Yamaha Motorcycles - History (From 1955) 

Certified Yamaha Fanboi here. Started with my 1975 YZ-80, several motorcycles thereafter, a trumpet, home theater equipment and Lexus cars with Yamaha parts. Without doubt, Yamaha is one of the best design, engineering and manufacturing conglomerates the world has ever seen and they take care of their customers. One of my favorites was what came in the mail shortly after I got my 2004 R1- they sent a book on the R1 and an ornament of their tuning fork logo.

Not one word about the VMax, Venture, Virago and so many others. What kind of Yamaha history is that? You boys completely dropped the ball!

Hands down the best motorcycle/piano company in the world.

I’m a Kawasaki man from my first KX125 at 13 to my Z1000 now but the fiat bike I ever rode was a 1978 IT175 and the first street bike I ever bought was a Yamaha Virago 650 at age 16. I’ve always respected Yamaha as they always seemed to push the boundaries of new technology more than any other bike maker. 5 valve heads, cross plane cranks, etc. back when I had my ZX6R a buddy let me ride his new at the time 2005 R1. To say it was eye opening would be a huge understatement. I think my bike made 105 RWHP, to go from that to 160 or so was amazing. It redefined fast for me

YAMAHA INSTRUMENTS ARE VERY GOOD QUALITY FOR THEIR PRICE ... LOVE THE YAMAHA REVSTAR GUITARS ... BEAUTIFUL AND MANLY.

I started with a Yamaha 50 in 1961, I had rode several different motorcycles over the years. In 2014 I bought a Yamaha Majesty 400 for my senior years. I am 76 now in 2022 and continue to enjoy my maxi scooter. Thank you for the history.

Was raised from 6 years old riding a Yamaha! Was hoping to see material about all the dirt bikes 👍

The RD, TZ, both missing but both iconic Yamaha machines. The Documentary was mostly about racetracks and the R1 and R6, which were late 90’s bikes, practically a whole decade was missed out!

I am a life long Yamaha patron, "3-fold". YZ 2 strokes ('78 YZ125, '83 YZ490) , Vintage home audio gear (CR-820, CR-1040 receivers) and Musical instruments and gear (Too many to list). In all 3 categories I have never been disappointed with any of my Yamaha products. Not a single one. Respect given.

My first street bike was an RD350 then I stepped up to the RD400. After one summer I sold the RD400 an went back to the RD350 as I preferred its power curve. A set of spec II expansion chambers and the carbs rejetted made it a very quick bike that I wheelie at will. I regret never getting my hands on an RZ350 which was an improved RD350. The crackdown on emissions took the RZ350 of the street. Yamaha was now sitting on a pile of RZ350 motors that could not be on the street. These motors were used in the Banshee 4 wheeler. A beast of a 4 wheeler.

I have 6 Yamaha's. 1982 XJ750, 1985 xj750 Maxim X, 2010 R6, 6600 Generator and Tyros 2. Hard to beat Japanese tuning forks !

My Yamaha Pacifica guitar is just as awesome as my 2014 Yamaha Raider!!! What an incredible place Yamaha is!!! Thank You Yamaha for your outstanding excellence in all that you do, helping me be the best version of myself while enjoying the best instruments and motorcycles on the planet!!!

Love my yamahas got my first bike at around 10 yrs old yz 80 and have never owned or wanted to own any other brand my dream is to build custom yamahas now that I'm retired great video

1978, Bought my first 1976 DT250..then bought the DT400...had them both at the same time, played around with different "Sprockets", Roamed around Ft Carson hills and Colorado Mountains. Great times...lots of Fun. Great when they talked about the model.

In 75 or so, rode my 71 RD 350, from Asheville, to D.C. , Delaware, and back to Asheville, with my girlfriend in the back. We were sore, but, it made it.

Loved ALL my Yamaha products from 1978-2005.My, DT's, YZ's, XT's,FZR's,YZF's. 20 in all.

I’ve been riding for 40 years. And in that time I’ve owned four Yamahas. All of them have been reliable and beautiful bikes to ride.

Not only their motorcycles but their WaveRunners are amazing! Go team Yamaha!!

Love Yamaha so much I've got the logo tattooed. And yes I've tried almost every brand.

My RZ 350 in Kenny Roberts yellow and black was my favorite bike and my 81 650 special was my most dependable hood memories on those bikes !

I now understand why my Super Tenere has the aerodynamics of a grand piano. Thanks!

Back in the 70's, I had an MX-360 dirt bike. That bike was magnificent, completely thrilling and exhilarating! I'm glad I had the chance to feel that excitement when I was young, my thanks to the folks at Yamaha for making two-wheeled fun!

