Manual transmissions are already a rarity among cars, and motorcycles are headed that way too. In addition to Honda’s DCT and E-Clutch systems, both KTM and BMW have recently teased semi-automatic transmissions, and the latest to join is Yamaha.
The new Yamaha Automated Manual Transmission (Y-AMT) is said to have been designed keeping performance in focus and weighs just 2.8 kg. Y-AMT uses two actuators, one for the clutch and the other for the actual shifting of gears. The up-and-down shifts are controlled by buttons mounted on the switchgear. It works in conjunction with ride-by-wire throttle thus enabling the integration of ride modes and cruise control into the system. While KTM and Honda are planning to retain clutch levers and gear-shifters, Yamaha’s system is similar to BMW because they do not intend to keep either of those levers.
There are two buttons, one for upshifting and the other for downshifting, and Yamaha claim that these can be operated by the index finger only, pushing and pulling on the buttons, allowing the rider’s thumb to remain in place. But all this shifting is only in manual mode, and riders can also choose to simply select “D”, where the shifting is taken care of by the ECU entirely. For sportier riding without shifting yourself, there’s a “D+” mode, where comfort and fuel-economy will take a backseat, unlike the “D” mode.
This is not the first time Yamaha have dabbled with automatic gear shifts, as some will remember the Yamaha FJR1300 sport tourer from nearly two decades ago, which features something called YCC-S, which stands for Yamaha Chip Controlled Shift. The YCC-S had an automatically-operated hydraulic clutch and riders could change the gear using a finger-operated gear lever. The main difference between YCC-S and Y-AMT is the actuation of the clutch, which instead of hydraulic is electromechanical in the newer system.
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