Remembering Yamaha x Öhlins’ Hydraulic 2WD Enduro… Every so often, a motorcycle appears that seems to point toward an entirely different future. The Yamaha WR450F 2-Trac was one of those machines. At first glance, it […]
Tag: Dakar Legends
Dakar Legends: Gilera RC600 & RC750 Rallye
Italy’s Big Thumper in the Twin-Cylinder Era… By the late 1980s, the Paris-Dakar Rally was no longer a romantic expedition but an escalating arms race among the major manufacturers. Twin-cylinder prototypes were growing larger and […]
Desert Bomber: BMW R80G/S Paris-Dakar Rally Bike
The Boxer That Changed the Desert Forever… In 1981, the Paris-Dakar Rally was still raw — more expedition than sport, more survival than spectacle. Riders crossed the Sahara on machines that were barely adapted from […]
Desert Boxer: BMW R900RR Dakar Rally Bike
Dakar Legends: Last Roar of the Desert Bombers… In the late 1990s and early 2000s, BMW found itself at a turning point in rally-raid racing. The boxer twin had already written one of the most […]
The Honda EXP-2: The Two-Stroke Desert Racer
Honda’s 400cc “Experimental 2-Stroke” Baja 1000 / Dakar Rally Bike… In the mid-1990s, as emissions regulations tightened worldwide and the future of two-stroke off-road bikes looked increasingly uncertain, Honda did something nobody expected: it built […]
Dakar Legends: BMW F650RR Rally Bike
BMW F650RR: Grandfather of the Modern Rally Bikes… In the late 1990s, BMW quietly executed one of the most important strategic pivots in rally history. They developed and unleashed the BMW F650RR — a lean, […]
The Four-Cylinder Dakar Bike: Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré
The Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26): Yamaha’s Radical Dakar Experiment… Before Super Ténéré, before big twins ruled the desert, before Dakar logic fully settled in, there was the sportbike-powered FZ750T. The 1986 Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26) […]
Lucky Explorer: Cagiva Elefant Paris-Dakar Rally Bike
The Italian Powerhouse That Conquered Dakar… The Cagiva Elefant occupies a unique place in Paris-Dakar history. Where other manufacturers leaned on clinical efficiency or engineering conservatism, Cagiva brought Italian audacity to the table: massive V-twin […]
Dakar Legends: Yamaha YZE750T Super Ténéré
The Bike That Built a Dakar Dynasty… The Yamaha YZE750T Super Ténéré is one of the most important motorcycles in rally-raid history. Purpose-built from the ground up for the Paris-Dakar Rally, it was the machine […]
Desert Freight Train: Yamaha XTZ850R Paris-Dakar Rally Bike
The big twin that ruled the desert at the height of the Paris-Dakar era… In the early and mid-1990s, Yamaha dominated the Paris-Dakar Rally, the toughest off-road endurance race on the planet. At the heart […]
