Yamaha Motorcycles

About Yamaha

Yamaha Motor Company Limited is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation.

Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized vehicles on July 1, 1955. The company's intensive research into metal alloys for use in acoustic pianos had given Yamaha wide knowledge of the making of lightweight, yet sturdy and reliable metal constructions. This knowledge was easily applied to the making of metal frames and motor parts for motorcycles. Yamaha Motor produces motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, marine engines including outboards, automobile engines, personal watercraft and snowmobiles.

The Yamaha corporate logo is composed of three tuning forks placed on top of each other in a triangular pattern. These were piano maker instruments.

Yamaha's first motorcycle was the 1 YA-1, which had a 125 cc, single-cylinder two-stroke engine. It was launched in February 1955 and the bike won its first race, the Mount Fuji Ascent Race, in July 1955. Yamaha continued producing two-stroke engines until it launched the XS-1 in 1969, with a 650 cc two-cylinder four-stroke engine, using expertise that it gained doing engine development work for Toyota. In 1998 Yamaha marketed a revolutionary 1000cc four cylinder road bike called the YZF 'R1', this model introduced a new style of gearbox design which shortened the overall length of the motor/gearbox case, thereby allowing a more compact unit. This, in turn allowed the motor to be placed in the frame far enough forward to compliment good handling in a short wheel-based frame, a revolutionary step forward in motorcycle design In 1979, the XT500 won the first Paris-Dakar Rally.

In 1995, Yamaha announced the creation of Star Motorcycles, a new brand name for its cruiser series of motorcycles in the American market. In other markets, Star motorcycles are sold under the Yamaha brand.

Today, Yamaha produces scooters from 50 to 500 cc, and a range of motorcycles from 50 to 1,900 cc, including cruiser, sport touring, sport, dual-sport, and off-road.

In motorcycle racing Yamaha has won 36 world championships, including 3 in MotoGP and 9 in the preceding 500 cc two-stroke class, and 1 in World Superbike. Yamaha riders include Giacomo Agostini, Bob Hannah, Heikki Mikkola, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Jeremy McGrath, Stefan Merriman, Phil Read, Chad Reed, Ben Spies, James Stewart and currently Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

The Yamaha YZ450F won the AMA Supercross Championship two years in a row, in 2008 with Chad Reed, and 2009 James Stewart. Yamaha was the first to build a production monoshock motocross bike (1975 for 250 and 400, 1976 for 125) and one of the first to have a water-cooled motocross production bike (1977 in works bikes, 1981 in off-the-shelf bikes).

Since 1962, Yamaha made production road racing Grand Prix motorcycles that any licensed road racer could purchase. In 1970, non-factory privateer teams dominated the 250 cc World Championship with Great Britain's Rodney Gould winning the title on a Yamaha TD2.

Yamaha also sponsors several professional ATV riders in several areas of racing, such as cross country racing and motocross. Yamaha has had success in cross country with their YFZ450, ridden by Bill Ballance, winning 9 straight titles since 2000. Yamaha's other major rider, Traci Cecco, has ridden the YFZ450 to 7 titles, with the first in 2000. In ATV motocross, Yamaha has had success with Dustin Nelson and Pat Brown, both who race the YFZ450. Pat Brown's best season was a 3rd place title in 2007, while Nelson has had two 1st place titles in the Yamaha/ITP Quadcross, one in 2006 and the other in 2008.

Yamaha produced Formula One engines from 1989 to 1997, initially for the Zakspeed team, in 1991 for the Brabham BT60Y, in 1992 for the Jordan 192, from 1993 to 1996 for Tyrrell, and in 1997 for the Arrows A18. These never won a race, but drivers including Damon Hill, Ukyo Katayama, Mark Blundell and Andrea de Cesaris scored some acceptable results with them.

