Racing
Inside Yamaha’s R&D departments there is a climate that encourages spontaneous, independent research. There, efforts are being made to expand engineers’ horizons so that they can facilitate innovation with Yamaha style. This is the story of how one amateur trials-riding engineer got his colleagues involved in his passion, and went on to form a team that took on the challenge to be the best in the [...]
As the cold of winter approaches the seaside town of Hayama in Kanagawa Prefecture, six sailors and their instructor are about the only ones at this marina that is typically empty on weekdays. Fueled by a burning ambition, they are the members of YAMAHA Sailing Team ‘Revs,’ and they compete in internationally-certified 470 Class sailing dinghies. As they slice through the waves with the wind in their sails, [...]
Yamaha’s challenges and pioneering off-road continues, from the bLU cRU program supporting Yamaha riders competing off-road and the popular Yamaha Demo Program in the U.S. bringing more and more people into the off-road motorcycling world, to the PED2 electric motorcycle prototype that represents the next generation of off-road riding.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania”
Ch. VII: An [...]
Envisioned as a Christmas present for American kids, the long-selling PW50 born in 1980 is the smallest product of Yamaha’s Off-road Mania, and it wasn’t just a scaled-down off-road bike.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania”
Ch. VI: It Was a Labor of Love
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/offroadmania/ch6/
At first, nobody believed a 4-stroke YZ would be viable, but today it is a world standard in the off-road category.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania”
Ch. V: A Game-changer: The 4-stroke Motocrosser
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/offroadmania/ch5/
The story behind Yamaha’s pioneering of the Adventure category, beginning with the XT500. The tale starts with Jean-Claude Olivier’s entry into the Paris-Dakar Rally and the release of the XT600 Ténéré.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania”
Ch. IV: From the Desert Sands: Ténéré
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/offroadmania/ch4/
In 1973, Yamaha Motor developed the “Monocross suspension” and took the 250cc Motocross World Championship title. This suspension design would eventually become a standard for motorcycles worldwide.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania”
Ch. III – Evolution of the Monocross Suspension
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/offroadmania/ch3/
Yamaha Motor’s first off-road model, the DT-1 made its debut at a Yamaha dealer meeting in the U.S. in October 1967, and would go on to become a huge hit. Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania” Ch. II – Birth of the DT-1 https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/offroadmania/ch2/
Yamaha has been on a challenging and never-ending quest to pioneer new categories and technologies for off-road motorcycling fun. We revisit some hallmarks of this quest in this 7-chapter series covering the more than 47 years that have passed since the release of the revolutionary DT-1.
Pioneering Bikes for the Dirt “Off-road Mania” Ch. I – The YZ250FX and [...]
MotoGP is the pinnacle of world championship motorcycle road racing. It is where the star riders of the world compete all-out for victory and where the engineers pour all of their intellect into perfecting a single machine. Here we introduce the engineer who analyzes the enormous amounts of machine data and weaves it like silk into the engine’s control systems to allow Valentino Rossi to put his [...]