Yamaha RZ350 Trademarked Abroad; Could The RD350 Make A Comeback?
Modified On May 5, 2023 11:46 AM By Aamir Momin for Yamaha RX100
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Yamaha wants to revive the two-stroker’s legacy in 2023. What’s the best way forward?
Yamaha Japan has trademarked the RZ250 and RZ350 names in their home country, and this has us hopeful and on the edge for good reason.
The RZ350 belongs to the same family as the insane twin-cylinder RD350 sold in India back in the 80’s. And the new patent trademark gives us hope that this iconic moniker could make a comeback.
Now of course, the OG 350 was a two-stroke screamer, and even if it does make a comeback, it can’t do so in the same avatar. It will likely be an environmentally conscious four-stroke twin-cylinder mill, which will be more humble and compliant with the strict emission norms of today while still pushing out enough juices to keep you happy.
The RD350 featured a 347cc twin-cylinder engine making around 30.92PS in India and 32.3Nm. The international-spec RZ350, however, got a more potent liquid-cooled engine belting out around 50PS. Considering these were the benchmarks of performance, if Yamaha were to use the 321cc mill, currently found on the India-bound R3 and MT-03, for a boxy-retro naked, we are game!
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Continuing with the theme of having a 250cc option for the markets where the R25 does the business instead of the R3, the RZ250 could neatly take on the role of the quarter-litre twin-cylinder retro bike.
After all is said and done, if these bikes make it to production, what happens to the XSR family and could these RZs resonate better with Indian buyers? We don’t quite know about the former question but the latter does certainly sound sweeter to our ears. Until then we can enjoy the Yamaha R3 and MT-03 and the arrival of the bigger Yamaha bikes in India. Oh, and Yamaha has also announced the revival of another icon, the RX100, in a modern avatar for India.