'Click' on the photo thumbnail to see the picture in its full size and to read its complete caption. Enjoy!
Check out the pipe lay-out on this machine, an exotic set-up which looks more like something you'd expect in a Ferrari engine bay.
Slightly stripped-down version of the BMW 650cc on/off-road machine. Note beefed-up frame throughout and monoshock rear end.
Classic, yet new, 650cc BMW 'Dakar' off/on-road enduro, one of the world's toughest yet most comfortable and of course reliable machines.
Example of a 'cleaned-up' version of the Ducati mostly off-road machine. This machine would be at-home as a machine for a delivery service rider in-town throughout Europe.
As unusual as a touring Ducati might be to American bike enthusiasts, so too is this Sort-of 'Dakar' Ducati. Note the very unusual placement of the V-twin engine cylinders, the beefed-up "birdcage" fully-visible frame and the heavy-duty suspensions front and rear.
Unusual to see a straight-up Ducati like this in the USA, used as we are to their super-exotic road racing machines. But they build cruisers, too.
An inline straight six-cylinder from Suzuki --- concept machine. The bike is built around an 1100cc six-cylinder with a "space-saving design". The centerpiece is a trick-looking multi-function display tucked behind an electrically-adjustable windscreen. The electronic wheel-lock and keyless engine start seemlike good ideas. Four LED headlamps are parked up front, with hammered-look aluminum forming the fender, fairing, and fuel tank.
Unnamed bike -- but note the 4-into-4 pipes! Reminds me of the CUSTOM pipes I put on my own 1974 Honda 550...and was way ahead of my time (at least to the folks who used to laugh at me and my "cafe' racer"...
Fuel cell power for a scooter. Yamaha's little test machine for the future runs on the same gas used in cigarette lighters...and the fuel cell turns it into electricity. The process creates a lot of heat; note the coolant housed in a big radiator. Here comes the future, now, in small-time form...but just wait...
Here's a side view of the 'smoothest' motorcycle ever from Japan, enjoy this profile of Yamaha's Maxam 3000.
Sorry for the shaky camera -- it was late and the end of two Media Days! But this looks more like the dashboard on a 1961 Oldsmobile Super 88 than anything on a motorcycle.
Here it is from the rear. This concept is 3,000mm-long (hence its name) and is built on Yamaha's popular Maxam road bike platform. Don't hold your breath for production, but kudos to Yamaha for trying something new!
Talk about Boyd Coddington turning Japanese and getting carried away! This Yamaha concept machine (Maxam 3000) is the single wildest two-wheeler we've ever seen from Japan.
Yamaha joinds trhe Dakar crowd with their own version of a high-powered thumper meant for city/off-road riding. Note road racing-type rear suspension set-up! Expensive, but necessary!
The most brutal machine from Japan, ever. The over- 175-horsepower VMAX from Yamaha. Show respect. At under $15,000 for the 1200cc machine, it's still the baddest boy from J-town.
A not-too-happy-looking crew mans the free food table late in the day in the separate building which holds the motorcycle exhibit at the Tokyo Motor Show (which explains why not many journalists got these pictures --- most of them got pooped-out going through the car exhibits in the main building).
On certain Gold Wing cruising models, Honda makes available worldwide this year (2006) the first motorcycle airbag to keep the rider from flying over the front of the machine in the event of a frontal collission.