The Yamaha XT500 won the first two runnings of the Paris-Dakar Rally as well as the Paris-Abidjan-Nice, it also surprised everyone by winning the 1977 500cc Motocross World Championship (in significantly modified form) against the formerly dominant two-strokes. Today the XT500 is remembered along with motorcycles like the original BMW R80GS as a godfather of…
The Yamaha XSR700 is about as close to a modern descendant of the original Yamaha XS650 as we’re ever likely to see, and much like its original forebear, the XSR 650 makes light work of urban commuting, highway riding, and the occasional cross-country excursion. The Yamaha XSR700 The Yamaha XSR700 shares more than just a brandname with the…
The Yamaha SC500 was a motocross bike that quickly became world famous for its exceptionally challenging handling. Talented riders could barely tame it, but most others were left either flying off the back or popping accidental power-wheelies every time they crashed into the razor thin power band. The Yamaha SC500 When it was launched in 1973…
This article was written by the builder of Turbo Maximus – Derek Kimes. When possible we like to bring you the story of a build in the words of the person who built it to cut out the middle man and give you insight into the methods and thought process. My Background After serving 8…
The Yamaha FZ-09 The Yamaha FZ-09 is an inline three cylinder motorcycle designed to compete squarely against the popular Triumph Street Triple. Although multi-cylinder engines with an odd number of cylinders are less common, the three cylinder configuration makes a lot of sense for motorcycle use as it’s smoother running than a parallel twin, and…
James Parker and RADD Inc. Suspension The Yamaha GTS 1000 was released in 1993 with unusual forkless front suspension designed by James Parker, a Stanford University trained Industrial Designer with an innate engineering ability – which he used to develop oftentimes unusual motorcycles. In 1971 when he ran a Hodaka dealership Parker created a 120…
Meet Galaxy Custom Galaxy Custom is a Bulgarian custom motorcycle garage, interestingly it lives inside a workshop that builds bespoke high-end furniture – this means they have the skills, personnel, and equipment on hand to build just about any bike they can dream of. Their previous builds have included a couple of BMWs – including a…
The Yamaha TR1 was developed to appeal to the motorcyclists who had been left behind by the great UJM arms race – not all riders wanted a high revving inline-4 that’d snap your neck if you grabbed a little too much throttle. Many riders wanted a bike that favored torque over high-RPM horsepower, a more upright riding position, and a simpler engine that they could work on themselves.
The Yamaha TD3 The Yamaha TD3 is a two-stroke road racing motorcycle released by the Japanese marque in 1972. It’s powered by an air-cooled 250cc parallel twin, with a 6-speed gearbox (reducible to 5 if rules demanded it), it has a horizontally split crankcase, a slippery fairing, it produces 49 hp, and the whole thing…
A Short History of the Yamaha HL500 The Yamaha HL500 was an incredibly important motorcycle for the Japanese marque, made all the more remarkable by the fact that it wasn’t actually built or designed by Yamaha. The HL500 started as an an idea in the mind of Swedish motocross legends Torsten Hallman and Sten Lundin in…
Vintage Steele is a Vermont-based custom motorcycle workshop with a small team of dedicated wrenchers who have made a name for themselves over the past few years by building practical, daily-rideable custom motorcycles. The Yamaha XS650 The Yamaha XS650 was first introduced in 1968 and stayed in production in one form or another until 1985…
Snow bikes have been growing in popularity in recent years, and there’s been a surge in the number of companies making kits that can be bolted to many modern and vintage motocross bikes to convert them for snow use. Orion Anthony is a resident of British Columbia and the founder of Northern Lights Optics –…
