Yamaha’s Big Bear 350 was the company’s first 4WD ATV and entered the U.S. and Canadian market for the 1987 model year, where it became an early benchmark in Yamaha’s utility ATV line. The nameplate was built around a rugged 4-stroke single-cylinder layout with front-wheel drive hardware and a reverse-equipped transmission, which helped establish the model’s reputation as a work-oriented, long-lasting machine rather than a pure sport ATV. Over the years, Yamaha refined the Big Bear through model updates and variant changes, and it remained a familiar sight in Yamaha’s ATV lineup through the 1990s. Yamaha’s year-2000 ATV lineup introduced the Big Bear 400, which indicates the 350 nameplate’s continuous run ended with the 1999 model year before being replaced by the larger-displacement successor.
MODEL HISTORY