Homologated Superbike just 500 produced

I bought this bike through an auction in Tokyo and sold it to a valued client and bought it back again because its such a nice example! Rare opportunity! The pictures here are from the original auction however the bike is now in storage in our workshop in New Zealand. Yamaha’s FZ750R. codenamed OW01. really is a race bike for the road. not a road bike for going racing. Only 500 examples were manufactured making them one of the most ought after Yamaha's produced.

Yamaha’s answer to Honda's RC30 – the FZR750R OW01 – is rarer and more exotic. When launched for 1989 in the UK the OW01 cost a staggering ?12. 00. more than twice as much as an FZR1000. with the optional race kit adding ?2. 15 to the price. Just 197 made their way to British shores. and only 88 were ever road registered. many of which went straight into collections.  By way of comparison. the Honda RC30 cost ?8. 99 but its race kit was considerably more extensive and expensive. (Yamaha included much more race-orientated trickery as standard. hence the difference).

So what did the lucky OW01 buyer get back in 1989? Well. the Deltabox alloy beam frame had already been seen on road-going FZRs. but was minus internal sound deadening. while the suspension was just about the best available: 43mm front forks and Ohlins rear shock. with ride height. spring pre-load. compression and rebound damping adjustment at both ends. Nissin magnesium-bodied four-pot brake calipers gripped FZR1000-size front discs. and the wheels were 17” diameter.

A stressed member of the chassis. the 749cc. 20-valve motor was of shorter stroke than the preceding FZ750 and incorporated two-ring pistons and titanium con-rods. 38mm flat-slide Mikuni carburettors supplied the fuel. On the exhaust side. the presence of Yamaha’s EXUP valve downstream of the header pipes ensured that. even though tuned for 121bhp. the motor possessed adequate tractability for road use. ‘Pulling away is still normal; there’s no drama. no fuss. not even the high-geared RC30’s feeling that you’ve mistakenly selected third. reported Bike magazine. The controls too. revealed the OW’s race orientation: remote master-cylinder reservoir. q-d speedometer and span-adjustable brake lever coming as standard.

In the World Superbike Championship. the OW01 won races in its first season courtesy of Fabrizio Pirovano and Britain’s Terry Rymer. and continued to be competitive at world level for the next couple of years. On the UK domestic scene. the ‘OW’ fared even better. Rymer finishing runner-up to Trevor Nation’s Norton Rotary in the ’89 British Championship before taking the title the following year for Loctite Yamaha.

This Japanese example frame #648 is in excellent condition and has travelled just 7. 00km or 4. 00miles. It rides beautifully and needs nothing. The original OW01 toolkit is even present - a rarity.

This is an opportuity not to be missed. We can ship this bike worldwide.

Also published at eBay.com