Yamaha RX 100 : Yes, that unforgettable two-stroke ring still rings in the ears its fans in India!
That purring, whirring, howling sound — a halfway-buzz/halfway-scream — was supposed to have gone out of era of motorcycling long ago. But occasionally, legends refuse to become just a part of the past.
After months of rampant speculation and blurry spy shots, I can now exclusively reveal what motorcycle fans have been struggling to believe: Yes, Yamaha is reviving the legendary RX 100 in 2025.
The relaunch is more than just another bike revival; it’s the rebirth of a machine that rose above its workmanlike origins to become a true cultural phenomenon.
Table of Contents
Yamaha RX 100 The Legend That Stopped Growing
For those of you too young to remember, the original Yamaha RX 100 was more than just another motorcycle — it was a sensation.
Introduced to the India market in 1985, its mix of featherweight construction (it’s a mere 103 kg wet), punchy 98cc two-strokes motor and eye-popping acceleration made it an instant hit with riders on the lookout for a budget thrill chic ride.
“You never really had an RX 100 — you were just its temporary custodian,” mused Rajesh Kumar, a 56-year-old vintage motorcycle collector I encountered at a classic bike show in Delhi last month.
“Mine was handed down to my nephew who sold it to a college friend and it’s still running perfect 28 years later.”
It wasn’t the performance figures that made the RX special (though its 11 PS of power was impressive back in the day), but the way it made you feel on the road.
Its snappy throttle response, characteristic clouds of blue smoke and its ability to pop up its front wheel with the merest twitch of the wrist forged an emotional connection with riders that extended long after production ceased in 1996.
Good examples are always fetching prices far in excess of their new ones today. I watched, not too long ago, at a vintage motorcycle auction in Bangalore, a pristine 1985 RX 100 going for a staggering ₹1.75 lakh — approximately seven times its original price.
Yamaha RX 100 Reimagining an Icon for 2025
The dilemma for Yamaha was this: how to distill the magic of a cherished bike but address current emissions regs, safety standards and rider demands.
From what I’ve heard from people familiar with the project and seen of a pre-production model, they’ve treated this challenge with due reverence.
“We just didn’t want to put the RX name on a motorcycle for the sake of it,” said a Yamaha engineer who declined to be identified discussing a confidential project.
“It was about summarizing the essence of the original bike and knowing that the motorcycling has advanced.
The biggest change is what’s under the hood. With today’s regulations, there can be no true two-stroke revival for mass-production street bikes.
In it place, the 2025 RX 100 will supposedly get a 150cc single-cylinder, four-stroke SOHC based, air-cooled engine that puts out about 17 PS — a lot more than the original, but tuned to offer the same instant throttle response that was the hallmark of the original.
“We were obsessed with engine character,” my source went on, “We worried a lot about how it would sound.
“We tested the throttle response and power delivery with well-maintained RX 100s in stock condition.
We weren’t aiming for the same performance, but we wanted to achieve the same atmosphere, the same emotion between the rider and machine.”
From what I saw, the styling is perfectly balanced between retro and contemporary. The iconic teardrop tank is there, as is a sparse, unfussy silhouette.
The round head lamp look has also been retained however now LED illumination will offer better views.
Even the exhaust note has been given excruciating attention, with acoustic engineers working on the intake and exhaust systems for months so they emit a tone that recreates the unique note of the original, without the two-stroke rasp, it is claimed.
Yamaha RX 100 The Features That Matter (And Those That Don’t)
What makes the 2025 RX 100 even more refreshing is what Yamaha has omitted. On a market of ever more complex motorcycles, the new RX is focusing on minimalism. No ride-by-wire throttle, no selectable riding modes, no TFT display.
In contrast, there is a basic, no-nonsense LCD instrument cluster that displays all the pertinent information yet gels well with the clean look of the original model.
The single concession that is modern is single-channel ABS, shortly to be made mandatory for all new motorcycles above 125cc in India.
Even here, Yamaha engineers have programmed the electronics to intervene only if necessary, maintaining the direct relationship between rider action and machine response that characterized the model from its early days.
In a short glimpse of the pre-production model, I saw a number of neat touches: the minutely designed seat that follows the outline of the original, the slim fuel tank that enables riders to naturally grip the bike with their knees, the set-back footpegs that encourage the slightly hunched posture that made the RX 100 such fun on twisty roads.
