The heyday of board track racing was the 1910s and 1920s, when riders on brakeless Indians and Excelsiors and Harley-Davidson slammed and thundered around rickety, steep-walled speedways in excess of 90 mph, just inches from […]
Tag: Yamaha
“Hardy” Scrambler: Yamaha SR150 by Zoth Moto
The Yamaha SR150 is known in Taiwan as a “white plate” motorcycle, a bike free of the high taxes and twice yearly safety inspections (!!) required on larger motorcycles — restrictions that can make it […]
Project X-Tracker: Yamaha XT500 Street Tracker
A BMX-inspired street tracker…with bicycle rack! The Yamaha XT500 is one of motorcycling history’s great success stories, and one of our favorite bikes of all time. The twin-valve four-stroke enduro won the Paris-Dakar Rally in […]
“TxXs Chainsaw”: Yamaha XS500 Scrambler
A Spooky Scrambler from Milwaukee… Introduced in 1973, the Yamaha TX500 was a four-stroke vertical twin with a number of innovative features, including a contra-rotating balancer and four valves per cylinder — first for a […]
2-Stroke Special: Yamaha IT425 Supermoto from 5Special
Only available in 1980, the Yamaha IT425 put professional performance within reach of regular consumers and enduro enthusiasts. The engine, based on the one from the YZ400 motocrosser, offered 46 bhp at 6500 rpm. That’s […]
Name This! Yamaha TT600S Scrambler
The Yamaha TT600, introduced in 1983, was one of the very first 600cc single-cylinder enduros — a lighter, more aggressive off-road variant of the XT600. Said Yamaha at the time: “Yamaha TT600 – For people […]
Red Ripper: Yamaha XS650 by Paul Hartman
“This thing just wants to have fun…” The Yamaha XS650 is one of our favorite motorcycles, a British-style parallel twin whose engine was highly advanced for the time, featuring unit construction, horizontally split crankcases, and […]
Modernized Vinduro: Yamaha DT360 by Joseph Rumble
“The rider…needs it all to work so he doesn’t become coyote dinner in the middle of the night.” The Yamaha DT series is our favorite line of two-stroke enduro motorcycles ever made, launched in 1968 […]
The Wasp: Yamaha RD350 Scrambler by Danners Automotive
An RD350 dirt bike built for the Malle Mile… The Yamaha RD350, built from 1973 to 1975, is one of our favorite machines from the heyday of the two-stroke street bike — a 39-hp parallel […]
Retro Motard: Yamaha XT600 by M.A.M.
A retro-inspired, short wheelbase, 264-lb motard… The Yamaha XT600 was the successor to one of our favorite enduros of all-time, the legendary XT500. Introduced for the 1983 model year, the XT600E offered a 44-hp four-valve […]
