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/1542014
P148 FEATURE I CELEBRATING YAMAHA'S FIRST PRODUCT chestnut red and cream finish, earning it the sobriquet of the Akatombo, or the Red Dragonfly. There was no name on the tank—just the triple tuning-fork emblem that had been Nip - pon Gakki's symbol for over 50 years. Discreetly, the name Yamaha—in honor of the com - pany's founder—was embossed on the contact points cover on the right and the primary trans - mission cover on the left. In February 1955, 200 of the new machines were produced in the Hama - matsu factory. On July 1, the motorcycle business was officially separated from the parent company and renamed the Yamaha Mo - tor Company, with Genichi Kawakami as founding president. The new YA-1 was the most expensive motorcycle on the Japanese market, and sales terms were cash only. Initially, sales were sluggish. A team of sales representatives, rid - ing Red Dragonflies, were sent out all over Japan to set up a dealer network for retail sales and service, with the brief to convince dealers and customers alike that a piano manufacturer could in fact build a seriously good motorcycle. In an era when the average starting salary of mission was fitted instead of the DKW's three-speeder. Primary drive was by gear instead of chain, and it employed a primary kickstarting system, allowing the engine to be started in any gear. It was also possible to select neutral by a half-stroke of the gear lever from any of the four gears. Weighing just 207 pounds, the YA-1 was light and nimble. The chassis of the new YA-1 was also more sophisticated. Up front sat a fairly robust telescopic fork, with the sliding section sealed from moisture and dirt by rubber gaiters. Most ultra-light - weights of the time used rigid rear suspension, although the post-war DKW RT125 used plung- er suspension, with the moving parts lubricated by grease. The YA 1's rear suspension was fully lubricated by a sealed oil-bath system. In an era when virtually all Japanese motorcy - cles were finished in black, the YA-1 sported a rather stunning Before making any spe- cific decisions as to models, Kawakami sent two of his best engineers to Europe on a fact- finding tour. Not by coincidence, one port of call was the post- war DKW plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, where production of the two-stroke RT125 had resumed in 1949. That model had been plundered post-war as "war reparations" by several allied manufacturers, including BSA, Harley-Davidson, Moto Morini and others. It meant that the RT125 could be copied by oth - ers, for free, and Kawakami's en- gineers wasted no time in doing so. This became Yamaha's first motorcycle, the YA-1, but it was far from a mir - ror copy of the RT125. Development began in Octo- ber 1953, and it was a runner by August 1954. By September 1954, a proto- type motorcycle was ready for testing. The prototype racked up over 6000 miles of testing by October 1954 (with Kawakami himself joining the riders on several occasions) before the order was given to commence production, which occurred in January 1955. The DKW bore and stroke of 52mm x 58mm remained, but importantly, a four-speed trans - For its second race outing, the YA-1 in the modified trim in which it appeared at the first Asama Highlands Race in November 1955.