The Lost R1? Yamaha R1-Z 250

The Lost R1? Yamaha R1-Z 250

Where have these darn things been hiding?   What a solid looking bike: a two stroke twin wrapped in an eye pleasing package.  Simple yet sexy.  The RZ-1 is another in a line of Japanese domestic bikes that never saw the light of day on foreign shores.  That is kind of hard to imagine with the cult following the RZ350 has.  These were produced in 1991 and 1992 (I think) but would look  right at home in a dealership  in 2012.  Update the headlight, forks and swing arm and you are in business Yamaha.

This particular bike is located in the UK and has underwent a complete rebuild with custom paint.  There isn’t much to say, it just looks good.

From what I gather, the R1-Z uses the early  TZR parallel twin engine.  Being a domestic market bike they have the usual 45hp restriction.  I’m sure it could be unplugged with a little work.  Maybe without a fairing for protection you’d be happy with the 45hp.

To cut costs sometimes they’d go single disc upfront on these sort of models; not so with the R1-Z.

Come on Yamaha, work some overtime on direct injection and you are in business with this bike.  With the popularity of naked bikes and the built in RZ350 crowd I bet you couldn’t keep them in the showroom.

Damn, I like this bike!  Check this one out with a TZR swing arm and upside down forks.

Since you can’t count on Yamaha,  you might just have to snap this one up at auction.

Here is a Japanese test of a modded and standard R1-Z

Ian