Yamaha RX 100 Market Positioning and Anticipated Pricing
Yamaha, it seems knows it too and the nameplate RX 100 isn’t something that should be used on a budget wannabe offering but a class leading premium product that they deserve.
The 2025 variant would be a premium offering in its segment and is likely to be priced at around ₹1.25 lakh-1.4 lakh (ex-showroom).
This pricing pits it against offerings like the Honda SP 160, TVS Apache RTR 160, and the Bajaj Pulsar N160, yet Yamaha is hoping that the emotional connect and the unique character of the RX brand will justify the premium it charges.
“They’re not taking on the market on specs or features,” said automotive analyst Srinivas Krishnan when I called him to put the relaunch into perspective.
This is all about providing something that’s far too rare in modern motorcycling — mechanical simplicity, direct feedback and emotional involvement.”
Production in the first year is likely to be small, as Yamaha intends to test the waters and make sure there are enough customers for it to ramp up production.
This may, paradoxically, serve as a boost to the motorcycle as scarcity tends to increase demand — as Yamaha itself learnt with the RX 100 after production ceased — and limited availability may work to make the motorcycle more covetable than what it really is.
Yamaha RX 100 The Observer: Old and New Alike
The thing that makes the RX 100 comeback so interesting is that the camera will be targeted toward two groups of consumers.
On the one hand, it seeks to attract riders who are nostalgic because they either owned the original or grew up hearing about it. For this audience, the name itself strikes instant emotional resonance.
“I’ve been planning to buy a Royal Enfield, but I’ll be more than happy to shift plans for a brand new RX,” said Mohan Verma, 48, whom I met at a motorcycle dealership in Delhi. I had an RX 100 as my first motorcycle. I’ve never ridden anything since that felt quite the same.
At the same time, Yamaha sees an opportunity with up-and-coming riders looking for something unique in an era of cookie-cutter motorcycles.
At a time when 160cc motorcycles often share uncanny resemblance in looks and performance, the RX’s story and unique personality gives it some real distinction.
This cross-generational relatability was on display at a recent motorcycle festival in Goa where I noticed not only grey-haired riders but even college kids coalescing around a restored original RX 100 on display and swapping anecdotes and tales across the decades.
Yamaha RX 100 The Cultural Ripple Beyond Transport
What makes the revival of the RX 100 even more significant is its cultural impact. The humble Yamaha has been launched so deep into the Indian popular psyche, that not too many other bikes can claim to have done so.
Not just in hundreds of movie appearances but also as a symbol of youthful rebellion, the RX 100 was more than the sum of its mechanical parts and output.
The motorcycle became almost mythical, especially in south India. It was so popular in Telugu cinema, that a movie bearing the word was named after it — the 2018 romantic drama “RX 100” was not about the mechanics of the bike, but the free-wheeling attitude that it carried.
“The RX 100 was never only about transportation,” said Anupama Chopra, the film critic, in an interview I did with her about the bike’s cultural significance.
“It stood for freedom, rebellion, and a kind of unapologetic truth. That’s why filmmakers today use it as visual shorthand for these qualities decades after it was killed off.”
Yamaha RX 100 Will It Catch Lightning Twice?
At a time we’re watching the motorcycle industry move in a clearly bike-shrink wrapped, electric-and-gadget-forward direction, the 2025 RX 100 appears as a compelling countercurrent — a conscious stripping away of extraneous bits to focus on the bedrock motorcycle experience.
Whether this tactic proves effective for much of a market is another story. What is certain, however, is that no recent relaunch of a motorcycle is so weighed down by precedence or expectation.
There is a lot at stake for Yamaha. Alienating RX fans would inevitably hurt all the goodwill that had been built up for decades.
But so are the potential rewards — re-engaging a passionate owner base and setting themselves apart in an ever-more crowded motorcycle field.
Yamaha seems to have the respect and knowledge of the SR’s legacy that such a revival deserves, from everything I’ve seen and heard about the project.
“Attempted” is the key word here: By thinking more about what the original had been designed to do (emotionally and experientially) than they were about recycling a badge, they’ve succeeded in finally giving this 2025 RX 100 a fair shot at capturing the magic that once made this car so legendary.
In a business ever-more dominated by gadgetry, there’s something unpretentiously bold about a bike that focuses on the basics of the ride.
Whether it’s enough to birth another legend is yet to be found out, but for thousands of fans, the simple sight of those legendary letters returning – RX – is enough to make the heart beat a little faster and the riding dormant reservoir of memories open up once more.
