The bike that time forgot

As fresh as when it left the factory in 1990, this limited edition Yamaha defies the decades.

- Simon de Burton tells its story

To the uninitiated, Yamaha's FZR750R OWO1 might look like any other 1990s superbike with a name like a WiFi code - but to those who know, this is a true racer for the road that was created to counter Honda's dominance of the World Superbike Championship with its RC30. To meet homologation requirements Yamaha needed to build 1000 OWO1s, a mere

125 of which landed in the UK - complete with a whopping price tag of £12,700, double the cost of a standard FZ750 road bike and a sum equivalent today to £33,000.

For their money, buyers got a 749cc engine that produced 121bhp at a screaming 12,000rpm thanks to the use of forged pistons, hand-polished ports, big valves, titanium conrods and a quartet of 38mm Mikuni flatslide carburettors.