Skipped right over the RD series which made Yamaha - 350 cc Yamaha's competing head to head with 750s and winning ... that's Performance

I have owned Yamaha bikes spanning from a 75 rd350B to my beloved 04 fz1, 19 bikes total. I'm absolutely convinced that Yamaha buids the best machines in the world today. Trple Forks Forever!!

My 72 XS2 was a thing of beauty! Red and White 650cc 360 degree twin. The mirrors were useless and your eyeballs would shake for two days after an afternoon ride 😂 I miss it so bad!

I still have my 1978 Yamaha XS 650 standard green with 5,000 miles & 1983 Yamaha 650 Seca Turbo silver with 4,000 miles both Great bikes 👍😊

It's midnight. I'm in my shed. Listing to this while polishing my Yamaha rs200 1982 twin two stroke 😂

I bought a 1978 XS1100 and it had everyone trying to catch up to it in power, speed, and torque. I outran everything, including the police, on that bad boy. You could ride it all day and go kick some ass at the dragstrip that night. It wasn't great on country roads but the shaft drive made it easy to put the power to the road. How a video on it?

The sport bikes are fine, but Yamaha also makes a line of fine street bikes, the XV, or "V Star" series. They handle beautifully, not too quick, not too slow, very predictable. They are comfortable, powerful for their displacement, and very reliable transportation. I have owned a 2009 XV-250 for 8 years. I bought it used from a Yamaha dealer in 2010 with 1200 miles on it. I now have 16,000 miles on it. It is my main means of transportation. I change the oil and filter more often than required, and keep up with the maintenance. I have replaced the tires twice and the drive chain twice. It is completely reliable and has never failed me. It may only be a 250, but it is plenty powerful enough to haul me at 60 MPH on the highway. I wish this video spent some more time showing this other side of the Yamaha motorcycle line. Not everybody is a racer, and this other side appeals to a whole different set of riders.

I love my yamaha r6 its the first yamaha bike I ever owned and the bike I spent the most money on with modifications and trick bits too

more of a history of the r1 . as a motorcycle mechanic for over 40years now and learnt my trade on yamaha's would have loved to see more old yams in it the real history

I bought my 650 XS1 (2nd or 3rd in CT) in Nov 70 rode it home in the snow. In June 71 shipped it to England. Me an a buddy rode Europe 11K miles, 12 countries, 4 months, him on a Triumph 650. Had some good & bad times. Still have the bike today. Pretty good scooter but a little squirrelly at 118 +/- mph on Autobahn.... 77 y/o.

Yamaha RD 350 was a first superbike to be introduced in India , now it is absolutely rare bike to own

This documentary should be six hours long.........they missed so many of the best Yamaha bikes made.........RD's come to mind.........and the bike and engine Kenny Roberts rode to glory ............the engine the AMA banned because it had too much horsepower , and was kicking the other manufacturers into the ditch...........so much that was never mentioned..

My first bike was a '72 Yamaha 650, I think in 1986. Red and white. Awesome bike. Wish I had it now. It often got mistaken for a Triumph, and got thumbs ups from Harley riders.

The RD series defined a generation of teenage riders during the 70s & 80s. I had a 250 RD DX air cooled. The first alloy wheeled RD. It made a big impression on me so how did it not get mentioned. Its like talking about suzuki and not mentioning kettles. Or Norton and ignoring the commando. I.M.O.

Disappointed that there was no mention of the RDs(350 and 400) arguably the best bikes Yamaha ever made. I owned two and loved them both.

Just bought my first Yamaha (2018 MT 07) and am very impressed with the quality and performance. Now I want to learn more about Yamaha. Thank you for posting this.

How interesting that Kawasaki build ships and plane components and Yamaha does pianos,synthesizers and drum kits. For sure R1 made to be one of most unique motorcycles.My mate had Yamaha rd350 and it loved it.

I also witnessed Yamaha employees restoring trails up in the Big Bear area. Yamaha does more to support competition and recreation than most realize. I like other brands, too, but I've always respected every Yamaha racing and road machine I have ever owned. Standing back and looking at it, Yamaha is quite an incredible company that deserves more credit where credit is due.

My era with Yamaha came inbetween the YD1 and the DT1, Wonderful little two strokes. My friend has the two cylinder 100. Once we discovered that the exhaust ports tended to carbon up and cleaned them from time to time it was a jewel. Then they were the first with 4 transfer port designs. And the first with reed valves. Bikes were really more exciting. I can remember a sports 50. It was one of those bikes that you could race on real roads without hitting ridiculous speeds. Yet which required proper riding to bring out the best.

