Yamaha Motorcycles

About Yamaha

Yamaha Motor Company Limited is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation.

Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized vehicles on July 1, 1955. The company's intensive research into metal alloys for use in acoustic pianos had given Yamaha wide knowledge of the making of lightweight, yet sturdy and reliable metal constructions. This knowledge was easily applied to the making of metal frames and motor parts for motorcycles. Yamaha Motor produces motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, marine engines including outboards, automobile engines, personal watercraft and snowmobiles.

The Yamaha corporate logo is composed of three tuning forks placed on top of each other in a triangular pattern. These were piano maker instruments.

Yamaha's first motorcycle was the 1 YA-1, which had a 125 cc, single-cylinder two-stroke engine. It was launched in February 1955 and the bike won its first race, the Mount Fuji Ascent Race, in July 1955. Yamaha continued producing two-stroke engines until it launched the XS-1 in 1969, with a 650 cc two-cylinder four-stroke engine, using expertise that it gained doing engine development work for Toyota. In 1998 Yamaha marketed a revolutionary 1000cc four cylinder road bike called the YZF 'R1', this model introduced a new style of gearbox design which shortened the overall length of the motor/gearbox case, thereby allowing a more compact unit. This, in turn allowed the motor to be placed in the frame far enough forward to compliment good handling in a short wheel-based frame, a revolutionary step forward in motorcycle design In 1979, the XT500 won the first Paris-Dakar Rally.

In 1995, Yamaha announced the creation of Star Motorcycles, a new brand name for its cruiser series of motorcycles in the American market. In other markets, Star motorcycles are sold under the Yamaha brand.

Today, Yamaha produces scooters from 50 to 500 cc, and a range of motorcycles from 50 to 1,900 cc, including cruiser, sport touring, sport, dual-sport, and off-road.

In motorcycle racing Yamaha has won 36 world championships, including 3 in MotoGP and 9 in the preceding 500 cc two-stroke class, and 1 in World Superbike. Yamaha riders include Giacomo Agostini, Bob Hannah, Heikki Mikkola, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Jeremy McGrath, Stefan Merriman, Phil Read, Chad Reed, Ben Spies, James Stewart and currently Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

The Yamaha YZ450F won the AMA Supercross Championship two years in a row, in 2008 with Chad Reed, and 2009 James Stewart. Yamaha was the first to build a production monoshock motocross bike (1975 for 250 and 400, 1976 for 125) and one of the first to have a water-cooled motocross production bike (1977 in works bikes, 1981 in off-the-shelf bikes).

Since 1962, Yamaha made production road racing Grand Prix motorcycles that any licensed road racer could purchase. In 1970, non-factory privateer teams dominated the 250 cc World Championship with Great Britain's Rodney Gould winning the title on a Yamaha TD2.

Yamaha also sponsors several professional ATV riders in several areas of racing, such as cross country racing and motocross. Yamaha has had success in cross country with their YFZ450, ridden by Bill Ballance, winning 9 straight titles since 2000. Yamaha's other major rider, Traci Cecco, has ridden the YFZ450 to 7 titles, with the first in 2000. In ATV motocross, Yamaha has had success with Dustin Nelson and Pat Brown, both who race the YFZ450. Pat Brown's best season was a 3rd place title in 2007, while Nelson has had two 1st place titles in the Yamaha/ITP Quadcross, one in 2006 and the other in 2008.

Yamaha produced Formula One engines from 1989 to 1997, initially for the Zakspeed team, in 1991 for the Brabham BT60Y, in 1992 for the Jordan 192, from 1993 to 1996 for Tyrrell, and in 1997 for the Arrows A18. These never won a race, but drivers including Damon Hill, Ukyo Katayama, Mark Blundell and Andrea de Cesaris scored some acceptable results with them.

Moto blog

A crazy traveler on a Yamaha R1 will go to the North Pole

Lucassen is a man who can be surely called a maniac. He has been traveling for a long time. In 1995, he went on a three-year round-the-world route on a Honda Fireblade and covered over 160 thousand kilometers, and in 2001 he started on a Yamaha YZF-R1 and traveled about 250 thousand kilometers in five years.

Time to get a 'naked': Yamaha has introduced the new MT-125

Recently, the company showed a fresh MT-03, and now is the turn of his younger brother. Stylistically, the MT-125 shares a common style with other street hooligans from Yamaha according to the marketing concept of The Dark Side of Japan. Well, the technical filling is identical to that of the YZF-R125 sportbike.

Yamaha will give a third wheel to its scooter

The Japanese did not have enough unusual Niken bikes so they patented the design of a new 3-wheeler scooter. The device will probably be called the Tricity 300 and will presumably be powered by a 292cc engine from the 28hp XMax 300 maxi-scooter. We're looking forward to the debut of the production version at the end of the year at EICMA.

Yamaha FJR1300 will serve the law

Truth be told, it will not be domestic motorcycle battalions that will receive it, but overseas cops. It is, perhaps, for the best. Yankees in police uniforms are tired of riding on cruisers - a patrol version of the Yamaha FJR1300 tourer, which is sold in the New World market, was specially developed for them.

Yamaha To Release Naked MT-09 SP

In 2018, the Japanese brand will introduce an advanced version of the MT-09 bike. An interesting novelty will be out this year. Yamaha's top naked MT-10, formidable and comfortable, has an SP version with adjustable Öhlins electronic suspension, TFT gauges and special coloring.

The new Yamaha Tenere is preparing to debut

The next-generation 689cc touring enduro is almost ready. The bike, magnificent in its conciseness and Dakar functionality, is a kind of preview of the future SUV that will replace the XT660Z Tenere. The rival of the BMW F800 GS/F 800 GS Adventure and the promising KTM 790 Adventure borrowed the 689cc inline-two from the Yamaha MT-07 and XSR700 (on these bikes it develops 74.8 hp and 68 Nm).

Yamaha XSR900 wins again

Yamaha's roadster now has one more achievement on the long list - this time the bike was awarded with the prestigious Red Dot Award for design. It is the fifth in a row for this model and the fifth for the company. Not bad huh!

Yamaha WR450F 2016

In addition to introducing a new two-stroke model, Yamaha has updated its flagship 4T enduro, the WR450F. The motorcycle used the YZ450F motocross engine layout with the cylinder turned back and the intake and exhaust turned 180 degrees. The engine is housed in a new aluminum frame based on the aforementioned YZ450F.

Yamaha WR250 2T 2016

The triple tuning fork brand has made a great gift to all 2-stroke enduro enthusiasts with the introduction of the WR250 2T to the European market, based on the recently launched YZ250X in the US. According to the creators, the new motorcycle has an explosive, cross-country character. This was achieved thanks to the development of a new YPVS power valve, a new cylinder and block head.

Yamaha recalls motorcycles in the US

The Japanese company initiated a recall of motorcycles in the United States manufactured between September, 1 and November, 17, 2014. The problem was hidden in the gearbox speed lock.