TRX TURNS 30

2025 marks the 30^th anniversary of Yamaha’s supersports twin, the TRX850. Jon Lambley helped to organise the bike’s big birthday bash…

In late 2024, a few members of the Yamaha TRX Owners Group UK on Facebook, Andy, Paul, Adam and me, decided that we needed to plan an event to celebrate the 30^th anniversary in 2025 of the Yamaha TRX850 supersport twin.

Originally, the TRX was developed to compete on the racetrack with the Ducati 900SS and was initially only sold to the Japanese and Australia markets. It had an 849cc parallel twin engine, with a 270-degree crank and 5 valves per cylinder, which gave it plenty of grunt.

In 1995 Alan Cathcart, motorcycle racer and journalist, was asked to race a TRX850 prepared by Kensei Sato at Over Racing, which he did. Alan won at Assen in the Netherlands and then at the 1996 Battle of the Twins in the USA. The nickname of Alan’s bike was TRiXie.

Impressed with the TRX, Alan played a part in convincing Yamaha to export the TRX850 to Europe but unfortunately, the model just didn’t sell well enough. At the time, it was considered a bit of a ‘parts bin’ bike and was overpriced. As a result, it didn’t really sell that well in the UK which resulted in Yamaha pulling the plug on it after six years.

Over the following decades the number of TRX850s on UK roads was slowly going down. A few were still being raced, many sat in sheds up and down the country. Then during the last 10 years there has been a resurgence in the popularity of the TRX850 and a cult-like status has grown around it. Many people, including me, recently bought one for the first time and discovered what a great machine they are. It’s not the fastest bike out there but they certainly put a smile on your face, which says everything.

Around five years ago Andy Dobson formed the Yamaha TRX Owners Group UK on Facebook, cementing the UK owners together and including many from abroad.

After a discussion in the group, I contacted Alan Cathcart and asked him if he’d be interested in attending a possible event at the Sammy Miller Museum. Alan, being fully aware of the cult-like following for the TRX, agreed straight away with the proposition. He also suggested bringing his race bike TRiXie along, and he later donated one of his glorious, signed books for our raffle to raise money for the local Air Ambulance.

With that result, I then contacted Kensei Sato at Over Racing in Japan to let him know of our plans. He couldn’t attend but sent me a signed photograph and donated several Over Racing T-shirts for us to use in the raffle.

We contacted the Sammy Miller Museum who were also very enthusiastic about the proposed event and a date was set for Saturday 21^st June 2025.

Word spread of our intended 30^th anniversary celebration. Our fellow TRX owners in Australia organised TRX ride-outs to coincide with our event, making it a worldwide celebration. Such is the following for the TRX.

On the day in the UK, TRX owners from across the UK attended in great numbers, including Pieter Hessels with his race bike and Arjan ter Maat with his TRX outfit, both from Holland. In total we had about 60 machines on display, including Alan’s TRiXie, which his engineer Alistair Wager brought along and prepared.

The first thing was for Alan to open the new Italian section at Sammy’s Museum, which was the museum café until they built the new one.

Alan then gave us short talk about TRiXie and his exploits on trach. Then mechanic Alistair fired her up for us all to admire. Alan gave us a demonstration ride around the car park, which was great to see. Sammy Miller himself joined us, giving a short speech and then telling us that TRiXie would now be displayed in his museum for the rest of the year.

Everyone spent time talking about TRXs, modifications and the like and then in the afternoon Alan presented a few prizes to some of the TRX owners. We in return, presented Alan with a superb original cartoon drawing of TRiXie and himself by Klimmis, which he loved. We then had the raffle for Alan’s signed book, the signed photo of Kensei Sato and the Over T-shirts, which along with the event badges, raised nearly £800 for the local Air Ambulance.

All in all, the event went very well and was thoroughly enjoyed by all, including the museum staff, Alistair, Alan and Alan’s son Andrew.

Long live the TRX850. If you know, you know. If you don’t, then you’re missing out!

Photos by Jon Lambley and Declan McWilliams