I read comments about how the RD series was missed. Up there with impact the same as the R1. The Red Dragon Fly is certainly a great looking bike So I'm not watching if you missed the RD. Even though I'm impressed with their design history but to miss the RD is unforgivable. The greatest 70s Japanese bike.

The V-max is a piece of motorcycle art as well as being ridiculously fast.

I restored a 1954 Kolher and Campbell top short blow piano, completely except for the outer wood. New glue the same hide glue as new and used in set neck guitars. The nitro cellulose laquer checked ibut beautiful!

Yamaha > Great company, always quality.

They jumped right over my MAXIM 650 shaft drive. Phooey. I'd like to see a modern version of their first cycle, the YA-1, with the very same lines, because it was a beautiful little cycle. They only showed us a bit of their beginning, then on to their rocket bikes. They left a whole lot out, including my beloved MAXIM 650.

Thank you Mr Yamaha,the world sounds much better because of you.

I rode on the Willow Springs race track as a young boy back in the 60's. Nice to see a video showing that track.

They should call this the history of the r1, the vmax is certainly iconic.

Just FYI. At 1:46 the piano technician is voicing the stiff felt in the hammers to adjust the felt density so it produces a more pleasant tone or voice. This is done with the pictured tool that has 4 stiff needles about thee quarter inch long. By poking the felt it loosens the fibers creating a softer hammer. Cool!! Requires lots of patience and a good ear.

The 5 minutes of history was interesting. How about a video talking about Yamaha innovations? Such as the mono shock, the 5 valve head, mass centralization, stacked gearboxes, dual headlights, the RD and RZ bikes and so on ??

Yamahas are among some of the best bikes ever built

Never realized it was possible to have a company that makes pianos and motorcycles, but I'm down with it.

Thank you people of japan 🇯🇵🙏🏻❗️❗️ passion and love for the motorcycle and culture 🇺🇸❗️❗️

Skipped all of the 1960's racing and the great motorcycles. Love my 1969 305 scrambler!

I’ve owned and ridden every Motorcycle available in America that I could get my grimy hands on in my almost 61 years and Yamaha has been THE most reliable of them all. From BMW to Ducati to Harley, Suzuki, Honda, Hodaka, CZ, Husky, you name it and Yamaha has for me, been as reliable as an anvil. Riding a ‘21 T7 now and expect it will outlive me by who knows how long.

My two favorite bikes Harley Davidson and Yamaha.I own a yamaha and its superb.i love it more than anything.

I rode mid 80s yz80, 03 r6 and 06 r1. They didn't impress me with their sound. Suzuki imo makes the best sounding Japanese motorcycles. Yamaha however did touch my heart. I'm 40 now and had my luck of thrills with motorcycles. Now I enjoy ripping my 22 wrx around town.

I was 13 years old my first build was a 78 yz 80..first year for the monoshock..I had it bored .50 over wiseco piston .boyseen reeds..re jetted the carb .fmf pro pipe and silencer ..This thing was a monster!! And of course I had to get two jetskis ..A waveraider 700 and a waveblaster 2 760..These things are very fast and tough .

Interesting video. I wouldn't call it the full history of Yamaha motorcycling. A little history, a lot of marketing, some history of racers and racing. Heavy emphasis on supersport bikes and road track racing.

RD RZ TZ FZR MT01 VMAX XJ these bikes should have their name on the list, not just R1 R1 R1 R6 oh

Cant believe they didn't mention Valentino Rossi, man who brought Yamaha back from dead after 11 years of losing, in his hands miserable M1 started to be serious weapon, and he won 4 moto gp titles on it.

Hands down best part, Wayne Reiny story and THE 500s!! The SUITS always retire the BADDEST OF THE BAD and the BEST OF THE BEST! Perfect example the 500s and Group B Rally. Just realized that was the beginning of today's SNOWFLAKE PC MILLEFTINNALS that are SLOWLY DESTROYING AMERICA as we speak. We looked up these guys. They wore the crowns of ULTIMATE BADASS! Like you have the biggest balls racing 4cyl, 2-STROKE,500! AND AT CHAMPIONSHIP LEVEL! Do you know how just, PISSED OFF those freaking machines are?! Then Wayne just kills it for 3 championships on one. Just crazy!

I started ride as a kid on dt80 and have own a few Yamaha's ,but this is more like a commercial than a documentary.to me there biggest advancement was the first Mono shock dirt bikes.

