Issue 126 : December 2002 - January 2003
Triumph factory visit
Int'l Motorcycle Show
European Bike Week
Anglesey Show
Bulldog
Bike Theft
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Triumph factory visit
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Bulldog
The Bulldog is the first Yamaha designed and built entirely outside Japan at their plant in Belgarda, Italy. This makes sense when you consider that it is intended purely for the European market and is not available in Japan for their home market. The bike has been designed around the somewhat unexciting Drag Star engine from their cruiser range, which has been housed in an Italian made twin-tube backbone frame with widely spaced tubes for high rigidity. At the back is a swinging-arm housing a shaft drive made by Brembo in Italy. Which really means it's something of a mongrel rather than a pedigree, especially as it fails to fit nicely into any particular class of machine. It can best be described as a cross between a cruiser and a retro, thanks to its laid back riding stance and its naked appearance. However, it does have some attributes that will appeal to a wider cross section of the biking fraternity. In a lot of ways it is following the Ducati Monster, which was copied by Buell and now, it would appear, Yamaha. A large great V-twin motor hung from a minimalist chassis with an upright riding position that you can just get on and ride, has a lot going for it. But, whereas the other two bikes have a sporty nature, this is somewhat flat and far too laid back. Sure it can be made to go and when ridden hard it is a lot of fun, but with a bit of tuning to the motor it could have been so much more. My sources tell me this is not a big job, but in my humble opinion the factory should have unleashed more than 64 bhp in the first place. The motor pulls well from low down but quickly runs out of steam. The rev counter housed in the Spanish made combined Speedo and instrument pod quickly runs out of places to go other than the red area of its arc. Soft best describes the Bulldogs bite or lack of it and it should have had a slightly raucous exhaust to help give it a more appealing bark, rather than the sanitised burble that comes from the twin upswept cans.
It certainly needs something to attract people to it other than an appealing profile, especially when it weighs in with a £6,269 price tag. It has got a lot of attributes and it is quite a fun bike to ride, but you need to encourage people into the low slung saddle to appreciate the reasonable handling and the excellent shaft drive. It almost goes without saying though that a bike frame designed in Italy handles well. The motor is hung low from the frame and therefore the centre of gravity is reassuringly low, giving the machine a well balanced and poised feel at all speeds. This allows it to be heeled well into corners at a speed that catches some sports bike riders out as you dive past them through corners. However, this can lead to problems if you get carried away as the front exhaust down-pipe can touch down, potentially lifting the front wheel! However, used sensibly the bike will cover ground on country roads quickly and without fuss, helped by the bike's pleasantly light, quick steering. You certainly do not notice the 239kgs as you roll from one side of the seventeen-inch tyres to the other.
While much of the bike is functional and works to a high standard, the brakes stand out as exceptional on this package, which is not surprising as they are R1 spec items. Capable of hauling the sports bike down from all sorts of silly speeds they cope easily with the Bulldogs 120mph maximum even with the extra weight. This means that you can either ride the BT1100 with the rev counter continually kissing the red line on real motorcycling roads or just enjoy its lazy thump through traffic. Here the bike comes into its own with its comfortable well-balanced riding position and torquey motor. The excellent lock and light steering helps traffic to be negotiated with ease and there is no need to swap through the five speeds in the gearbox. If you do then there is time to do so and it is faultless. Try the same when in scratching mode and the slow change gear mechanism will let you know that it likes a lot of notice! Having said that, I really enjoyed it as a bike for just jumping on and riding all day over a variety of roads. It is, despite its open riding stance, comfortable up to three figures and you could easily spend a week touring on it with the addition of some soft luggage Petrol consumption is excellent with over 150 miles appearing on the digital trip before the petrol warning light appears. £10 is then sufficient to fill the 20-litre tank to the brim and this level of consumption fails to dip much even when you do try and eke out every drop of performance! Overall the finish is good and the appearance is quite classy. It certainly seemed to attract a lot of favourable attention wherever I parked it. It just seems a shame that its aggressive looks are not matched by some decent bite. Which in a lot of ways sums the Bulldog up, it is a modified cruiser looking for somewhere to chill out and if you do not want too much out of a bike this could be the one for you. Faithful and reliable, but Cruft's champion never! Ian Kerr
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According to the dictionary a Bulldog is a sturdy large headed breed of dog, which is courageous and tenacious. Well if you look at Yamaha's BT1100 with its large bulbous tank sitting atop the V-twin motor you can see why they used this name. This is a stocky, compact looking motorcycle, which is low slung. As for the rest of the definition well that is debatable!
Things can be improved by pre-loading both the front and rear suspension to stop it grounding out so quickly and even when this is done the ride is still reasonably comfortable. Pillions too, reported a comfortable ride no doubt helped by the decent grab rails and well positioned footrests.