Despite being largely overlooked in the British Isles, Yamaha has sold 300,000 examples of the TMAX scooter in mainland Europe since being introduced back in 2001.
The idea of a 500cc, 100mph, maxi-scooter seemed bizarre two decades ago, but even though we’ve struggled to get our head around the concept, such was the popularity – especially in France and Italy – that most of the major manufacturers have a big twist and go scoot in their line-up today.
Back in 2001, Britain was obsessed with sports bikes. With a launch price that would have bought a race replica, or even a nice car, it’s hardly surprising that British sales never set the world alight.
Which is a shame, as the TMAX truly is an iconic machine that does what it set out to do, even if it was a bit on the pricey side. That it remains a stalwart of Yamaha’s range after 20 years says it all and, while Brits have yet to truly embrace the TMAX and its ilk, we’ve at least come to better appreciate its qualities in recent years and they’re not the rarity they once were on our roads.
Why? Because the TMAX has almost all the practicalities of a traditional twist-and-go scooter, but with enough performance to hold its own on the motorway – not to mention surprisingly decent capabilities on twisting roads.
Although commonly credited with creating the genre, the XP500 TMAX was predated by other big scoots – including Honda’s 650cc SilverWing – but none made the impact of the Yamaha, which was dynamically ahead of the competition.
Those first generation TMAXs (although it was usually written as Tmax or T-Max back in the day) were built between 2001 and 2003 and featured a 499cc parallel twin engine producing around 40bhp. To cope with the extra power over a small capacity scoot, the TMAX used a lot of chassis engineering from traditional motorcycles – especially the conventional front forks and an engine layout that separated the motor from the swingarm, rather than integrating them as was more typical with scooters.
Yamaha figured that the TMAX would appeal to a broad range of customers – from younger riders brought up on scooters and now wanting something faster and more luxurious, to commuters looking to practical alternative to their traditional motorcycles (the TMAX packs a whole load of storage under the seat) and older riders who perhaps held a licence but hadn’t ridden for a few years.
For us over here, it was only really that third group that bought into the maxi scooter concept, as the high price tag put off many commuters who could see the benefits but couldn’t justify the cost.
On the continent the TMAX became a phenomenon. A second-generation version came along in 2004 to meet the latest emissions regulations. It featured fuel-injection rather than carburettors and had a few detail changes. A third-gen came in 2008 and featured revised styling among the changes, before a bigger-bore, 530cc, version came along four years later.
These days we are on the seventh generation of TMAX and it’s bigger and posher than ever. Prices start at £11,999 but the base ‘Tech MAX’ model is hugely specified, with a spec sheet that includes an electrically adjustable windscreen, heated grips, heated seat, cruise control and a smart key system. The engine is now a Euro5 compliant 560cc twin, with an A2 licence complying 47bhp, motorcycle style electronic riding aids and a top speed north of 110mph.
For 2021, to celebrate two decades of this iconic scooter, Yamaha has added a ‘TMAX 20th Anniversary’ model. Just 560 examples of the special edition will be made, each clad in forged carbon fibre bodywork.
By using a forging technique to produce the body panels, every 20th Anniversary model will have its own slightly different texture, or fingerprint due to the variances in production. The special edition TMAX has subtle yellow detailing in homage to the brightly coloured first generation models and carries a price tag of £14,699.
