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Yamaha Majesty 400

[TINTED PRICE BOX OUT]
RRP: £5899

(plus OTR)

[TEXT]
The Majesty 400 looks quite similar to the Burgman, but (in my opinion) the styling is a bit more up to date so it’ll appeal to a broader spectrum of riders. I quite enjoyed riding this one, although as we got closer to the coast and the roads turned into bumpy ‘B’ lanes, its suspension struggled to cope quite as well as the Burgman, GP800 or Satelis. It just didn’t feel quite as well damped. At the time, myself and Stef were putting the scooters through some rigorous testing though on very dodgy roads!
Yamaha have built the Majesty with a die-cast alloy chassis and they’ve tried to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, which does help with slow speed handling; it’s also pretty stable as you get to the top end. Acceleration is brisk on the Majesty, (slightly faster than the Suzuki at any rate) and when it gets going the 33.5bhp 395cc fuel injected engine seems to have plenty of mid-range grunt, which is always useful for overtaking. The bike was almost new with just 633 miles on the clock, so there’s still a chance it could loosen up a bit more and nudge that top speed into three figures.
The Yamaha scores well on practicalities; it has bags of room under the seat (or should that be room for bags under the seat)? It’s also got a lockable glovebox for keeping your mobile and a bit of change for tools at reach and there’s plenty of weather protection from that large front fairing and screen. I found the seating position to be comfortable with enough room to stretch my legs a bit if need be and the riders backrest helped to cushion my back, the pillion seat looked quite plush too.
Like any scooter, the Yamaha Majesty won’t appeal to everybody but if you’re looking for something relatively quick which can quite easily take the place of a city car and do a much more convenient and faster job of getting you to work, as well as being more than capable of touring, then the Majesty is wor