Yamaha wasn’t always a motorcycle company. In fact, Torakusu Yamaha founded the company in 1890 to manufacture musical instruments. But after World War II, the company retooled its plants to produce inexpensive transportation for Japanese citizens. Thus the Yamaha YA-1 street bike was born. This single-cylinder motorcycle, known as the “Red Dragonfly,” was so successful that Yamaha created the Yamaha Motor Co.
Three years later, the first Yamaha motorcycles were sold in the U.S. In 1966 Yamaha released the YDS-3, which was a hit in the United States and is one of the more collectible vintage Yamaha street bikes today. In addition to collecting the bikes themselves, Yamaha fans also covet vintage motorcycle parts, such as engine guards and exhaust pipes.
Interviews & Articles
American Picker Dream, Part II: Mike Wolfe On Enduros and Land Rockets

I was 13 when I saw my first motorcycle. I was walking down the sidewalk when this guy who was like the high school champion stud—… [more]
Harley-Davidson, Before and After the Knucklehead

I’ve been a lifelong motorcyclist. I started riding a motorcycle when I was 11, and I started writing for magazine after I got ou… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Classic Motorcycle Archive

This simple website contains photos and descriptions of over a thousand classic antique motorcycles and motorized b… [read review or visit site]
Clubs & Associations: Motorcycles
- Antique Motorcycle Club of America
- American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association
- SoCal Chapter of the AMCA
If These Shirts Could Talk: The Tantalizing Tales Behind Used Clothes
Jockeying for Position: How Boxers and Briefs Got Into Men's Pants
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
In the Hot Seat: Is Your Antique Windsor a Fake?
Love at First Kite: How Pizza and Pente Led to One Oklahoman's High-Flying Obsession
Blood, Sweat, and Steel: My Afternoon with the Ace of Swords
'The Great Gatsby' Still Gets Flappers Wrong
Say Ahhh: An Oral Surgeon's Quest to Reimagine the Garage-Band Guitar
Forget TV Pickers, Meet the Real Mavericks of the Antiques World
Coveting The Craziest Cat-People Collectibles


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