Yamaha XS650 NVT Special

Yamaha Motor N.V. in Amsterdam carried out a lot of special projects as far back as the early 1970's. One of these was the commission of asking NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) in Andover, U.K. to research for a better handling XS650.

At that time we got into contact with Mr. Bob Trigg, one of NVT's engineers and one of the men behind the well-known Norton Commando "Isolastic" engine mounting system. All the following pictures are taken at the very "rural" grounds... of NVT in Andover, U.K.

More and more old pictures are found and here you see the first proposed NVT prototype frame for the "Isolastic" type Yamaha/NVT XS650. So the XS650 lovers can start to copy it ! Sorry guys, I do not have the measurements.... !

Yamaha XS650/NVT prototype frame
Yamaha XS650/NVT prototype frame

 

The very first prototype machine was this one. For the Yamaha model, the exhaust downpipes were connected to the silencers with aircraft-type "flex" tubing. In the background you see Bob Trigg (he looks like he is hiding away from his concept!). Behind the bike are Mr. Matsuda, Yamaha's Product Planner and Paul Butler (now IRTA Chief), who at that time, was Product Planning Manager at Yamaha Amsterdam.

Yamaha XS650/NVT prototype bike
Yamaha XS650/NVT prototype bike

 

Here is young Ludy-San, looking quite serious on the bike (I rode it on the Andover circuit and it went like a dream!), together with Matsuda-San and Bob Trigg, who later-on stayed working for Yamaha as a consultant for many, many years. (Maybe you remember the HL500, but that is another story...!)

Yamaha XS650/NVT Special
Yamaha XS650/NVT Special

(you can click for a larger pictures!)

 

P.S. I read on the the very nice Dutch XS1 site that some guys do not believe me and think that this bike was going to be the Ascot bike (there are a few around). This is absolutely not correct! NVT made 2 bikes for us, one is still in Japan and the other is (I do know where it is...). The Amercano's (YMUS) had absolutely nothing to do with this project.

Here is another good picture from the machine were you can see already some more details like the twin short exhausts on one side.

Yamaha XS650/NVT Special
Yamaha XS650/NVT Special

 

I spend all Saturdayafternoon and today sorting old pictures and I found the picture of the "full" bike! Here it is, you can modify your XS650 now........!

Yamaha XS650/NVT Special
Yamaha XS650/NVT Special

 

 
 

Profile Information

Application afterLoad: 0.000 seconds, 0.51 MB
Application afterInitialise: 0.046 seconds, 2.74 MB
Application afterRoute: 0.085 seconds, 4.70 MB
Application afterDispatch: 0.146 seconds, 7.57 MB
Application afterRender: 0.238 seconds, 8.28 MB

Memory Usage

8729660

16 queries logged

  1. DELETE
      FROM bal_session
      WHERE ( time < '1328634801' )
  2. SELECT *
      FROM bal_session
      WHERE session_id = '2dkblfkv5etuu5fvgnm1kkdrl2'
  3. UPDATE `bal_session`
      SET `time`='1328635701',`userid`='0',`usertype`='',`username`='',`gid`='0',`guest`='1',`client_id`='0'
      WHERE session_id='2dkblfkv5etuu5fvgnm1kkdrl2'
  4. SELECT *
      FROM bal_components
      WHERE parent = 0
  5. SELECT folder AS type, element AS name, params
      FROM bal_plugins
      WHERE published >= 1
      AND access <= 0
      ORDER BY ordering
  6. SELECT `id`,`link`
      FROM bal_menu 
      WHERE ((`name` LIKE '%special yamaha bikes%')
      AND (`published` > 0))
  7. SELECT oldurl, newurl
      FROM bal_redirection
      WHERE oldurl = 'special-yamaha-bikes/special-yamaha-bikes/yamaha-xs650-nvt-special.html'
      ORDER BY rank ASC
      LIMIT 1
  8. UPDATE bal_redirection
      SET cpt=(cpt+1)
      WHERE `newurl` = 'index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=73&catid=55&id=131&lang=en&view=article'
      AND `oldurl` = 'special-yamaha-bikes/special-yamaha-bikes/yamaha-xs650-nvt-special.html'
  9. SELECT m.*, c.`option` AS component
      FROM bal_menu AS m
      LEFT JOIN bal_components AS c
      ON m.componentid = c.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      ORDER BY m.sublevel, m.parent, m.ordering
  10. SELECT template
      FROM bal_templates_menu
      WHERE client_id = 0
      AND (menuid = 0 OR menuid = 73)
      ORDER BY menuid DESC
      LIMIT 0, 1
  11. SELECT a.*, u.name AS author, u.usertype, cc.title AS category, s.title AS section, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug, g.name AS groups, s.published AS sec_pub, cc.published AS cat_pub, s.access AS sec_access, cc.access AS cat_access 
      FROM bal_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN bal_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      LEFT JOIN bal_sections AS s
      ON s.id = cc.section
      AND s.scope = "content"
      LEFT JOIN bal_users AS u
      ON u.id = a.created_by
      LEFT JOIN bal_groups AS g
      ON a.access = g.id
      WHERE a.id = 131
      AND (  ( a.created_by = 0 )    OR  ( a.state = 1
      AND ( a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-02-07 17:28:21' )
      AND ( a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-02-07 17:28:21' )   )    OR  ( a.state = -1 )  )
  12. UPDATE bal_content
      SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
      WHERE id='131'
  13. SELECT m.*, c.`option` AS component
      FROM bal_menu AS m
      LEFT JOIN bal_components AS c
      ON m.componentid = c.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      ORDER BY m.sublevel, m.parent, m.ordering
  14. SELECT id, title, module, position, content, showtitle, control, params
      FROM bal_modules AS m
      LEFT JOIN bal_modules_menu AS mm
      ON mm.moduleid = m.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      AND m.access <= 0
      AND m.client_id = 0
      AND ( mm.menuid = 73 OR mm.menuid = 0 )
      ORDER BY position, ordering
  15. SELECT oldurl, dateadd
      FROM bal_redirection
      WHERE newurl = 'index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=81&lang=en&view=archive'
  16. SELECT oldurl, dateadd
      FROM bal_redirection
      WHERE newurl = 'index.php?option=com_search&Itemid=82&lang=en&view=search'

Language Files Loaded

Untranslated Strings Diagnostic

None

Untranslated Strings Designer

None