You can just tell there’s an engineer in Yamaha’s R&D department that dresses up like Wesley Crusher on the weekends just a little too often. Despite how tragically named this product is, Yamaha’s Power Beam is an interesting solution to a problem that few riders have the delicacies of detecting, yet will likely purchase anyway.
Originally developed for the Yamaha YZR-M1 during the 2003 season, the Yamaha Power Beam will initially be made available to 600 lucky T-Max scooter owners in Europe, which on its face makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
However given the hot-rodding culture in Europe that surrounds the T-Max (and the two-wheelers Jell-O like chassis), the “more horsepower than sense” crowd will likely gobble up this latest go-fast trick part from Yamaha.
Looking down the pipe, there is the likelihood that the Yamaha Power Beam will make its way onto future sport bikes from the tuning fork brand. What the Power Beam does is dampen the rate of flex in the chassis, presumably allowing the steel/aluminum frame of the motorcycle to move to its prescribed tolerances, but in a manner that’s more predictable and favorable to a rider’s needs.
“The new Yamaha Power Beam adds damping capacity at one point on the frame to absorb the energy of these flex-inducing external forces and release it as heat energy,” says Yamaha. “This inhibits the otherwise extremely high-speed flexing of the frame to provide a more comfortable ride and a greater sense of stability.”
Development on the Yamaha Power Beam started back in 2000, with Yamaha offering a similar device for automobiles since 2004. When made more readily available, we imagine this will be a popular modification for street bike riders looking to get the most out of their performance machine, although the cost the Yamaha Power Beam is likely to be the same as a decent local track day, which would probably show greater results.
Source: Visordown
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