YAMAHA 80 YG-1

1964 Yamaha 80 YG-1

It wasn’t brand new.
It was red.
It sparked/started and ran and that was all that mattered.
Nothing could eclipse the excitement that dominated the mood in our household due to its presence.
I was the baby of the family (still am) and as such, relegated to the “background” of happenings in the home - even despite this being a major one!
As everyone else began jockeying for riding privileges and turns, I was nowhere in consideration!
The word of the newly acquired motorcycle got around and all our neighborhood friends gathered around us and our home that now was buzzing with serious excitement.
It was then that big brother Leo began to promise to not only give each and everyone a ride on it , but promised to make time to teach the really close friends and relatives how to ride it.
So that’s how it started off until the novelty of “the new bike” wore off.
I remember very distinctively when the day arrived when he took me out to an open field in the neighborhood and actually let me get astride it with very explicit and strict instructions on how to operate it from a standstill.
Up till that point, my true joy was only of being a pillion rider.
I never refused a ride on the bike with him and I was living my life from one ride to next, always in anticipation of the next.
Well, being an aged bike, it was natural that he had to give it some TLC.
I have very faint memories of it requiring a considerable amount of resources and probably would necessitate being replaced.
If my memory serves me well, he soon acquired a second one - used, but new to him, which he put into much better mechanical condition utilizing some parts off the previous one.
Then from the dealership, he purchased a piston, piston rings and a cylinder barrel that brought the engine back into “new specs”.
For us now, it became a brand new bike!
It served him well, allowing him to efficiently take care of chores and errands that Dad and Mum laid out for him, and prepared him for his formative and responsible adult years for which he was gradually beginning to be groomed.
I would always help him wash and clean the bike.
Doing that made me feel that I had earned the privilege of a future ride.
So, life was good.
Really good.
This was a taste of freedom!
Over the years with the proliferation of information in our lives, I have come to learn a little bit more about this bike.
Most of which I had seen by and through raw experience and hands-on proximity but really was not technically educated nor experienced enough to be truly aware of what a fine machine - design and quality-wise, that my brother had.
This bike was truly a gem of a machine that was a kind of technical pioneer for the Yamaha company, setting the tone for the age of domination of the small bike market.
It was the first consumer model to boast of a fully automatic/variable oil injection system.
Being a two stroke engine requiring a fuel/oil mixture to run, oil was now able to be metered more accurately for the various riding conditions by the oil pump through normal operation of the throttle.
Both carburetor and oil pump were housed in the side engine case, giving rise to less needed service due to lack of exposure to the ambient conditions.
This little Yamaha also had a rotary valve design which scavenged fuel/air/oil mixture being circulated through the crankcase, re-mixed with incoming fresh fuel/air mix and re-combusted for a more complete “burn”.
This gave the little engine a slight boost in torque/Horsepower at lower rpm’s, as well as a slightly cleaner combustion - compared to the typical smoky two-stroke engine technology and resulting emissions of the day.
As a result of it’s well refined design, the YG-1 was smooth, torquey, fast for it’s size and class, stylish and a great pleasure to ride.



Some specifications:
Engine: Single cylinder, 2-stroke cycle, 80cc displacement.
Drivetrain: Chain-driven (fully enclosed)
Transmission: 4-Speed, left foot shift, all forward selection
Throttle and clutch: Cable operated
Top Speed: In those days it was definitely warp speed!
Wheels: Wire spoked. (Aluminum/Aluminium alloy wheels did not exist in those days)
Brakes: Drum brakes, cable-operated in front and solid rod straight from the rear foot brake pedal on the right side for the rear.
Suspension: Telescopic front forks and a pair of rear oil-filled units - all non-user adjustable.
Electrical System: 6-volts, Magneto. Sporting a generously sized headlight, flashers, tail-light/brake-light assembly, Neutral indicator light, Hi beam/Lo beam indicator light and of course an indicator light for the flashers.



I learned how to ride on this machine, it was exciting.
I learned how to dismantle and decarbonize the exposed piston head and internal cylinder head from watching my brother doing this so proficiently.
I have no doubt he could have done it in his sleep!
It was all about maintaining the machine in peak performance and efficiency.