Origins

Before I start here, I just thought I should let you know that the info here is strictly my opinion and based on my own research. In other words it’s flawed! For a start its based on what we had imported into Australia so it could easily be a distorted view of how things really are. If anyone sees glaring holes in my theories then please, flame me! I am happy to take on more info on this motorcycle, its engine and its derivatives. So having said all this, lets jump in.

In Australia, the first motorcycles to see the engine that was to migrate to the AG200 was the SR185 road bike and the XT125/200 trail bikes. All these models made an appearance here in 1982. A bit of hunting around on the net shows that the SR125 may of made an appearance a year earlier in other markets but we got our first taste in ’82. Inspection of the XT series will show a lot familiarity with the AG200. Not much modification was needed to turn the XT into an AG. In fact, if I was pushed to say what was the father of the AG200, I’d say it was the XT200.

And here is one of my first speculations; the XT may of been the daddy of the AG200, but the bike responsible for it was the AG100/175. Why? Because of the 2 stroke emission issues. I think the Japanese could feel the pressure building on emission legislation in the early 80s in their biggest market the USA. Even though they didn’t export the AG200 to the US and probably never even considered it, I think that they felt there needed to be an alternative agricultural bike than the old smokers. And by the way, if you think the AG200 has had a good run then consider the AG100 was first released in 1973 and can still be bought brand new today!

So was the XT the start of the “commodity bike” for Yamaha? The cheap, bread and butter engine for use in multiple models for multiple countries? The models it was used in included the SR, XT, AG, TW, TTR, BW,  and the top end was used in numerous ATV variants as well. I don’t know who the engineer was from Yamaha (I am looking for the answer), but I reckon they did a top job and they sure made some coin for Yamaha!

Model – XT200

Year – 1982

Engine – Air cooled, 4 stroke, Single cylinder, DOHC

Capacity – 196cc

Bore/stroke – 67 x 55.7mm

Compression ratio – 9.5:1

Max power – 18hp @ 8500rpm

Max torque – 1.6kg-m @ 8000rpm

Front brake – Drum

Rear Brake – Drum

Front tire – 2.75-21

Rear tire – 4.10-18

Dry weight – 98kg

Specs are a bit light on, I will post updates as I find them.

Cheers

AGman

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