar to or in line with my FJ1100. I phoned the local Yamaha dealer for advice. I have been dealing with this particular dealer for about 20 years and they know my likes and dislikes well. The advice I was given was that they had two suitable bikes on the floor, one being a FZ1 fazer and the other being the TDM. Both bikes were pre-owned, but the thing that drew me to the TDM was that they said it was suitable for partial off road use. My husband and I do a lot of touring and I often see small dirt roads through the Drakensburg mountains or similar, but am restricted because of the ride I have chosen. The purchase of the TDM though was frustrating. My husband was at that time riding a R6, so all interesting roads were still a "no go"! I had also wanted something that could handle twisties well, but I bought the bike sight unseen on their advice. Went through the following day and thought "What have I done"!!! EH... I am only 5'5" and can barely touch the ground with my toes. It's a very different bike to ride, but I absolutely loved the bottom end grunt. Was dissapointed that the clock only went to around 220kmph. I love acceleration though and when I first got the bike it was a continual battle to change gears before the rev limiter provoked me to do so. I discovered that 1st, 2nd could easily take any superbike on, especially with the element of surprise. Hey, what young dude on a superbike expects a 40 year old "Aunty" on a big trailie to give them a go. Of course by the time I could see their headlights catching me up, I would let got the handle bars and pretend that I was't dicing at all. Took a Ducati 999 in the same manner. There were tears of laughter streaming out my eyes by the time he passed me, I could hardly see where I was going.
I have also had the bike at the drag strip, and she does about 14 seconds on the quarter mile, a lot of fun but definitely not a good bike for dragging. On track and through twisty mountain passes she gives ALL of the superbikes something to think about. The handling is phenomenal. I LOVE THIS BIKE. I do however have a small problem, my husband has recently purchased a TDM 900 and I am trying very hard not to ride it. I know that if I make friends with his bike my old 850 will be traded in. Call me female but I am very sentimental about things that have been faithful to me. This 850 and I have done 40 000 really hard riding km's together and she has never given me one second problem. We are currently planning a longish trip, down into the Cape area. I'm just waiting for our Winter to pass. She will be doing about 3000km's, I know I don't have a problem with this bike. Great bike!!
The TDM is not a bike I would have usually looked at, I was actually looking for something to tour on, similar to or in line with my FJ1100. I phoned the local Yamaha dealer for advice. I have been dealing with this particular dealer for about 20 years and they know my likes and dislikes well. The advice I was given was that they had two suitable bikes on the floor, one being a FZ1 fazer and the other being the TDM. Both bikes were pre-owned, but the thing that drew me to the TDM was that they said it was suitable for partial off road use. My husband and I do a lot of touring and I often see small dirt roads through the Drakensburg mountains or similar, but am restricted because of the ride I have chosen. The purchase of the TDM though was frustrating. My husband was at that time riding a R6, so all interesting roads were still a "no go"! I had also wanted something that could handle twisties well, but I bought the bike sight unseen on their advice. Went through the following day and thought "What have I done"!!! EH... I am only 5'5" and can barely touch the ground with my toes. It's a very different bike to ride, but I absolutely loved the bottom end grunt. Was dissapointed that the clock only went to around 220kmph. I love acceleration though and when I first got the bike it was a continual battle to change gears before the rev limiter provoked me to do so. I discovered that 1st, 2nd could easily take any superbike on, especially with the element of surprise. Hey, what young dude on a superbike expects a 40 year old "Aunty" on a big trailie to give them a go. Of course by the time I could see their headlights catching me up, I would let got the handle bars and pretend that I was't dicing at all. Took a Ducati 999 in the same manner. There were tears of laughter streaming out my eyes by the time he passed me, I could hardly see where I was going.
I have also had the bike at the drag strip, and she does about 14 seconds on the quarter mile, a lot of fun but definitely not a good bike for dragging. On track and through twisty mountain passes she gives ALL of the superbikes something to think about. The handling is phenomenal. I LOVE THIS BIKE. I do however have a small problem, my husband has recently purchased a TDM 900 and I am trying very hard not to ride it. I know that if I make friends with his bike my old 850 will be traded in. Call me female but I am very sentimental about things that have been faithful to me. This 850 and I have done 40 000 really hard riding km's together and she has never given me one second problem. We are currently planning a longish trip, down into the Cape area. I'm just waiting for our Winter to pass. She will be doing about 3000km's, I know I don't have a problem with this bike. Great bike!!
Live Fast - Die Young - Be a good looking corpse.