Yamaha sold a ton of these 500cc thumpers. Hardcore off-road racers scoffed at the bulky TT500, but the bike was a perfect low-maintenance playbike in its era. The TT500, with its chrome tank and orange highlights, harkened back to the classic off-road bikes of the 1950s and it became an iconic motorcycle in its own right. The XT500 was essentially the same motorcycle with lights making it street legal. Road racers and flat trackers across the country converted these bikes into racing machines.

An ad for the 1977 Yamaha TT500.