They had the fastest motorcycle on the planet when they brought out the 1100 four cylinder Midnight Special. I had the 650 Midnight Special. I got to drive my friends 1100, what a beast.

My first motorcycle was a 1980 Yammy RX 125....... Years later I was lucky enough to buy another the exact same colour etc and Ive restored it amazingly i could still buy a lot of OEM stuff Off my local Yamaha dealer

Old Dt bikes was so fun even born in 1971 the dt400 360cc was old for me but plain good simple fun reliable....

My first bike was a 1965 yamaha maybe 90cc,very reliable, later I had a kenny Robert's RZ-350 AND NOW at almost 70 I still ride my modified 1998 Beautiful R-1 THRU deals gap,tail of the dragon just for fun with my buddies trying to keep up.........

Good lesson on the Yamahaulers. Yammies have been pretty good scoots I have owned 3. The off road bikes looked awesome, that is until the 2000's, now they are butt ugly with the YZF's. They need to go back to the old school look and simplify them. The YZ's are ok, but getting insectoid also..

As soon as they started talking about LAGUNA SECA and how difficult it is as a track, my Gran Turismo playing days as a kid kicked in... and found myself nodding my head in agreement about how crazy of a turn ''the corkscrew'' is... Then laughed to/at myself n thought, ''dude you ain't even never been to Cali let alone the hollowed ground of LAGUNA SECA'' lol Am I alone, or is there any other grand turismo players in here lol

Also have a 2003 Yamaha 1700 Road Star Warrior grey with 10,000 miles Great looking bike 😊

Good video, you respect your Yamaha that much more after watching the supreme engineering efforts it took to make your machine and the detail to perfecting the balance of beauty and performance in every machine! Well done Yamaha, I love my 2016 FJR ES 1300, simply a greatest machine ever made!

Years ago I one time got to ride against a pro-level road racer. The ride took place at what was then Riverside Raceway in Riverside, CA. The facility has been gone for decades now. in the early 80's an instructional school called Riverside home. Many aspiring canyon racers who longed to become real racers often went there to gain extra skills. I was among them. I was pretty fair rider at the time. I'd been riding motorcycles since I had turned 8 years old. I started in turn and stayed there until I came to learn bouncing off dirt was getting harder and harder as the years passed. I eventually gave up on any form of aggressive dirt riding and made the transition to blacktop. I found that crashing came a lot less often, although conceded crashes on the street were also consequential. I was willing to accept the trade off. When I enrolled in the school I had be competing in what amounted to amateur box-stock racing where very few modifications were allowed otherwise stock motorcycles. I had been riding in the 1 liter class for several years and thought I was at least pretty good. So when I found out the course provided bike was Kaw GPZ550 I thought "piece o' cake. I can ride one those as fast as it can go.' Wrong. On the first day students was allowed to hit the track and do a few hot laps - no heads up racing allowed. Other than that? Go for it. Leading the students around that day was some guy, I forget his name, who was some level of a factory rider for Kawasaki. After we started I quickly fell in behind him. I kept remained just off his rear wheel through laps 1 and 2. I thought this guy is good, but he ain't that good. Wrong, again. Beginning the third lap I believe he had grown tired of my presence. In three turns he simply disappeared. I was stunned. The lines he took, his braking points, his precision of movement, throttle, his everything was unimaginable in my mere mortal mind. I had ridden Riverside many times and thought I knew the track. Chasing him as he quickly vanished did get me the quickest lap time I would ever get at Riverside, but I also knew I was not professional rider. A very humbling moment. In retrospect I believe this was more a positive than anything else. I still ride today and I have the skills to go pretty damn fast for an old duffer. However, that day of humbling also solidified in my belief system a lot of wisdom. I know where my limits are and I don't exceed them. Sure, I still get the urge to push it, but I've got the wisdom to know when just a little bit more is about to become too fucking much. One of my life's goals is to have lived most of my life or at least in number of years, riding and surviving a potentially lethal love affair with motorcycles, speed, and the rushes of adrenaline or the flooding of dopamine I derive from riding. Keeping the rubber side down is rule number one with me. Others may be faster, quicker, or balliier. That's fine. I've been doing this for more than 60 years now. That has got to add up to something noteworthy. One might even say in my case I ride to live. This does not mean I wan to die on a bike or because of a bike. I'm pretty sure that would take a lot of the fun out of the relationship. Might hurt, too.

Kawasaki, suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, I've ridden all of them, they make dependable bikes, if you take care of them they'll last for life basically, I'm a Kawasaki guy mostly because the only brand new vehicle I ever bought was in 1986 the ninja 1000, for that year it was the best bike, I had a blast and it was solid, I miss that bike more than my exes.

