Yamaha has quite a few motorcycles for new and beginner riders that you can pick up at any Yamaha dealer today. Yamaha also made motorcycles that never quite broke through to the mainstream. There are several reasons why a motorcycle never becomes popular: a short run, a tough market, or pricing issues. Whatever the case, all of the bikes featured on this list are motorcycles you probably haven’t heard of.
What this means is that you won’t be seeing anything like the popular and speedy YZF-R3 on the list, but you’ll instead see some motorcycles that may have been lost to time. This doesn’t mean the bikes are complete duds with no redeeming qualities, however. Some of the motorcycles might be worth a small fortune, so if you happen to own one of the bikes shown on the list, you might want to look into seeing if it’s worth something to someone.
Yamaha YSR50
At first glance, the YSR50 looks like it’s a bike for children or even a toy at just over three feet tall, but it’s a street-legal bike for adults. Although the YSR50 isn’t the most practical bike, it had a nice production run dating from 1986 to the early 1990s, but it was difficult to justify as a commuter thanks to its size. It featured a small 49cc motor, so once the novelty of the bike wore off there wasn’t a lot to do with it. Despite the small size and engine, it hasn’t stopped people from seeking out this bike. If you’re interested in getting your hands on one, it’s not as expensive as you might think.
Although the bike is more than three decades old, you don’t have to spend a fortune on it. A 1989 YSR50 sold for $7,600 back in 2022, but that’s not always what you have to spend. If you scour around on eBay, you can find one for well under that price, with a pair being available for less than $6,100 at the time of writing.
Yamaha SDR 200
Yamaha’s SDR 200 bike only had a one-year production run, and on top of that, it was only sold in Japan, so if you’ve seen one in the United States, it’s an import. That’s a perfect storm when it comes to rarity, but if you manage to find one out in the world, there’s a lot to like about Yamaha’s short-lived bike. It’s relatively light at 231 lbs, and has a top speed of 99 mph.
Visually, the bike shares a lot in common with the Ducati Monster with its trellis frame, but it can also be confused with Yamaha’s R1-Z as well. Yamaha said this bike had “light handling, agility and powerful acceleration,” so it’s a bit of a shame it never made it out of Japan. Nowadays, it’s tough to get your hands on one, but they do come up for sale every now and then for a few thousand dollars.
Yamaha Zippy (LB50IC)
The Yamaha Zippy dates back to 1973, and at over 50 years old, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one of these floating around somewhere. If you do see one, it’s easily identifiable by its name printed on the side and the brown paintwork. The little bike weighs just 163 lbs, so it’s able to zip around the streets and corners with the ease its name implies. What helped set this bike apart from its contemporaries was the fat back tire that gave it a distinct look, and it’s something that could handle some dirt trails. The 49cc engine is small no matter what way you stretch it, but that’s part of the charm.
It’s rare to see any of these go on sale, and there doesn’t appear to be a verified sale of the bike from any time recently. In 2023, a Zippy went up for auction in Japan with a starting price of 50,000 yen, or about $300, but it didn’t sell.
Yamaha FZR750R OW-01
Yamaha’s FZR750R OW-01 might be the hardest bike to find on the list, given that Yamaha says only 500 were ever produced in Japan, and there are only about 1,000 worldwide. Unlike most of the bikes on this list, the FZR750R, dubbed the OW-01, was built for road racing. The OW-01 has an aluminum frame and is equipped with Ohlins rear suspension, but there was a price to pay for being cutting-edge at the time. The OW-01’s original MSRP was £12,700, which converts to about $16,500, and was much higher than that of the Honda RC30 — a top competitor that was available for thousands of dollars less.
This is an expensive bike to pick up today, and if you find one for sale, you can expect it to cost more than its original MSRP. Back in 2021, a 1989 OW-01 sold for $23,000, and a 1991 model sold for $34,240 in 2022. At the time of this writing, one’s available for $28,236, so it’s not a cheap bike by any means.
Yamaha RZV500R
The Yamaha RZV500R was built in 1984, and it’s very difficult to come across one today — only 1,600 were ever made, and it was released exclusively in Japan. The bike is based on the RZ500, but due to horsepower restrictions in Japan at the time, Yamaha had to get creative to sell the motorcycle. The manufacturer swapped out the RZ500’s frame, limited the horsepower, and rebadged the bike to the RZV500R — and it all worked like a charm as the bike quickly sold out. Considering those factors, it’s very easy to forget this bike ever existed, but you can still find one on the used market.
One of these bikes sold for $20,000 back in 2023, so you can expect to spend somewhere in that ballpark to get one for yourself. At the time of this writing, you can find a trio for sale on eBay UK for £16,995, £17,950, and £18,250, which converts to about $22,148, $23,394, and $23,785, respectively. Keep in mind the regular RZ500 doesn’t have the horsepower limit this one does, and it saw a longer production run, so you might have better luck tracking that down if you’re not deadset on the aluminum frame.
