Draft:Yamaha Passol S50

not to be confused with Yamaha Passol.

The Yamaha Passol S50 is a scooter produced by Yamaha Motor Company. The scooter was Yamaha's first production scooter and was only released to the Japanese market.

The original Passol was launched in March of 1977. To compete with Honda's Road Pal, which had Sophia Loren to promote it, Yamaha brought in actress Kaoru Yachigusa to promote the bike through commercials. Alongside the commercials, Yamaha also held exhibits and moped license schools to allow more people to have the ability to ride the scooter.

The Passol was originally marketed as a commuter bike and was listed at a price of ¥69,800 (~$250 following the exchange rate at the time). The bike was specifically marketed towards the women in Japan and created the "soft bike" market. At the time Japan was beginning to incorporate women into the workforce. Yamaha decided to capitalize on this potential market by offering motorcycles designed for daily mobility.

Features
The frame of the Passol, also known as the 2E9 frame, was designed in a way to allow almost anyone to ride the scooter. Incorporated in the bikes design was engine covers that were designed to avoid the fear of getting one's clothing dirty and also to give it a clean image. Yamaha also designed the "step-through" design in contrast to the "leg-over mounting" design to make the bike more comfortable and easier to get on.

Yamaha used drum brakes for both the front and rear brakes on the Passol. The bike also had bicycle handbrakes to give the comfort of riding a bicycle.

The Passol was given a 49cc Vertical engine. The engine was air-cooled and also included a carburetor. The engine was a single-cylinder, two stroke engine. The engine cylinder had a bore of 40mm and a stroke of 39.7mm. The engine produced 2.3ps (2.27hp) at around 5,500 rpm and 3.6Nm (0.37kgfm) at around 3,500 rpm.

Yamaha gave the Passol a telescopic fork suspension for the front of the bike and a single shock suspension in the rear.