The Yamaha 1980 yz 465 xt 500 tt 600 xt 550 all great bikes that the days😮

Since my birth I have been a Yamaha boy ever since I was born

Hooray Yamaha! My XS-11 was the premier sidecar hauler, and the SRX-6 the dream handling single. A Super Teneré is next.

The XS 650 was the best! I still turn my head hearing one

You are honestly the Best person I have ever seen , like wow..... since day 1! I loved all the videos you share

Honda and Yamaha my favorite bikes.

back in the old days i was lucky enough to own a DT an RZ a Vmax and later a R1 /R6 and a Roadstar ....classics

What? They didn't even mention the Virago? That was a huge ground breaking bike

One thing this isn't, is a history of Yamaha Motorcycles. It's a history of Yamaha successes in the US. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don't see the progression from the road going 250/350 to the 750 triple, up to the modern MT 07/09 and FJR 1200. This is mostly about racing

Left out so many other great model's

I just actually don't fully understand why people are dissing this video based upon Yamaha like come on here everyone please definitely just let others enjoy it

I will never forget negotiating with my father in the late 60s about an at1 . Sure , as long as long you pay for it and take care of it while I’m on vacation in Vietnam and watch the house . The first thing I did was to get a job delivering newspapers before school and mowing lawn’s on the weekends so I could afford to put a ct cylinder and webco head with the compression realese and most importantly was an oversized mikuni with a down pipe that I got from riverside cycle salvage and hacked up in “welding class “ .

In 1969 I owned a DT-1. In 1976 I owned a 1972 XS650. Both were bought second-hand. Neither bike ever let me down or broke down on me. I raced the DT-1 on weekends. I traveled up and down the East Coast many thousands of miles that XS650.

What I learned from this is that Yamaha has only built a handful of models - the YA-1 Red Dragon, the RD250, the XS650, the R1 and the R6. Amazing they stayed in business with so few bikes.

I purchased a1971 RT360 Yamaha dirt bike.It is now 2020 and i still own it.I have owned Suzuki TS 250 but the Yamaha is still the best

Disappointing. So much was overlooked. What about all the offload, flatrack, RD400, this was way too focused on the R6 and R1. History seems lick click bait. Again, very disappointed!

Interesting about the piano starting it all. My cousins have had a Yamaha baby grand for as long as I can remember and It IS the most beautiful music instrument I have ever seen. As a young child, I recall hitting each key un muted, just to listen to how long the note would sustain. And like the depth of the black lacquer, it seemed to go on forever. Yamaha motorcycle should have chosen black to be their dirt bike color.

Totally agree with flyinbiker... how did they skip over the amazing RD series??? This felt a lot more like a promo video for the R1 and R6... it was good, but should have been so much more... They jumped from 1958 to 1968... what about all the great 60's Yamahas? Paused for a moment to talk about the XS-650 in 1970 , then skipped over all the 70's - huh???The Yamaha 2-stroke twins put Yamaha in front and center in the racing world. What happened to all the 70's? The MX bikes that became the YZ's? The Yamaha R5 that morphed into the amazing RD 350's, that in turn morphed into the RD400's and RZ-350s?? Thanks just the same...

5 valves per cylinder and cross plane cranks. They're the only Japanese bike you could describe a special. Honda are cynical, Suzuki hooligans and Kawasaki seem to have a chip on their shoulder but their bikes are all samey, none of the Japanese bikes stand out like a Yamaha. They are up there with Ducati and Triumph in terms of pure sound.

What I liked about my Yamaha jazz we're street n trial xt 250,,77 and a 83 xt 500 4 stroke torque for days and could ride fast n loose , without washing front end,lose leaves or dirt both feet on pegs💪💪🔥🔥🔥

Awesome video bro i just bought this as my second bike 95 600 with only 13k miles im considering vloging my time with it its a real step up from a 200cc china bike😂

and yamaha's best bike..the vmax 1st or 2nd gen..On my third now they just never fail to get a conversation going..

Yamaha were always such bikes motocross in the 70s they were such a good 👍 bike fast dependable I could never see whey most people bought Hondas instead .

The v max ls not only fast but a work of art love it’s looks looking for 1200 version now 😀

No mention was made of the 31 year continuous production of the V-Max motorcycle from 1985-2016 I still have ('94) or my first Yamaha the1967 YM-1 305cc

Less history than hype for the newer bikes. Sadly the Yamaha classics are largely ignored.