Manufacture facts: The Japanese company began producing motorcycles in 1955 with the YA-1 motorcycle, it was a 125cc, 2-stroke, single-cylinder streetbike. In 1958 the first Yamaha motorcycles came to USA by Cooper Motors, an independent distributor. Those earily models were the YD-1 ( a 250cc, 2-stroke, twin-cylinder streetbike ) and MF-1 ( a 50cc, 2-stroke, single-cylinder step-through streetbike ). In 1970 Yamaha introduced it's first 4-stroke motorcycle and eleven years later a shaft-driven V-Twin cruiser ( the Virago 750 ) in 1981. In 1998 the popular YZF-R1 sport bike was introduced followed by it's little brother, YZF-R6 in 1999. They began with simple and inexpensive machines but have grown to a powersports powerhouse, offering some of the best sportbikes, cruisers and off-road bikes on the market.