Yamaha saw a niche market here, given the swell of interest in the ‘sixties style Café Racers. However rather than opt for a big single a la BSA Gold Star or Velocette Thruxton, or a twin of the parallel variety (think Triumph Bonneville or Norton Atlas) or even a big V-twin (Vincent, naturally), they chose the lower end of the displacement scale – a 250. In their range, Yamaha already had a donor motor that could be plucked straight from the rather naff but undeniably popular XV250 Virago – a sort of mini Harley cruiser. The XV250 was in a fairly mild state of tune, so this is the first aspect that was addressed back in Iwata.
More power was called for, so the XV engine underwent some tweaking. With a very undersquare configuration of 49mm bore and 66mm stroke, the XV mill wasn’t really designed as a revver – more a plodder with plenty of torque in keeping with its Learner target market. The SRV however, while still learner-legal in Australia, was pitched at a more discerning market, and the engineers in Japan managed to extract an extra six
