Original Off-road

The success of Yamaha's DT-1 250 two-stroke enduro was the spearhead of Japan's invasion of off-road motorcycle sport. Light, manoeuvrable two-stroke off-road bikes already existed, but they came from low-production specialist producers like Greeves, Bultaco, and CZ. Yamaha industrialized off-road, bringing reliable engineered bikes to a wide public.

The DT-1 250 was competent on the road and had a measure of off-road capability that was easily enhanced by modification. The parts were durable and cheap, and service procedures were easy. Yamaha went on to produce DT’s in a range of displacements and, with continuous development, had a major long-lasting sales success on their hands, moving hundreds of thousands of off-road motorcycles.

The Yamaha DT was the cutting edge of off-road bikes and became such a great success that the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, included the 1968 Yamaha Trail 250 (aka DT-1) as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology.

At CMS we have almost 1 million different vintage Yamaha spare parts on stock, so we can keep these Japanese icons running all over the world!