Yamaha BeeWee

Name: Yamaha BeeWee
Brand: Yamaha

Just another “toy” in the garage or the answer to a very real problem? We hit the urban jungle on the YW125 to find out

“That’ll be $6.93, please.”

As I look around at the people queuing to pay for petrol, it’s clear I’m the only one laughing. I’ve done over 120km since the last time I’ve had to break into a tenner and the Yamaha BeeWee (YW125) is growing in usefulness in my inner-city lifestyle.

It was a shaky start to be fair – back in the day when I was a stunt rider, the 50cc two-stroke “BeeWhizz” was the pitbike du jour, as common as a 10mm spanner in the pits. We tuned them, we raced them, we crashed them (often) and then sold them on to live another life. They became the Hi-Lux of the bike world – you just couldn’t kill ‘em.

But this 125cc, four-stroke version’s a bit grown up for my liking. Riding the freeway home from Yamaha’s Sydney HQ, two things become immediately obvious: the BeeWee has just about enough puff to keep with the flow of 80-100km/h traffic, and it’s about as much fun as a bruised testicle. So, what’s changed?

The bike’s lost that 2T zing that saw a thousand wheelies and gained a cleaner, if not leaner, demeanour. Gone is the oil tank under the seat, now the only regular action on the bike is having the throttle on the max from the get-go and $6.00 fills.

But there is more to the bike than that. It just takes time to find it. Needing to be 50km away through peak traffic one day, I decided the BW was the man for the job. As you can imagine when 90kg, 1.89m and 125cc are the ingredients, route planning becomes a priority. Open freeways are not the BW’s natural playground, though it’ll pull 110km/h in the right conditions (no wind, slightly downhill, slipstreaming a Kenworth rig…) and will manage 80km/h everywhere. And that’s all you need to unlock this machine.

Being narrower than a Kardashian’s grip on reality, getting to the front of the traffic is easy as. The real skill comes in the sprint to stay at the head of the queue once the lights change. With the automatic clutch working on the throwing out of rollers at a certain rpm, you need to add a few rpm to the tickover revs to ‘preload’ the clutch to get it starting to bite. If this is done just before the lights change, it’ll minimise any wear to the components and offer instant go to have you far enough in front of the first car to regain the centre of your lane. It’s actually faster than you think off the line and I had no problem keeping ahead and leading the flow.

With no gears and both brakes on the handlebars, there’s not much to do but enjoy the scenery and feel like a kid again. Far from a chore riding this bike, it becomes a lesson in all-you-need biking. And, if it’s your second bike, those weekend rides on the superbike will seem so much more earnt.

With the BeeWee’s small balloon tyres, it picks up on imperfections in the road’s surface, but nowhere near as bad as back in the day. Also, the suspension (twin shocks at the rear) works well within the performance arena of the bike. It even handled two-up (that’s 150kg) without a too noticeable drop in acceleration or handling.

Downsides are few, the biggest being the amount of time you spend “overtaking” (read sitting alongside) other traffic. You have to keep you eyes on other drivers more so than on a bike that can whip past them. This just adds to the adventure!

So there’s a little magic in the Yamaha BeeWee. It’s a simple as it looks, goes pretty much how you’d expect and would never replace the experience you get from riding a “real” bike. But it’s competitively priced at $3399, eats traffic for breakfast, can be parked on pizza box and laughs when the bowser says $1.61 per litre. It’s like biking but just much cheaper…

Visit the Yamaha BeeWee in Bike Showroom

SPECS: YAMAHA BEEWEE (YW125)

ENGINE

Type: Air-cooled, SOHC, four-valve four-stroke

Capacity: 125cc

Bore x stroke: 52.4mm x 57.9mm

Compression ratio: 10.0

Fuel system: Electronic fuel injection

PERFORMANCE

Claimed maximum power: Not given

Claimed maximum torque: Not given

TRANSMISSION

Type: V-Belt automatic

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR

Front suspension: Telescopic fork

Rear suspension: Twin shocks

Front brakes: 189mm disc

Rear brake: 150mm drum

Tyres: Front 120/70-12, rear 130/70-12

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES

Claimed kerb weight: 121kg

Seat height: 780mm

Wheelbase: 1290mm

Fuel capacity: Six litres

OTHER STUFF

Price: $3399

Colours: Midnight Black or Avalanche White

Test bike supplied by: Yamaha Australia, www.yamaha-motor.com.au

Warranty: 12 months, unlimited kilometres

Yamaha BeeWee

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