The Yamaha DT is a series of

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s and

mopeds A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typi ...

produced by the

Yamaha Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of motorcycles, marine products such as boats and outboard motors, and other motorized products. The company was established in 1955 upon separation from Yamaha Corporation (however, Yamaha Corporation ...

. Models in the DT series feature an

engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...

of . The first DT model, the DT-1, was released in 1968 and quickly sold through its initial 12,000 production run. The DT series was created by Yamaha in the late 1960s when the United States motorcycle market was down. Market research by Yamaha indicated that, despite slow motorcycle sales, there was a largely untapped market for off-road motorcycles. At the time, only a few specialty European manufacturers such as

Bultaco Bultaco was a Spanish manufacturer of two-stroke motorcycles from 1958 to 1983. In May 2014, a new Bultaco was announced. Origins The origin of the Bultaco motorcycle company dates from May 1958. Francesc "Paco" Bultó was a director of the ...

and Husqvarna made motorcycles specifically for off-road use. Instead, many owners purchased road motorcycles and modified them for off-road use, typically by raising the

muffler A muffler (North American and Australian English) or silencer (British English) is a device for reducing the noise emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine—especially a noise-deadening device forming part of the exhaust sys ...

, adding braced handlebars, and fitting a bash plate under the engine . Such modifications were commonly known as creating

scrambler In telecommunications, a scrambler is a device that transposes or inverts signals or otherwise encodes a message at the sender's side to make the message unintelligible at a receiver not equipped with an appropriately set descrambling device. Wher ...

s. The first DT model, the DT-1

trail bike The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', and ''dual-purpose''. ''Sport touring'' is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the ''touring' ...

, was released in 1968 and quickly sold out.

DT-1

With the introduction of the DT-1, Yamaha essentially defined a new market for motorcycles. A

Dual-sport motorcycle A dual-sport motorcycle is a type of street-legal motorcycle that is designed for both on and off-road use. The terms ''all-road,'' ''on/off road,'' and ''dual-purpose'' are also used for this class of motorcycles. Dual-sports are equipped with ...

built for off-road riding, the light and slim DT-1 was equipped with block-pattern tires and had sufficient ground clearance. Its design put it at the cutting edge of off-road bikes at that time. It had a 250 cc, single-cylinder, 5-port engine based on a motocross design, and

Ceriani Ceriani, formerly Arces, was an Italian company that designed and fabricated motorcycle frames and suspensions. The company was founded by Arturo Ceriani in 1951. Arces is an acronym derived from Arturo Ceriani S.r.l. In the European motorcycl ...

-type front suspension. The

Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

, included the 1968 Yamaha Trail 250 (aka DT-1) as one of their ''240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology''. A monoshock rear suspension system was introduced starting in 1977 giving rise to the "MX" prefix on model numbers.

Models in the DT series

* DT50LC * DT50M * DT50MX * DT50R * DT50X * DT80MX * DT80LC * DT80R * DT100MX * DT100R * DT100E * DT125 * DT125LC * DT125MX * DT125R * DT125X * DT125RE * DT175 * DT175MX * DT * DT180 * DT200R * DT230 Lanza * DT250 * DT250MX * DT250R * DT350LC * DT350R * DT360 * DT400B *DT400MX

References

{{Yamaha motorcycles timeline 50s DT-1 Motorcycles introduced in 1968 Two-stroke motorcycles Off-road motorcycles