The 1981 Yamaha 1100 Midnight Specialmotorcyclefeatured " pleasure craft " styling but had inline - four power and shaft - drive , a powertrain configuration that made it faster and smoother than most police car of the day .
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Yamaha was one of the first Nipponese manufacturers to embrace " cruiser " styling in the late 1970s , beginning with the vertical - twin 650 Special and culminating in its quintuplet - Twin Falls virago .
The success of those model quickly spawn copycat ( and to be fair , the Virago itself seek to mimic offerings fromHarley - Davidson ) . But some of Yamaha ’s imitator grew out of Yamaha ’s own merchandise line .
One such example was the 1981 Yamaha 1100 Midnight Special motorcycle , one of several model adorned with a unique black - and - Au colouration system .
Based on the company ’s big XS1100 sport - tourer introduced in the late 1970s , the 1981 Yamaha 1100 Midnight Special motorcycle differed from most of its like in throw a traditional Japanese inline four - cylinder locomotive rather than the trendy V - Twin Falls .
It also featured rotating shaft drive , besides post over from the XS .
While an extended fork , tear storage tank , and step saddle made it clear this was a cruiser , the double - overhead - Cam River four - cylinder engine gave it knock-down performance unmatched by modern-day V - twin .
Parts that would normally be chrome were covered in " black chrome , " such as the fumes pipe and handlebar , or " gold chrome , " as were the air - cleaner concealment and rear snap rail .
But while the patrol car vogue remain , Yamaha ’s various Midnight Specials had a fairly curt streamlet . And in the case of the 1100 , it was also a small running .
With just 250 built for 1980 and another 250 in 1981 , they are rare commodities today .
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1981 Yamaha 1100 Midnight Special Pictures
The 1981 Yamaha 1100 Midnight Special bike had irregular police cruiser power , but such typical cruiser features as an extensive fork , tear tank , and stepped bicycle seat .
