The Yamaha XJ900R Seca is a bit of a unicorn in the USA, it was only imported by Yamaha for one year in 1983, before its relatively low sales numbers forced the Japanese manufacturer to pull it from the market. There were a few reasons for the dismal sales, Yamaha was competing directly with the…
The humble little Yamaha SR250 is a motorcycle that lives in the shadow of its larger and far more famous brother – the Yamaha SR400/SR500. Which is a bit of a shame really, as it’s a fantastic small-displacement bike with a top speed of 80mph and fuel consumption at 76mpg – making it an ideal…
The Yamaha XS650 is quite a remarkable motorcycle, the parallel twin engine started life as a 500cc unit in the Hosk SOHC twin that first entered production in 1955. It was a relatively advanced engine design for the time, overhead cams weren’t common on motorcycles and unit construction was still a somewhat rare thing to…
In 1981 Yamaha released the XV750 Virago – their first V-twin motorcycle and a big step into the American-style cruiser market which was dominated at the time by Harley-Davidson. From an engineering perspective, the Virago was an interesting bike – it used a pressed steel backbone which utilised the engine as a stressed member, and rather…
Upon its introduction in 1978, the Yamaha XS1100 was the largest-capacity and most powerful production motorcycle in the world. To say it took the motoring press by surprise would be a significant understatement, the leading motorcycle journalists of the day expected a 1000cc bike to compete with the likes of Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Yamaha…
The Yamaha SRV250 was a hat tip to the classic cafe racer long before the modern resurgence of the genre, they essentially took the V-twin out of a 250 Virago and retuned it from 21hp to 27hp and then bolted it into a frame that bears more than a passing resemblance to the iconic Norton Featherbed. The…
Since the beginning of the Yamaha Yard Built program we’ve seen a surprisingly diverse array of motorcycles developed by custom bike builders from all four corners of the globe. The number of different ways the new Yamaha XV950 platform has been interpreted by the different builders has been interesting to see and it gives me…
The new Yamaha XV950 is a motorcycle designed to target the fast growing mid-size cruiser segment, Yamaha released the model in 2013 and it’s quickly found a strong foothold for itself not just in the United States by across Europe and Asia as well. I have to admit that when I first saw the bike…
We’ve seen a new generation of female motorcyclists emerge over the past 10 years or so, whilst there have always been women who ride it seems that there have never been quite as many as there are now. One of the defining characteristics of modern generation of female riders is their refusal to sit on…
This feature was written by Bujar Muharremi, the co-founder of Auto Fabrica. It makes a nice change when custom bike builders write the words to accompany their creation – and it allows the reader a chance to see deeper into the process than would otherwise be possible. The Original type 3 was a bike which…
Christian from ExesoR Motorcycles is one of those quietly talented custom bike builders who spends months at a time hammering a way in a shed, before rolling out a motorcycle so beautiful it stops even seasoned motorcycle critics in their tracks. The previous custom from ExesoR was featured here on Silodrome and it was one…
The Yamaha XJR 1300 is what I like to imagine the Kraken would ride, if it rose from the ocean and decided that its campaign of terror would be a lot more fun if conducted from the saddle of a motorcycle. The XJR series from Yamaha needs no introduction for fans of balls-to-the-wall, hairy-chested motorcycles…
