YAMAHA TX750

Yamaha were not following the herd back in the early 1970s. When some of their rivals were frantically developing sporty fours to replace their smoky, thirsty two-strokes, Yamaha went in a different direction technologically. It was a bit of a blind alley, but they were at least ploughing their own furrow. And that’s enough mixing of metaphors.

Their first four-stroke was the XS1, a 650 twin, which begat the XS2 that had an electric start and, like the XS1, didn’t handle or brake. And after a bit of work by Triumph tester and racer Percy Tait, the XS2 became the XS650 (briefly the TX650 in some markets), which did handle a bit, and stayed in Yamaha’s line-up until 1983.

Updating the parallel twin

There is a forgotten Yamaha four-stroke twin that came a few years after the arrival of the XS. It was called the TX750, and only lasted a few years. It was never officially imported into the UK, with most sales in the US and few sold in Europe.

Today one may wonder why Yamaha, who had a perfectly good and tough 650 engine, decided on a brand new-ish design for their first superbike. The XS was very capable of being