Parallel Lines

While the R1-Z didn’t officially come into the UK, there is a lot to love about this Yamaha parallel-twin two-stroke, according to Andy Bolas.

- Andy Bolas

A few decades ago virtually everyone at the beginning of their biking career would have owned or ridden a two-stroke 250: it was a given! Okay, so – as time went on – not all were giant killers and not all were tuned to the edge of sanity, but many are looked at fondly today, with the benefit of hindsight.

I have a hunch that, if the bike we’re about to test had been a UK model (and I can’t for the life of me see why it wasn’t an official import) it would have been a sales success and a successor to the cult of the RD-LC! At a quick glance you can pick up on its LC lineage and while not a racer for the road (looks can be deceiving as we find out later on) it does take its heart from Yamaha’s ‘street racer’ the TZR250 and that most mental of motorcycles the TDR250, so it’s also a bit of a parts bin special with wheels from this forks from that, but the end result is so much more than the sum of its parts! It really is that sort of motorcycle.

These 250 parallel twin motors were once the benchmark for 250 performance and are still sound performers today – think of around 50bhp... It’s also easy to get parts for as it’s a common motor across the 2MA model TZR and the TDR range, so even if it does go wrong you shouldn’t have a major headache rebuilding it, not that they’re unreliable, of course.

As two-stroke 250s go these are pretty good and speaking from experience as a TZR250 owner my own 2MA had covered over 18k miles on its original pistons and rings which were only replaced really as a precaution. That’s pretty good.