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janetra > Intel > Honda and Yamaha Motorcycles > History of the Yamaha Virago

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History of the Yamaha Virago

By Janet Ashby

The Yamaha Virago was introduced in 1981 and was the first cruiser style motorcycle with a V twin powered engine. It was also among the earliest motorcycles mass produced with single shock rear suspension. The original virago had a 750 cc engine which was closely followed by 500cc and 920cc models.

In 1982 the XV920 with some deluxe features including dual front discs LCD display gauges (which later proved unreliable and was replaced by an analogue version) and easily adjustable handlebars. In 1983 the XV500 Virago was produced. Both the 920 and 750 Viragos had high gloss black paint finishes and gold accents on black engines.

In 1984 the Virago was remodelled to include a rear two shock design and a tear shaped gas tank was introduced. With a tariff being put into place on imported motorcycles over 700cc Yamaha replaced the 750cc version with a 699cc version. The 920cc version was upgraded to 1000cc. A 250cc version was also introduced in the late 1980’s. A 125cc version was also produced for a short time.

In 1986 the 1000cc was upgraded again to 1063cc with a new name, the Virago XV1100. The main tank was enlarged to 1.4 gals and the secondary tank disappeared. In 1988, with the rescinding of the tariff on imports the 750cc Virago was reintroduced.

More recently the larger displacement models were phased out being replaced by Road Star and the V Star models. The last Virago, the 250 was produced in 2007 after which it was named the V Star 250.

This intel first appeared on: http://motorcycle-enthusiasts.com/2008/10/10/history-of-the-yamaha-...

Contributed by janetra on October 12, 2008, at 7:24 PM UTC.

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This intel was contributed by janetra


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