Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1511457
I n the world of ballroom danc- ing, there are two roles: the leader and the follower. The leader must have a vision for the dance, and they must believe in that vision with such confidence that they will inspire the followers to submit and allow themselves to be led. It is a partnership, to be sure, yet it is also clear that there must be a separation of power. The motorcycling industry certainly knows how to boogie! After smoking out the country with two-stroke dirt bikes from the late 1960s into the mid-'70s, Yamaha changed the music and brought back the big four-stroke 500cc single in three variations. There was a street-only SR 500, along with the dual-purpose XT 500 and the off-road-only version, dubbed the TT 500. Give us two-strokes and we will buy them: lightweight, cheap and a snappy powerband. But a four- stroke off-road bike? The beat has now changed, and the rhythm is very different. Are we sure we want to follow? In February 1977, Cycle News took the TT model for a spin on the dance floor. At first blush, the TT 500 ap - peared to be something of a wallflower. It was too heavy to be a motocross racer. It wasn't prop- erly equipped for enduro compe- tition. Without lights and a horn, it didn't meet the requirements to be street legal. It seemed to be a motorcycle without any designated purpose, making it wide open for almost everything! "The most advanced mass production 500c four-stroke single ever seen," the CN testers gushed, the big single was prov - ing to be well-suited for motor- cycling of all disciplines. Rick Hocking had ridden a TT 500 to victory in the Houston Astrodome TT in 1976. In 1977, Swedish motocrosser Bengt Aberg rode a heavily modified TT 500 to a moto victory at the Luxembourg 500cc Grand Prix. Throughout California, local riders were hav - ing success in everything from desert competition to road racing with the Yamaha TT 500. But it wasn't the bike's rac - ing skills that were winning over the staff. According to the test, there was something even better than the big single's versatility in competition. "Fun…(is) a word easily forgot - ten in the tricked-to-tears, ultra- serious specialized racing that has developed in so many parts of the United States," lamented the CN staffers' report. The test crew then proceed to shake their fists at bikes with narrow powerbands and pipey engines. These bikes made riding a chore, while the Yamaha was deemed "a super play bike." As the company's own adver - tisement had once boasted, the Yamaha was "a better machine." The SOHC 499cc motor pulled steadily, regardless of gear selec- tion. "Listen," the testers wrote. "Is the engine running? If so, you're on the powerband." Weighing in at 271 pounds (dry), the Yamaha was anything but slender, yet the big bike moved CNIIARCHIVES P114 BY KENT TAYLOR THE TT 500 YAMAHA'S DO-IT-ALL DANCER Yamaha's early TT 500 was a fun all-around single-cylinder four- stroke motorcycle. You could take it...