THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND YAMAHA’S ILLEGAL TZ750 ENGINE

It made so much power they banned it from AMA flat track. Kenny Roberts rode it sideways to legend status. The TZ750 was a 747cc two-stroke four-cylinder race bike. Infamous for being too powerful for flat track — eventually banned. Kenny Roberts’ famous quote: “They don’t pay me enough to ride that thing.” In 1975, a wildly powerful Yamaha race bike took the Indianapolis mile by storm, with Kenny Roberts at the helm. He dominated the race, but the bike's raw power proved too much, leading to a swift ban. This is the story of an illegal creation, a *2 stroke* machine deemed too dangerous for *motorcycle racing* and *flat out* competition.