Though Yamaha was founded more than a century ago as a maker of meticulously engineered upright pianos, the company is, perhaps, better known these days as one of the world’s premiere makers of high performance motorcycles. The Japanese company’s pivot to motorbikes began in 1955, with the release of its YA-1. In the almost seven decades that have come and gone, Yamaha has produced some of the finest bikes to tackle roadways, raceways, and dirt tracks across the globe.
Of course, not all of those builds have earned a spot alongside the best of Yamaha’s best bikes. That includes one of the company’s lesser appreciated motorcycle creations, the RX50, which hit the streets back in 1983. Though the RX50 will never earn iconic status in the vaunted Yamaha lineup, the bikes have proven harder to come by on the resale market of late, even for collectors looking for one of each with Yamaha builds whose credentials err on the side of cult-hit.
Part of the reason it’s so hard to get your hands on an RX50 is because Yamaha didn’t make very many to begin with. In fact, it’s believed the company only rolled about 2,000 RX50s off the production line. In a genuinely perplexing move, those RX50s that did make it to the North American market were not offered for sale in Yamaha showrooms. In fact, Yamaha reportedly prohibited the sale of the RX50 by even authorized dealers in the market. Here’s why.
The mini cruiser was part of an unusual promotion from Yamaha
Manufacturing and marketing a motorcycle but prohibiting its sale sounds a little odd, to put it nicely. But it turns out that Yamaha bosses never had any intention of putting a price tag on the RX50, as the bike was made strictly as part of a promotion that showcased what would become one of its more celebrated builds of the 1980s: the Midnight Special.
Team Yamaha was so certain the Midnight Special cruiser would be a hit with North American bikers, it wanted to ensure its target audience stepped into showrooms across the U.S. to get a good look at the V-Twin cruiser up close. They did so by requiring its sales force to set up an RX50 in the same showrooms, and tempting potential Midnight Special buyers with the possibility of also winning an RX50 as part of a no-cost raffle.
You read that correctly, Yamaha actually gave away all 2,000 of its RX50s for free. Given the RX50’s designation as a giveaway motorcycle, Yamaha’s design team understandably didn’t break the bank when putting it together. So much so, that one could argue the miniature cruiser’s light weight, low-to-the-ground build, and 50cc engine made it more of a moped than a proper motorcycle. Even still, the RX50 cut a slick-enough profile to entice many Yamaha fans to try their luck by entering the raffle. Presumably, a few even rode away on one of those Midnight Specials. Relative scarcity aside, these days an RX50 still won’t set you back too many Benjamins, with models in excellent condition valued between $1,000 and $2,000.
