In the Asian market, the lightweight (engine displacement of less than 250 cc) On-Road off-road vehicles that can be licensed on public roads were all the rage in the eighties and nineties of the last century, mainly for two reasons: first of all, the users in the Asian market are generally smaller than those in Europe and the United States, and in addition, the main Japanese manufacturers who made such products at that time corresponded to the local Japanese driver's license type classification in the face of the thriving Japanese domestic market. In the lightweight segment, European manufacturers tend to only produce higher-performance off-road off-road cars for off-road use, while On-Road models are 125 cc, 50 cc low-displacement models for local license management classification, or directly to the 500 cc - 650 cc midweight class.
We'll add to some trends in lightweight On-Road off-roaders later.
Against this backdrop, off-road models from four Japanese manufacturers in the 250 cc class have sprung up: water-cooled, air-cooled, two-stroke, four-stroke... One of the giants of the motorcycle industry, Yamaha added the TT250R to their lineup in 1993, giving Yamaha as many as five models in its home market segment: the TT250R, the XT225 Serow (later upgraded to the 250), the TW200 (later upgraded to the 225), also powered by a four-stroke engine, and the DT200WR with a two-stroke engine, and a two-stroke sports car-grade engine TDR250。
The TT name used to be Yamaha's flagship product, especially the TT600 for the European and American markets, and its sales have continued until previous years since its introduction in the early 80s. The new TT250R, on the other hand, has an extra R, which means it has better performance than the SOHC two-valve engines on sale at the time, such as the XT225 Serow and TW200, to cope with the competition of other competitors at the time, such as the DR250, KLX250, and XR250.
First released in 1993, the TT250R was powered by an air-cooled, four-stroke, single-cylinder, DOHC four-valve engine with a bore, 73 mm x 59.6 mm stroke, 249 cc displacement, and a six-speed gearbox with a maximum horsepower output of 30 hp. The body is a steel-tube cradle-like frame, with a 43 mm fork core with a vertical fork with a long travel of 280 mm, a monotube rear shock absorber with a travel of 280 mm, and a digital instrument panel with a diameter of 21 and 18 inches in the rear, which was rare in low-displacement models at the time.
In addition to the standard TT250R, the TT250R Raid was followed by a large 16-litre fuel tank and high-brightness round headlights. The next episode of this model will introduce this version.
From its first launch in 1993 to its last update in 1997, the TT250R has not undergone a lifetime change. The 1995 model was updated with a slight modification of the power take-off characteristics and tweaks to some handling details.
In 1997, the last update of the Japanese version, in addition to a new body decal pattern, the digital instrument panel also added functions such as a clock.
Although the TT250R was gradually withdrawn from the Japanese home market shortly after the last update was released in 1997, sales of the TT250R continued in overseas markets such as Europe, North America, and Australia until around 2011. For the European market, the TT250R's maximum power output has been lowered to 28 hp, and the only changes from year to year are basically the body pattern/decals, and the mechanical specifications and equipment are largely unchanged.
Picture below, the Australian version of the TT250R.
Picture below, TT250R US version.
(To be continued)