GL750 made by YAMAHA?????

[F6BANGER]

I always thought the GL was a honda bike. Yamaha made the GL750 in 1971. It never went into production. If it had....WOW, what a screamer it would have been.

http://www.classicyams.com/special-yamaha-bikes/special-yamaha-bikes/yamaha-gl750.html

They also had a rotary engine bike

http://www.classicyams.com/special-yamaha-bikes/special-yamaha-bikes/yamaha-rz201.html

[bigguy]

Cool. I didn't know about Yamaha's rotary. Suzuki had one also.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/2009/05/06/where-was-the-re-5/

[alph]

Please forgive my ignorance, but, what does the “GL” stand for?

[bigguy]

Please forgive my ignorance, but, what does the “GL” stand for?

Yeah, Me too. I just assumed it was some Honda nomenclature.

[old2soon]

The Yamaha G L 750 I M H O would have been a world beating azz kicking machine in it's day. That rotary thingy probably wouldn't be that far behind it. Of course if memory seves we had a "fuel crisis" going on at the time and i think the tree huggers were starting to make more noise. I bet any self respecting gear head would jump at a chance to see automotive/motorcycle/train/plane etc etc etc stuff that DIDN'T make it to market. :2funny:0 RIDE SAFE.

[John Schmidt]

Please forgive my ignorance, but, what does the “GL” stand for?

Probably GoldLing....with the proper accent of course. 

[Ghost Rider 2]

  Have heard it stands for  Grand Luxury.

[bigguy]

The Yamaha G L 750 I M H O would have been a world beating azz kicking machine in it's day. That rotary thingy probably wouldn't be that far behind it.

I don't think the rotary engines preformed all that well. One previous RE5 owned commented on my blog saying:

"I was also the owner of a 1977 Suzuki RE5. My RE5 was fast, but the chassis was the same as the water buffalo…meaning, it handled poorly and was heavy.
It was thirsty! I might get 15mpg out of it on a slow day!
The engine itself was quite reliable. The bike electrics were awful.
I thought it was a fun ride if for no other reason – it was very different."

Another review I read mentioned that there was very little low end torque.
I always liked the idea of a rotary engine. A friend of mine in college had an RX-7. It just never lived up to my expectation. It was fast in the top end, but slow off the start and couldn't climb hills or pull much on the small trailer he occasionally used.

[Gryphon Rider]

I always liked the idea of a rotary engine. A friend of mine in college had an RX-7. It just never lived up to my expectation. It was fast in the top end, but slow off the start and couldn't climb hills or pull much on the small trailer he occasionally used.

Perhaps your expectation might have been different if you considered that it was a 1.1L - 1.3L (depending on year) engine.  I had a 1980 RX-7.  Real fun once moving.  Poor ventilation made it almost impossible to see out the windows in winter, and the carb would ice up in foggy weather.