Yamaha XS750

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Contender: 1976 Suzuki GT750
Contender: 1976 Suzuki GT750
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You daaaamn right! Yamaha marketed its shaft-driven XS750 to a young crowd with big-bore European tastes but small-potatoes budgets.
You daaaamn right! Yamaha marketed its shaft-driven XS750 to a young crowd with big-bore European tastes but small-potatoes budgets.
3 / 3
Contender: 1976 Laverda 3C
Contender: 1976 Laverda 3C

Yamaha XS750

Years produced: 1976-79
Total production: 150,000 (est.)
Claimed power:  64bhp @ 7,500rpm
Top speed: 106mph
Engine type: Three-cylinder in-line 
Weight (dry): 232kg (511lb)
Price then: $2,240 (1976)
Price now: $1,200-$2,000

Imagine it’s 1976 and you’re hearing two new sounds, trying to determine which will have more staying power.

One is the sweet exhaust note of the new three-cylinder Yamaha XS750; the other the chain-saw guitar on The Ramones’ debut record. The band is a galaxy away from the mainstream in a year when the Starland Vocal Band will win the Grammy for Best New?Artist, while the XS750 has the motorcycle press going nuts.

“Certainly new and different, and most certainly bound for success,” declared Cycle World in August 1976.

  • Published on Aug 21, 2009
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