Moto blog

Buy Kini Red Bull Gear, Support Wings For Life

Unfortunately, spinal cord injuries occasionally happen when something goes tragically wrong on a motorcycle. Former 250cc Motocross World Champion Heinz Kinigadner and Red Bull have teamed up to create the Kini Red Bull Collection of high-end MX gear. Proceeds from each sale directly benefits the Wings For Life Foundation, whose mission is to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Pro Racing Heading To The West Coast After All

A Pro-Am style, three-round professional motorcycle racing series is set to debut in 2014, run in conjunction with AFM, America’s oldest club racing organization. This according to a press release from Sonoma Raceway, which will also be hosting the first stop of the three-round series, May 3-4. Hosted and sanctioned by AFM, a full field of Pro Superbike and Pro Sportbike professional riders and teams are expected to compete in the event.

Yamaha’s Dennis McNeal Named Chair of Motorcycle Industry Council

The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) has named Dennis McNeal as the new chair of its board of directors. McNeal, the vice president of motorcycle operations for Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A., will take over the chairman position from Mark Blackwell, the retiring vice president of Polaris Industries.

Yamaha Files Trademark Application for FJ-09

Yamaha‘s next three-cylinder motorcycle may be a sport-tourer, if a recently-filed trademark application is any indication. The Tuning Fork brand filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the name “FJ-09” as it applies to “Motorcycles, scooters, three-wheeled scooters and structural parts for all the aforesaid goods.” Following Yamaha’s usual naming conventions, the signs indicate the trademark will be for a new sport-touring model using the same Triple as the FZ-09. Yamaha has made it clear it plans to introduce more three-cylinder engines following the FZ-09 (or MT-09, as it is known in Europe.) Previously-filed trademark applications for the YZF-R3 and R3 names raised speculation the next triple would be a sportbike, but as per Yamaha’s usual naming convention, the “3″ in R3 is likelier to refer to the engine displacement rather than the number of cylinders.

2014 AMA Supercross – Indianapolis Results

Ryan Dungey captured his first win of the 2014 AMA Supercross season in a wild main event that saw two of the top title contenders crashing on the starting straight at Indianapolis‘ Lucas Oil Stadium. Smartop MotoConcepts Suzuki rider Mike Alessi took the holeshot for the second race in a row, but the big news was incoming points leader Ryan Villopoto and Ken Roczen going down before the first turn. Roczen trailed Villopoto by nine points going into the Indianapolis round, but the KTM rookie’s hopes of overtaking the reigning champion took a blow when he went down on the straight, knocking Villopoto off in the process.

Rossi, Pedrosa Fastest In Second Sepang MotoGP Test

Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa topped the time sheets at the conclusion of the second MotoGP test at the Sepang track in Malaysia. Both clocked identical times of 1:59.999 to become the only riders to dip under the two minute mark the entire test. The hot and humid conditions in Sepang meant times wouldn’t be faster than they were in the first test here only a few weeks prior, and indeed, Rossi and Pedrosa’s time is 0.466 second slower than the fastest lap Marc Marquez set at the last test.

Official 2014 MotoGP Entry List Released

The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) released the official entry list for the 2014 MotoGP Championship including 23 riders representing 13 teams. The final entry list also lists each rider’s status as either a Open or Factory class rider. The eight Factory riders are allowed to use their teams’ own proprietary ECU software but are otherwise limited by a freeze on engine development, a limit of five engines for the whole season and just 5.3 gallons of fuel per race.

Results From Day 1 Of Second Sepang MotoGP Test

With the absence of Marc Marquez from the second Sepang MotoGP test, due to a broken leg suffered in a training accident, another Honda rider took his place at the top of the time sheets, though it’s not who you might think. Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda set the fastest time at the end of the first day with a 2:00.848. The time is 1.3 second slower than the fastest time Marquez set at the last Sepang test.

2014 Yamaha YZ450F and YZ250F Recalled

Yamaha is recalling 2014 YZ450F and YZ250F off-ride motorcycles because of a risk of the drive chain detaching. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the recall affects 1,300 units in the U.S. while Transport Canada says another 115 units are affected north of the border.

Yamaha Recalls R1 and Super Tenere for Overheating Headlights

Yamaha has started a recall campaign on 2009-2013 YZF-R1 sportbikes and 2012-2013 Super Ténéré models because of a risk of headlight failure due to overheating. The recall campaign affects 19,045 units of the R1 and 4,683 units of the Super Ténéré in the U.S. According to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, heat generated by the headlight bulb socket may cause the terminal ends to expand, resulting in arcing between the terminal connector and bulb contact.