Yamaha Motorcycle Specifications

AG 100	1982-
AG 175	1982-
AG 200	1985-
AX 125	1970
BT1100 Mastino Concept	2002
BT1100 Bulldog	2003
BT1100 Bulldog	2004
BT1100 Bulldog	2005
BT1100 Bulldog	2006

CS 200	1971
DT 125	1972
DT 125	1973-74
DT 125	1975-76
DT 125	1977
DT 125	1978
DT 125E	1978-79
DT 120MX	1980
DT 120MX	1981
DT 125MX	1982
DT 125LC	1983
DT 125LC	1984
DT 125LC	1985
DT 125LC Disc	1985
DT 125R	1986-87
DT 125R	1988-89
DT 125R Ténéré	1989-90
DT 125R	1990-91
DT 125R	1992-93
DT 125R	1994-95
DT 125R	1996-97
DT 125RE	1998
DT 125RE	1999
DT 125RE	2000
DT 125RE	2001-02
DT 125RE	2003-04
DT 125RE	2005-07
DT 125RE Everts Replica	2005
DT 125X	2005-07
DT 175	1974-75
DT 175	1976-77
DT 175	1978
DT 175	1979
DT 175	1980
DT 175	1981
DT 200R	1984-85
DT 200R	1986-87
DT 200R	1988-89
DT 200R	1990
DT 200WR	1991-92
DT 200WR	1993-96
DT 230 Lanza	1997-98
DT-1 250	1968-70
DT-2 250	1971-72
DT-3 250	1973
DT 250	1974-75
DT 250	1976
DT 250	1977
DT 250	1978
DT 250	1979-80
DT 250	1981
DT 360A	1973-75
DT 400	1974-75
DT 400	1976-77
DT 400	1978-79
DX 250	1970

It is back in 1877 that Torakusu Yamaha started with the Nippon Gakki Company that later would become Yamaha Corporation: an important manufacturer of fine musical instruments.

As the company grew, they explored several fields of opportunity in the textile industry and others.

During the World War II, the company set up a factory to produce airplane propellers. This plant played an important role in Yamaha's entry to the motorcycle industry as you will see.

After the war, Yamaha Corporation had to find new ways to use the tooling and experience that had been accumulated during their times in the airplane industry, and it was then when Yamaha Motor Corporation was founded.

It's important to mention that even though this new company was just another branch of Yamaha Corporation, it was placed under an independent management. In this case, under the guidance of Ginichi Kawakami; which turned out to be a brilliant move.

Before producing their first motorcycle, Ginichi Kawakami traveled a lot establishing what would be very useful relationships. He also sent out his engineers to Europe and had them learn how to build motorcycles, particularly from DKW; with whom they kept an underground and unofficial long lasting relationship.

One proof of this is that nowadays, the only two manufacturers in the world of mass-produced five side-valve engines are Yamaha an Audi (DKW - Auto Union).

One of the most important legacies from this international relationships were all the skills learnt by Yamaha's engineers on two stroke engines know-how. Other manufacturers as Suzuki would not reach the same level of development in this area till seven years later.

Not to wonder why the first bike from Yamaha Motorcycles the 125 YA-1 was fairly a faithful copy of the 1949 DKW RT 12. The only two important differences were the four speed gearbox instead of the original three speed gearbox, and a gear transmission replacing the primary chain drive.

IMPORTANT MODEL FROM YAMAHA MOTORCYCLES

Yamaha YA-1

Even though the Yamaha YA-1 - baptized "Acatombo" (Red dragonfly) by its fans - had "nothing in special" and was more expensive than its competitors, it almost immediately became a great success.

It was reliable: before putting it into the market, the prototypes were tested along 10,000 miles of rough rides . Even the big boss himself, Ginichi Kawakami, rode the bike without any incident from Hamamatsu to Tokyo.

It was beautiful: with this model Yamaha was the first manufacturer to put special attention to the decoration of the motorcycle. This task was given to GK Design in Tokyo. It's worth mentioning that this firm has designed the "look" of most Yamaha motorcycles to date.

It was fast: the YA-1 obtained excellent overall results in the most important local races of that time: Mount Fuji (third place) and Mount Asama (first place).

In fact it was this aggressive attitude in the sporting world that helped Yamaha Motorcycles gain fast acceptance even though they made a late start in the motorcycle scene in comparison to Honda and Suzuki.