Back in the 90s, Yamaha broke from their tradition of building Deltabox-framed sportbikes to create the TRX850. Sporting a trellis frame and the parallel-twin mill from the TDM850, the Yamaha TRX850 was made to entice sportbike riders away from the Ducati 900SS. So its design was an oddball, yet charming, mash-up of East and West—and…
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The Yamaha TRX850 is one of our favorite motorcycling anomalies. It was built in the mid-90s, when Japanese marques tried to corner the European market by injecting Italian flair into their sportbikes. The TRX850’s trellis frame, tri-spoke wheels, and sculpted fuel tank felt distinctly Ducati—but its parallel twin motor and angular tail section gave away…
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Back in the 90s, the Japanese manufacturers went through a phase of building Italian-style sportbikes. Honda had the SuperHawk, and Suzuki the TL1000S—both 90° V-twins. Yamaha, however, took the 10-valve DOHC parallel twin used in its sport tourers and came up with the Yamaha TRX850. The critical reception was mixed, to say the least, but…
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If you’re looking for a donor for your next build, look back to the 1990s. That decade is chock-full of untapped potential—hidden gems that might not have been big sellers, but now offer great performance at bargain prices. We’re quite intrigued by the Yamaha TRX850 in particular. First launched in Japan in 1995, then in…
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