Yamaha XT500
BY 1973, WHEN THE LAST BSA B50 and Triumph Adventurer off-roaders had rolled off the production line, the big four-stroke off-roader was thought to be dead. To seriously take to the dirt, if you wanted plenty of power you went for a two-stroke single of the hairy-chested kind, motorcycles that would eat the unwary for breakfast. Peaky, terrifying machines like Kawasaki’s 350 Bighorn, Yamaha’s DT400 or Suzuki’s TS400.
Only Honda were turning out a serious mass-market four-stroke single, the XL350, which was a trifle anaemic by comparison with the fire-breathing two-strokes.
Nobody, however, had told Yamaha engine designer Shiro Nakamura the big single was no longer needed and three years later his efforts resulted in a motorcycle that started
