As many of you may know, most of my recent designs have circled around the idea of modern 2-strokes with direct injection. However, for this design, I wanted to sketch up something that was a dream for myself. When I stopped and thought, what is my favourite, most bad-ass 2-stroke dream bike? The bike that always comes to mind is the Yamaha TZ750.
With 4-cylinders of brutal 2-stroke power, they certainly weren’t designed for riding down the road to pick up some milk and bread!
In 1975, the great Kenny Roberts Sr rode a TZ750 Dirt-Tracker to victory at the Indianapolis Mile, quoting “They don’t pay me enough to ride that thing.” For those of you who want to see Kenny making the beast sing at the Indy Mile in 2009, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k8hJWKIVNs
A TZ750-powered Dirt-Tracker.
So, with these inspiring beasts of the 70’s, here is where the TZ7.5 sketch began. The idea behind it wasn’t to mock up a pleasant commuter, but a raw, GP-inspired street bike with modern componentry, improved braking and handling characteristics, the original TZ750 engine, as well as all the little things that make us love two-strokes!
So, if you walked into a Yamaha Dealership looking for a new street bike, would you be riding out of the showroom on a smooth, reliable R6, or a brutal, smokey TZ7.5?
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My Story
Welcome to the 2 Smokin' Blog!
My name is Morgan Driessens and I am a Graphic Designer from Brisbane, Australia.
Like many of you, I'm a passionate fan of the beautiful 2-stroke engine! I intend to focus these articles on views of the past, present and future of the smokers as well as conducting interviews that examine methodology and development used by privateers throughout history.
2 Comments
Nice blog. 2 stroke never die in our country (Malaysia) eventough this model had stopped in many countries around 15 years ago. Check out this link http://www.yamaha-motor.com.my/products-details.php?id=1
Nice little beast Julian! I’m glad that Malaysia is still continuing with them!