Yamaha TMAX 500 Review

Overall Rating

Fast, Comfortable, carries a pillion with ease, reasonably economical at 60mpg (imperial), excellent weather protection.

As with most yamaha's winter weather takes it's toll, callipers with seize if left after a salty winter ride and the exhaust rusts very quickly.

It's the most practical 2 wheeler I've ever owned and despite having several other bikes in the garage this is the one that racks up the mileage year on year, Mine is the original Mk1 so has crossply tyres and carburettors. Later Mk2's have fuel injection and radial tyres.
The tank is quite small at 15 litres, but if your gentle with the throttle 180 miles can be covered without needing a refill.
If you need to park 2 helmets then add a topbox - the Givi rack is very solid and Givi also do a set of guards to prevent throwover panniers from marking the panel paintwork. Also usefull additions include the optional hand deflectors that fit to the bodywork between the screen and panels - these keep your hands dry on the move even in quite heavy rain.
The seat catch can be a pain to release if you have overloaded the underseat bucket and forced it shut.
There is a small pocket in the front panel but there's no catch on it and you can loose the contents when the lid pops open. Also there is a pushout at the rear of this to allow a power socket to be fitted - not mentioned in any of the literature but useful for powering a sat-nav.
Air filters need close attention as there are 3 in total - 2 for the belt drive and one for the motor. Let the belt filters clog and the belt drive will overheat and wear away. Chainging the motors air filter means most of the panels have to come off as it's under the front panel - screen too. You will find a small puddle of water in the airbox that needs draining, but there is a removable plug in the bottom for this purpose.
The radiator position is questionable as it clogs with dirt thrown up fron the front wheel. Once your fan starts running regularly during a ride it's time to clean it up - not easy as again all the panels have to be removed and the fan too if you want to blast a jet if water backwards through the matrix to clear the crap.
There are quite a few different screen options from the sporty shorty to the extended overhead version - all of them will still cause a lot of helmet buffeting at speed and this can be wearing - iteally the screen needs some laminar airflow holes at the bottom section to even out the airflow.
Brake callipers ideally need rebuilding after each winter if the hard chrome piston surface has been blistered - the mounting bolts can also be a real pain to remove as they seize into the alloy. As soon as you buy a TMAX remove the bolts and treat with coppaslip or anti seize paste - you won't regret it.
Speedo sensors are the only real weak point and cost 70 quid to replace, they fail because the grease dries out and the inner seizes - you can actually buy just the inner part so regrease this annually and be exceptionally careful whenever the front wheel is removed - the drive tabs need to be located carefully. tyre shops don't know this!
The motor carries a lot of oil so changes are infrequent and there is a dashboard reminder light - this is not an oil pressure light!, Although it carries 3.6 litres of oil only 2.8 litres can be drained as there is an internal oil tank that cannot be drained.
Similarly there is a dashboard belt change warning light and Yamaha have come up trumps with the change process as the rear pulley has a built in compressor requiring just 2 long M6 bolts. NOTE the primary splines on the crankshaft end MUST be cleaned and relubricated with specific Yamaha grease - most workshops and dealers are too lazy to do this and if it's not done then the splines will fail and a replacement crank is 700 quid plus an engine strip and rebuild so it's usually the end of the bike. I have seen 3 failures in this area and all were over 100,000 miles but it's a real shame to see it happen.
Spares in the UK usually have to be ordered from a Yamaha dealer however thanks to French EBAY there are many aftermarket bits available much cheaper.
Riding the bike is a real joy, comfy fast and solid. The wheelbase is very long so high speed stability is good. You can also roll to a complete stop with your feet up and then put them down - top marks for whoever designed the chassis. The only point to be aware of is stopping with the bars turned as this will cause the bikes weight to shift and can catch you out. The suspension is non-adjustable and the rear shock is gas loaded so handles things very well but you can touch down the mainstand when hard over with a passenger and luggage.
Reading back through these paragraphs it sounds like there are a lot of issues but this is not the case. I have attempted to be brutally honest about my experiances with the TMAX but I have to say overall my experiance has been very positive, it's simply the best maxi-scooter on the market.

Members' Comments onDiesel Dave's Review

• peanuts6blonde on 7th Sep 2008

  Dave thanks for the review I have only had my T-Max a short time and I must say that your review is most helpful in regards to the maintenance.thank you .................peanuts6blonde.

• tigerandyx9 on 10th May 2009

  I found this review helpful because... I am thinking of changing my 2002 Piaggio X9 500 for a new mega scooter