Introduced in 1980, this Yamaha nameplate brought the company’s familiar SR idea to the quarter-liter class: a simple, air-cooled single intended to deliver easygoing, everyday riding with classic standard-bike styling. Yamaha’s own launch materials from 1980 describe it as a newly released 250cc model positioned as a friendly, human-oriented motorcycle, and the company’s product library identifies a 1981 U.S.-market model year entry for the same nameplate. The bike was closely associated with Yamaha’s broader SR family and carried the same basic retro-leaning, big-single character that made the larger SR models popular with riders who wanted a straightforward, traditional motorcycle rather than a highly styled commuter.
The nameplate then returned after an apparent gap, with reputable historical references placing a second production period in the early 2000s, from 2001 through 2004. That later run is generally treated as a revival of the original concept rather than a completely separate idea: a lightweight, easy-to-live-with single aimed at markets that still valued uncomplicated roadster styling and approachable performance. Because the model was produced in more than one distinct era, its history should be understood as a nameplate with an initial 1980s run and a later early-2000s revival, not a single continuous production span.