Technology
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 [...]
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 [...]
At a recently completed boatbuilding factory in a port city in northwestern Mauritania, production has started on a long-awaited new type of fishing boat that carries the hopes of people here for the development of a prosperous fishing industry. Instructing the factory’s employees in the construction methods and expertise needed to build these new boats is a veteran engineer from Japan with the spirit [...]