Old Bike Australasia - June 03, 2018

60 :OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA

and it was even relatively easy to start, provided you
observed the correct rituals. The dry-sump motor
carried its lubrication in the top frame tube, freeing
up the midriff area that normally belonged to an oil
tank for a decent air filter and all the electrics.
It wasn’t long before Yamaha became aware of
the need for a second model, with more emphasis
on road use and with a battery, lighting (the

headlight sourced from the TY250), indicators,

instruments, a horn, larger (160mm) front brake,

steel (rather than plastic) mudguards, and a street

legal exhaust system – all of which added weight

but still resulted in a pretty nifty package that sold

very well from the moment of its release. The XT

engine was basically identical to the TT but used a

smaller 32mm carburettor.

So that’s the range, Yamaha concluded, job done.

Well, not quite. More than a few XT owners eyed

their mount and saw stars – Gold Stars. Herein was

the basis for a new breed of road rocket, one that

with a bit of work, would not look out of place in

the forecourt of the Ace Café. Some attempts were

made but the result was always compromised by

certain limitations of the donor machine – most

notably the overall height and front suspension

geometry. It wasn’t just a restyling exercise, and

Yamaha was loathe to explore a concept born purely

out of nostalgia.

At the time, Sydney advertising agency Harris

Robinson and Associates handled the Yamaha adver-

tising account for NSW distributors McCulloch of

Australia. There was a great deal of motorcycle expe-

rience on tap here, with Vincent Tesoriero in charge

of promoting the Mr Motocross Series and previously

at the helm of the Castrol Six Hour Race, as well as

various staff members who rode bikes. Vincent takes

up the story. “We used to travel regularly to Hama-

matsu in Japan to have meetings with the Yamaha

marketing department. One time around 1976, my

throughout the history of motorcycling –Manx

Nortons, Matchless, AJS, Gold Star BSA, Velocette and

so on. And as the campaign came together it was

only natural for us to put two and two together and

imagine what the new XT 500 motor would look like

in a road frame. After all, both Robbo and I owned

500 Velocettes, so we understood ‘the vibe’.

“A few weeks later when we went back to Japan

to present the XT500 campaign, we also had some

concept ideas and layouts for a new 500 road bike

in my portfolio. These visuals had the concept bike

standing proudly alongside the great classic marques

and spoke of their racing heritage, successes at the

TT Races, and the great riders who rode them.

“At the Yamaha Factory and in front of a room

full of marketing people we presented the XT500

campaign and explained the history of the 500

single engine. They seemed to grasp the heritage

angle, so we unveiled our idea of using the 500cc

motor in a road bike configuration. I don’t know

what happened after that. The discussion went from

stilted English to animated Japanese and continued

for six hours and late into the night. The next

morning we were supposed to fly back to Australia,

but we were escorted back to Yamaha’s marketing

office to repeat the presentation to a room full of

development engineers, then again to another

group of production people. This went on all day.

The room kept filling up with more people, the

presentation kept getting slicker and finally the MD

comes down and we had to start all over again – for

YAMAHA SR500

business partner Michael Robinson and I went there

to be briefed on the various new models and the

campaigns they wanted us to develop to launch the

bikes into Australia and NZ. One such bike was the

brand new XT500, which featured a glorious looking

500cc single motor. Back in Australia we came up

with some great creative for the new XT500 model

which spoke about the evolution of the 500cc single

engine and all the great bikes it had powered

the fifth time. That night we were driven back to

the airport without any real idea of what happened

or what they thought. Imagine a room of 30 factory

people, all dressed in the same uniform, all

speaking Japanese, for two days straight. No break.

No lunch. We were exhausted and wondering why

we had bothered.

“The next morning when we arrived back in

Sydney there was a message waiting at the office.

“They seemed to grasp

the heritage angle, so we

unveiled our idea of using the

500cc motor in a road bike

configuration. I don’t know

what happened after that.”

ABOVEBrand new SR500 in the pits at Bathurst

in 1978. BELOWA much younger editor aboard

an SR500 in this 1978 ad.

The original poster by Alan

Puckett produced in 1978 for

the Australian SR500 launch.