Today’s Yamaha TZR250R hails all the way from South Africa, although that shouldn’t surprise fans here in the US. The USA tragically never officially received any of these 250cc two-strokes that battled it out like tiny, raspy versions of the bikes that endlessly battled for sales in the 600cc and 750cc classes. Frames were trick, mass-centralization and weight-reduction were buzzwords of the day, and the bikes were festooned with so many acronyms you barely needed any racy speed-block or tiger-stripe graphics: YPVS, PGM, SAPC…
The quarter-liter sportbikes from Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki all started out with parallel-twin engines, but eventually moved to compact v-twins. Yamaha held out longer than most, even trying out an unusual “reversed-head” configuration that had the carburetors in front, allowing the exhaust a straight-shot out the back and freeing up space for expansion chambers without limiting cornering clearance. But by 1991, the TZR was using a 56mm x 50.7mm 90° v-twin that gave 249.7cc and the complete package weighed in at a claimed 278lbs dry.
Some found their way to the US from our strangely tolerant northern neighbors while others entered the USA via other means… Sneaking over borders to the steal the jobs of hard-working supersport motorcycles. Registering them here can prove difficult, depending on your local laws and just how much you contributed to your local politician’s reelection campaign. But some collectors aren’t worried about that as they plan to display their bikes, or use them on-track.
The seller doesn’t include much information about this particular example, with most of the listing just a copy/paste job from some print publication or other, most of which would be well-known by anyone actually considering a purchase. Shipping costs are listed however, which does help those of us working on a budget for our fantasy garages…
From the original eBay listing: 1992 Yamaha TZR250R for Sale
Visually, the TZR is a spitting image of John Kocinski’s 1990 world-championship-winning works Yamaha YZR250, save for its lights, turn signals, passenger perch and lack of sponsorship decals. In actual ancestry, the TZR is a close relative of Yamaha’s TZ250D production racer, the two sharing the same crankcases, bore and stroke, displacement and 12,000-rpm redline.
Bloom provided us with a 1991 TZR to sample at Laguna Seca Raceway. Unfortunately, the only one he had available at the time was a Japanese-spec model limited by that country’s strict home-market regulations to a claimed 45 horsepower-about one-third less than on non-restricted versions. But despite its reduced power output, it still impressed us with its overall performance.
For one thing, the engine possesses a surprisingly wide powerband, attributable to its computer-controlled engine-management system. An eight-bit microcomputer controls the advance curve of the electronic ignition, the actuation of the exhaust pow-ervalve, and the fuel mixture provided by the flat-slide 26mm Mikunis.
Braking is outstanding. The TZR’s 39mm inverted fork is fitted with four-piston calipers pinching a pair of floating discs. Even under repeated abuse around Laguna’s 11-turn circuit, the brakes consistently provided excellent feel and were resistant to fade.
Though our riding time on the Yamaha was limited, both fellow Associate Editor Don Canet and 1 came away with a strong appreciation for the TZR’s phenomenal handling. No, the TZR250R will not break any speed records or set blazing quarter-mile times; but when it comes down to consuming corners, nothing currently in any manufacturer’s U.S. lineup even comes close.
Matthew Miles 1992
Packing and shipping can be arranged by either buyer or seller depending on the buyer’s preference.Worldwide shipping available at affordable rates.Shipping cost to the U.S. would be approximately $1480.Thanks for taking the time to view my listing.
With 10,000 miles on the odometer, there are no takers yet at the $4,700 opening bid. This example appears to be in excellent condition, a good sign since many were ridden hard and put away wet in their youth: all of the 250 two-strokes were serious machines, but they were starter sportbikes and often owned by less-than-caring riders who thrashed and crashed them accordingly. The seller has posted up a few bikes in the past, but has been adding much better photographs to their listings of late, making them a little more appealing for our purposes, which generally involves either drooling or the frustrated gnashing of teeth.
-tad
TZR 250 3MA had reversed cylinders. Not sure what one would accomplish by reversing a 2 stroke cylinder head.
Yup, the 3MA had the reversed cylinders. Pretty sure it was to better route the exhaust, not for any sort of “ram air” or other performance effect. Packaging expansion chambers when they need to share space with other components like the engine, frame, footpegs, or swingarm seems to be one of the major engineering challenges for two-stroke sportbikes: the famous “banana” swingarm was designed to allow clearance for the chambers. The reversed head on the TZR250 meant the exhausts had almost a straight shot out the tail of the bike, keeping those bulbous expansion chambers up and out of the way.
Because WERA & other amateur roadracing organizations require bikes be available in N. America versus U.S.-only, I had to compete against these occasionally on my Ducati 750SS. In ’97, I finished 2nd to a TZR at Daytona. No big deal to me, but the 3rd & 4th place finishers filed a protest & paid the challenge fee in my name, because the race winning TZR had a full-on TZ engine with no numbers stamped in the cases. The TZR was disqualified, because – get this – the tech inspector said that TZR’s should be parallel twins, not V-twins.
The AFM in the early and mid 90’s had a 250 SuperSport class. Grey market two stroke machines quickly began to dominate the class. The variety was good. There were NSRs, RGVs, Kr1s, TZRs and later, RS250 ‘Prillers. In racing, one always seeks an advantage. The TZRs and race only TZs were quite similar. The temptation to cheat was strong because many of the TZ engine parts were interchangeable with the 3XV TZR. There was a competitor who had slotted a full TZ motor in a TZR frame. He got protested too. It was rather blatant because the TZ had no kick start lever. The difference was profound as a well tuned TZ motor could easily spit out 80+ horsepower. The best one could get with the 3XV motor was around 65+. The 3XV was a fantastic endurance racing platform.