I remember coming *this* close to buying a 1980 Yamaha SR500 as a teenager. I ended up buying an XS400 twin instead as a fellow my father worked with had one for sale and made it available for a very good price with hardly any miles on it.. Even though the SR500 was probably even slower a bike than that 400 twin, something about it seemed so "cool" and elemental at the time - In Japan, the bike was actually a 400cc thumper instead of a 500.
It now looks like the 400cc version that was very popular overseas is going to be what is offered here again. It would be a nice light machine - though it still wouldn't be a GB500 - I think that having some mid-size "standard" naked bikes (the way that "standard" and "naked" used to be defined, IMO) would be very good for new riders, and provide nice platforms for personalization-
http://www.yamahamotorsports.com/sport/products/modelhome/691/home.aspx
