When Did Yamaha Start Making Dirt Bikes? All About Its First Off-Road Model

It was 1955 when Yamaha Motor Co. was founded, expanding the Japanese company's focus from manufacturing musical instruments to motorcycles. To no surprise, the company applied the same precision techniques used to manufacture its beloved pianos to its burgeoning line of two-wheeled vehicles. The first Yamaha motorbike hit the streets that very same year, and Yamaha's ever-changing motorcycle lineup has ranked among the most celebrated brands in the motorcycle arena ever since. 

Though the brand has delivered its share of incredible cruisers and road racers, Yamaha has more than made a name for itself in the off-road sector, with its trail-ready builds becoming a constant podium presence in racing circuits. That may come as a surprise to some, if only because Yamaha didn't actually make its first proper dirt bike until the late 1960s. That era saw Yamaha's design team release a few signature off-road vehicles in the Trailmaster, the YX26, and the legendary DT-1 — the latter of which is regarded as its first proper production dirt bike. Here are a few other things you should know about the early days of Yamaha's off-road program.

First released in 1964, Yamaha's Trailmaster bikes arrived with small-displacement scramblers that were a little more powerful than a scooter and, as the build's name implies, were tough enough for light trail riding. Given its versatility, the Trailmaster was popular with riders looking to do a little off-roading. 

Those early Trailmasters were hardly the torquey beasts Yamaha has come to be known for. If one were so inclined, they could argue they were the company's first real entry into the dirt bike game. You could probably point to the redesigned Trailmasters that hit the market in 1967 as proof that Yamaha was looking to bolster its presence in the off-road motorcycle market, as those arrived looking closer in style to the classic dirt bikes that came before and after.

Of course, even Yamaha's redesigned Trailmasters were not explicitly designed for off-road adventures, with the bike's trail readiness arguably serving as an added bonus to its round-the-town functionality. That much was evident by the baggage rack that still accompanied the bikes after the redesign and the less-than-torquey 96.8cc engines that powered them. Even Cycle World undercut its off-road cred in its otherwise glowing 1967 review of the new Trailmaster, likening the bike to a trail scooter. Still, as an early progenitor to what was coming from Yamaha's off-road builds, its importance cannot be overlooked. 

The DT-1 was conceived for American West Coast off-road enthusiasts at the request of the U.S. subsidiary Yamaha International Corporation (YIC for short). YIC was looking for a production bike that met three relatively simple criteria. First, it had to have a 250cc engine. Second, they wanted the design to possess both motocross and trail elements. Finally, they wanted a bike that could be comfortably ridden both on and off-road. 

The first request was easy enough, as Yamaha had already developed a few 250cc builds. The company had also sought to bolster its motocross profile in the 250cc arena with the YX26, a factory racer whose development overlapped with the DT-1. Since the YX26 was the first to hit the motocross circuit in 1967, it's widely regarded as the "mother" of the DT-1, which debuted later that same year. 

As the YX26 was built specifically for off-road use, some might argue it is technically Yamaha's first proper dirt bike. It did not, however, meet all the criteria set forth by YIC. It was also not a proper production model, so the Yamaha design team continued to eye the DT-1 as its purpose-built production dirt bike. That meant slimming the chassis, fitting it with four-inch block-pattern tires knobby enough for the trail but smooth enough for the road, and redesigning its 250cc engine to a torque-heavy two-stroke model that delivered 22hp. In doing so, they delivered an off-road machine that trail enthusiasts could ride to their next adventure on any given roadway.

Yamaha's design team ultimately let its counterparts at YIC decide if it had successfully accomplished the mission of producing a purpose-built production dirt bike. Reviews from the States were overwhelmingly positive, and so, sensing it may have a hit on its hands, Yamaha tripled the DT-1's initial production run from its planned 4,000 units to a whopping 12,000 units. 

The gamble paid off. AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee Tom White called the dual-purpose build's debut the star of the 1967 Cycle World Show and claimed to have ordered several DT-1s to sell the next day. The bike also proved immensely popular with U.S. off-roaders, thanks in no small part to the power output, which could be bolstered with a Genuine Yamaha Tuning kit. Motocross riders naturally turned to the GYT kit to boost the output of their race day bikes, with the DT-1 soon taking the checkered flag on dirt tracks the world over.

Ultimately, Yamaha sold an estimated 50,000 DT-1s in its first year of production, with the bike proving as popular in the Japanese market as it was in the U.S. It also more or less put Yamaha on the map in terms of the off-road arena, clearing the way for the many celebrated dirt bikes that would follow. All things considered, the DT-1 likely ranks among the most important bikes Yamaha has ever built.