Yamaha Motorcycle Road Tests
& Reviews
Yamaha Motorcycle Guide
Yamaha Motor Company Limited, a division of Japanese conglomerate Yamaha Corporation, has been producing motorized vehicles since 1955. Yamaha currently produces motorcycles, motorbikes, ATVs, boats, marine engines, automobile engines, personal watercraft and snowmobiles. Under the Yamaha brand, it produces sportbikes (YZF-R1, FZ1, FZ8 and others), sport tourers (FJR1300A), adventure tourers (Super Ténéré), dual-sports (WR250X, XT250 and others), dirt bikes (YZ450F, WR450F and others) and scooters (Tmax, Zuma and others). In the U.S., cruisers produced by Yamaha have been sold under the Star Motorcycles brand since 2006, including the Royal Star, Roadliner, Stratoliner, Vmax, Raider, Stryker and others. Yamaha motorcycle reviews and road tests explain why the brand has won Rider‚s Motorcycle of the Year four times: in 2006 with the FZ1, in 2003 with the FJR1300, in 1996 with the Royal Star Tour Classic and in 1993 with the GTS1000.
2012 Yamaha YZF-R1 – First Ride
Greg Drevenstedt
January 19, 2012
After debuting its crossplane crankshaft in 2009, Yamaha’s 2012 update of the YZF-R1 has focused on refinement, adding traction control, updating the look and celebrating the company’s Grand Prix racing heritage. Worldwide, 2,000 World GP 50th Anniversary Edition YZF-R1s, with anniversary... Read more »
2011 BMW R1200GS Adventure vs. 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré Road Test
Rider Magazine
January 6, 2012
photography by Kevin Wing This 2011 BMW R1200GS Adventure vs. 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré Motorcycle Comparison was originally published in the January 2012 issue of Rider magazine] 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré (left) and 2011 BMW R1200GS Adventure can do it all: touring, sport touring, dual-sporting,... Read more »
2012 Yamaha YZF-R1 – First Look
Rider Magazine
September 14, 2011
2012 World GP 50th Anniversary Edition Yamaha YZF-R1 Consecutive AMA American Superbike Championships in 2010 and 2011, plus a World Superbike Championship in 2009, give the 998cc in-line four Yamaha YZF-R1 sportbike serious on-track bona fides. After successfully adopting its crossplane crankshaft in... Read more »
Yamaha Royal Star Venture/Hannigan Trike Conversion Road Test
Rider Contributor
June 14, 2011
story and photography by James Parchman [This Yamaha Royal Star Venture/Hannigan Trike Conversion Ridden & Rated was originally published in the March 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Hannigan’s Venture trike conversion has slick twin-pipe roadster styling but the lockable trunk, topbox and upper... Read more »
2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré Road Test
Rider Magazine
June 6, 2011
photography by Riles & Nelson [This 2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré Road Test was originally published as a Ridden & Rated in the February 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Big adventure bikes make great sport tourers thanks to powerful engines, pavement-eating suspension, comfortable ergonomics and... Read more »
2011 Yamaha FZ8 Road Test
Rider Magazine
January 24, 2011
photography by Riles & Nelson [This 2011 Yamaha FZ8 Road Test was originally a Ridden & Rated in the April 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Here we go again. Yet another motorcycle clearly designed for the European market (it’s been sold there for a year) offered to Americans as if it was... Read more »
2010 Kymco Xciting 500Ri vs. 2010 Yamaha Tmax
Rider Contributor
October 20, 2010
photography by Scott Hirko [This 2010 Kymco Xciting 500Ri vs. 2010 Yamaha Tmax road test was originally published in the December 2009 issue of Rider magazine] 2010 Kymco Xciting 500Ri and 2010 Yamaha Tmax in action The first time I took one of these scooters out with my riding buddies they were holding... Read more »
2011 Yamaha Motorcycles
Rider Contributor
September 1, 2010
2011 Yamaha XTZ1200 Super Ténéré Yamaha has been inundated with requests to bring the XTZ1200 Super Ténéré adventure-tourer to the U.S. Named after a challenging Sahara Desert stage of the Paris-Dakar Rally, it will arrive next spring as a 2012 model. Powered by a 1199cc parallel twin with a 270-degree... Read more »
2010 Star Stratoliner Deluxe Road Test
Rider Contributor
April 30, 2010
photography by Riles & Nelson If you’re into cruisers and have kept your eyes open, you may have noticed that baggers—cruisers with saddlebags (and often fairings, too)—are replacing radical customs as the latest trend. According to Yamaha, it’s because riders have found radical bikes too... Read more »
2009 Yamaha R1 Road Test
Rider Magazine
November 16, 2009
photography by Kevin Wing [This 2009 Yamaha R1 Spotlight was originally published in the January 2010 issue of Rider magazine] 2009 Yamaha R1 Whizbang technology from Yamaha’s M1 MotoGP racebike trickled down to the masses in 2009 when the R1 sportbike became the first production motorcycle to use... Read more »
