McPint talks Yamaha’s best bits
As Yamaha turns 65, McPint pays his respects to a giant of biking
‘EVEN AFTER I WENT TO HONDA YAMAHA SENT A BOTTLE OF FIZZ’
Happy birthday to Yamaha, 65 years of building amazing bikes is an achievement in anyone’s book – as is the list of names that have ridden for them. From Phil Read to Jarno Saarinen and people like Ago, Roberts, Lawson, Rainey, Rossi… I guess they are similar to Honda in terms of how long they’ve been going and the success they’ve had. They won’t be million miles away in terms of world titles either. They are one of the manufacturers that have a bike for everything and they are not afraid to innovate.
I won a few TTs on their machines. I never had any dealings at the highest level with Yamaha, but the UK boss Andy Smith shook my hand on a deal to race their bike at the TT in 2004 and 2005. We never had a contract, but they paid my wages and when I went to Honda in 2006, and for the next few years, whenever I won a Superbike race on the Honda I got a bottle of champagne from Andy at Yamaha to congratulate me. Going back, I had a YZ80 in 1982 and there will be loads that started out on something similar. Road bike wise, I cut my teeth on a TZR125 and I can remember the R1 coming out and thinking… wow! With the FS1-E they built the most loved 50cc bike ever and the list goes on: LCs, powervalves, RD500, the lot. Over the years they’ve been successful because they’ve had a the right combination of strong riders, great bikes, clever product. And long may it continue; they’ve got heritage, history and I can’t really think of a bad bike they’ve built. Every one of us has had a Yamaha in our lives at some point.