From the Archives: Yamaha Virago

With the slogan " Yamaha XV. Run wild, run free", Yamaha was supposed to attract customers in the cruiser segment, and not least take market share in the United States.

The text and photos in the sales brochure deliberately played on American cultural history, and it read, among other things, that "More than one century after America`s cowboys tamed the Wild West, their spirit of freedom lives on in the hearts and minds of motorcyclists everywhere. It is for these 20th century riders that we have built our XV range of beautifully-styled custom cruisers".

The Virago series was a huge sales success for Yamaha , and was the first Japanese custom to seriously challenge Harley-Davidson on their home turf.

The XV, which was the model prefix for the Virago, set the standard for factory-produced custom bikes from Japan. The Virago was in production from 1981-2007, and there were 7 versions; XV125, XV250, XV535S, XV750, XV1000 and XV1100. This made the model available to wallets of different thicknesses, and different segments.

The Virago became very popular, thanks in large part to its low seat height with a comfortable seating position, reliable engine, easy maintenance, and classic chopper/cruiser design. The Virago series was replaced by the DragStar