Yamaha

-- Special report from a Dirt Wheels reader -- Hi Dirt Wheels, I've been riding and reading your magazine for 35 years. Here is my 1985 Yamaha YTM200ERN 3-wheeler with about 350 hours.  This was Yamaha’s version of Honda's Big Red, with electric start, shaft drive and reverse. I am holding the October 1984 Dirt Wheels that features the test of my YTM200.  I also have a 2017 Yamaha Wolverine that is always ready when my wife wants to ride along.  Love the reliability of my Yamahas. Marty Beyner Kent, Ohio We'd…

-- YAMAHA PRESS RELEASE: Grizzlies, Raptors, YFZs & Kodiaks -- 2020 Grizzly:  Big Bore ATV for Aggressive Trail Riding New for 2020, the Grizzly is now prewired for the Yamaha Adventure Pro, powered by Magellan, bringing more technology and social media capability to recreational ATV riders. The most comprehensive and user-friendly GPS and vehicle data tracking unit available for ATVs and Side-by-Sides, the Adventure Pro offers Magellan’s extensive GPS network and durable tablet technology to adventurous off-road …

-- Drifting from the dirt onto the pavement --     Jeremy Othelet is a Dirt Wheels reader who lives in Margut, France. In his country ATVs can be made street legal with the proper equipment. As you can see here Jeremy has turn signals, mirrors and a license plate on his quad.     His Yamaha Raptor 700 is a good quad to make street legal, because it has enough power to cruise along at speeds above 70 mph. To improve the power Jeremy added a performance exhaust and intake system, fuel controller and hotter cam shaft.…

Hunter Lovelace hails from Muskoka Canada and likes to build brilliant old school custom ATVs. He took one of his old prized machines, a 1988 Yamaha Blaster, and decided to rebuild it better than before for his younger brother. A lot of the parts that Hunter installed are near impossible to find these days and give it a custom look and feel from the 90's! The mods include: Motor: Duncan / Paul Turner ported, decked and polished motor, 175 PSI compression running on VP C12, Pyramid reed valve, factory 7 air box,…

-- Testing the best-selling sport ATV of all time -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels Yamaha has so much love for sport ATVs that they keep the best-selling ATV in the category on dealer floors for you to buy today! It’s no secret, the struggle of the economic downfall in 2008 hindered the market and kick-started the decline of sport quads. Compounded with the rise in UTV technology, the sport ATV category had its heyday. Now we consider certain 4x4 machines sport models. Honestly, those 4x4s are very sporty in our…

-- Looking back at Trinity Racing's Banshee build of 2003 -- The 535cc Cheetah cylinders were the popular choice for Banshee builders back then and Trinity started with that for this project Yamaha we featured in our May 2003 issue.  With a bore and stroke of 72mm x 64mm and 26 ports this twin cylinder two-stroke cranked out 138.7 hp on the dyno.  We have a reprint of that original article you can read below. . .

-- Hey wait, that's a 4-cylinder engine! -- Upon further review that's not a single cylinder engine. It's got 4 exhaust pipes and 4 intake tracks, so there's no way it can be a YFZ450 engine. Maybe we should read what James Masephol said about his quad in his Email to us. Well, it did indeed start out as a 2005 Yamaha YFZ450. However he took the engine out and installed the engine from a Yamaha R1 street bike. Those 1000cc 4-cylinder engines make about 180 horsepower stock, and James figures his gets more like 200 with the…

-- The screaming yellow 2-stroke -- Here is the first test of Yamaha's all-new Tri-Z 250 as it appeared back in the August 1984 issue of Dirt Wheels magazine.  Honda riders were nervous that this all-new machine from Yamaha would dethrone their ATC250R. This was Yamaha's ad for the Tri-Z 250 that appeared in Dirt Wheels. Below is what the Dirt Wheels test riders said about  this 1984 Yamaha 3-wheeler. . . .

-- High-Performance ATV Test --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels Yamaha’s YFZ450R isn’t simply a sport quad, it’s an experience. The smooth body lines fade into aggressively angular points, so the YFZ looks fast and focused just sitting still. But, you don’t really get the thrill until you firmly depress that little start button. The EFI and the ignition brings the Yamaha YFZ450R’s potent powerplant to life. To further intensify the excitement, shift into gear, boost the rpm and release the clutch. We have been seeing…

-- Would you like to see this quad at your local Yamaha dealer? -- 15 years ago was an epic boom period in ATV history. 2003 was when the rise of high-performance four stroke quads began. One after another, the manufacturers were releasing their incredible 450s that were so much better than the sport quads we rode before. They were fast, handled well and had great suspension. ATV riders felt fortunate that these kind of quads were finally available and eagerly grabbed them off dealer showroom floors. The quads were…

-- A properly set up 2019 700R SE -- There are miles of good trails to ride on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico and there are many Dirt Wheels readers in that country who love to do so. Edgardo Cartegena is one of those Puerto Ricans and we're going to take a look at his quad here. His 2019 Yamaha Raptor 700R SE has had a few things added to improve its performance while roosting through the tropical forests. Starting up top Edgardo installed Flexx handlebars, ASV levers and a Trailtech Vapor Speedo. For more…

-- Appreciating the beautiful beast -- How many twin-cylinder, two-stroke quads has there ever been? The Banshee is the only one. Yamaha caught the world totally off-guard when they came out with this unique machine back in 1987. No other ATV manufacturer was willing to compete with Yamaha’s Banshee, so it remained in a class by itself for 20 years. You can no longer go to a dealer and buy a new one, and that’s why it’s important to keep the remaining Banshees in good running order. If you’re going to put forth the effort…