Yamaha Motorcycles

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. was established on July 1, 1955, when the motorcycle division was spun off from Nippon Gakki, the Japanese musical instrument maker founded in 1887 (known today as Yamaha Corporation). Genichi Kawakami served as its first president. The company's first motorcycle, the YA-1 - a 125cc two-stroke nicknamed the "Red Dragonfly" for its styling - was already in production by February 1955 and proved successful in racing straight out of the gate, helping establish Yamaha's reputation before the motorcycle division was even a year old. Starting from two wooden factory buildings and a workforce of around 150, the company grew into one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers, building everything from small-displacement commuters to flagship sportbikes and cruisers. Yamaha's musical-instrument heritage is more than trivia - the same precision engineering culture that shaped its pianos carried directly into its engines, and the company remains one of the "Big Four" Japanese manufacturers that came to dominate global motorcycle production in the second half of the twentieth century.