Yamaha YDS-2

This is another very special story that is close to my nostalgic heart. I have spent a considerable amount of time in recent weeks trying to better develop the information I have on this illustrious tiddler. I have been working on a comprehensive chart for all the Sixties Yamahas, and the 1962 YDS-2 is the central figure driving my fantasies. Aside from the official brochures, this is the only decent photo of a '62 YDS-2 that I have. Photos of the later YDS-3 are far more common due to the simple growth in the production and importation numbers. There was, of course, a YDS-1, the first 250cc sport model. I have been unable to ascertain if the YDS-1 was ever officially imported into the U. S. or not, but I am certain the YDS-2 was, since it was the first bike I saw on the floor of the local Yamaha dealer back in '62. Did I actually see one in 1961? That, too, is possible since I cannot accurately remember if the first time I went to that shop was in '61 or '62, but it clearly was not in 1960 or '63.

Back in the good old days, we used to have these dirty, dingy little motorcycle shops lit by bare light bulbs and inevitably owned or managed by local, low-budget racers just trying to fund their expensive hobbies. These were places that I am sure Tim the Toolman loved and boys like me, not yet quite old enough to drive, loved to visit. My mom used to actually drive me over there. Yeah, I know that's embarrassing to admit, but the shop was twenty miles from my home. What did you expect me to do, ride my bicycle? Honda had just recently established a beachhead and Yamaha was the next Japanese brand I discovered. I would graduate from my Allstate Cruisaire in a year or two with one of the first YG-1's to arrive at this dealership in the spring of '63.

This shop had not only a YDS-2, but an Ascot Scrambler and a TD-1! They probably all left the dealership with my drool on them! Although I was a dirt rider from the beginning, when all you have for wheels is a three-speed bicycle built in Japan or a '57 Cruisaire, the YDS-2 with its five-speed transmission and blistering acceleration that would leave a Super Hawk in its blue smoke was a real dream machine. Soon thereafter my next door neighbor got a YD-3, but there was an unmistakable excitement quotient missing from its blue, full-coverage fenders, electric starter, and four-speed transmission. There was a homely little baby-blue MF-1 in town, too, that all the Honda Cub riders looked upon with disdain. I met another local racer who probably went up against an Ascot Scrambler or two. His machine was a Hawk with wide bars, knobby tires, a C110 tank, and wonderfully loud exhausts. I am reminded of a quote from Robert Redford in Little Fauss & Big Halsey when he tells Michael Pollard that sickles is a dangerous toy: the Hawk racer would forfeit his life on that machine in competition a few years later.

As far as I know, the leading difference between the YDS-1 and the YDS-2 is that the former had only a four-speed transmission. The main improvement in the YDS-3 was, of course, Autolube. I'm sure there were many additional, detail differences, but these were the big two. Facts are hard to come by on these rare models today. I think the YDS-1 was sold in 1959 and '60, but not necessarily in this country, although I assume that at least a few '60 and '61 models were imported. The YDS-2 could have premiered in 1961, but I am not absolutely certain of that. My1962 brochure clearly states new model. The YDS-3 Catalina received oil injection in '64, along with all the Yamahas except the racers. The Big Bear Scrambler was added to the line in 1965 and the YDS-5 Catalina Electra was added to the line in '67. This model added electric starting and I think the 5 refers to the introduction of a new five-port engine that had one or two additional horsepower. There does not seem to have ever been a YDS-4. The standard road series YD-1-2-3 ended in 1964 or '65. I don't have documentation to verify which year. New, sleeker styling and a general evolution of the breed arrived in '69 or '70 with the YDS-6.

In my mind, I divide Yamahas at the 1968 model year, much as I do Hondas. The introduction of the Honda 350's brought styling borrowed from Triumph, with painted black frames and slender, painted gas tanks, as well as new model nomenclature. Hondas became CB/CL 350, 450, 175, etc., with K1, K2, etc., added to denote year and detail changes. Yamaha introduced the DT-1 in 1968 and the whole Enduro/MX series exploded into DT-1-2-3, AT-1-2-3, etc., with B-C-D suffixes to denote model year detail changes. By 1970 the company even began building four-strokes! Don't for a minute think Yamaha didn't already know how: the engine in the legendary Toyota 2000 GT was designed by Yamaha. James Bond's girlfriend drove one in You Only Live Twice. The YDS-2's excitement had a lot of competition by 1968 from the Suzuki X-6, the Kawasaki Samurai, and even from upmarket with the Bridgestone GTR. Those mean, ugly old CL-77's and Super Hawks continued to dominate the YDS-2 in the showroom sweepstakes, even while they were being coated in two-stroke smoke from the few YDS models that roared out the doors of dealerships. Ah, those were the days.