Viragos By The Numbers

The subject of Virago model numbers will surely draw a big yawn from many riders. But a few of us aging diehards actually have an interest in this kind of thing. So for those of you who do--pop a fresh battery into your pacemaker, and buckle up your helmet! You're about to get into some really exciting stuff. Presented here is the result of a little research on how Yamaha assigned model numbers to its Viragos, followed by a rundown of all the US models. This information is as complete and as accurate as I could make it, and carries no warranty for being totally error free. Comments and particularly correcfions will be most welcome. Now let's take one of the most complex and mysterious model numbers, break it down and try to figuure out what each letter and number means:

"XS" - Back in the seventies Yamaha called their street machines by this model designation.

Some other street bike designations were: (e.g. XS650, XS750 triple, XS1100 )

"RD" - For the two strokes

"SR" - Applied to singles

How the "X" was chosen is a mystery to me, but maybe we can speculate that it meant "big". The "S" may very well signify "street". In any event, it is my belief that when the Virago came along, someone in corporate Yamaha said, "We'll keep the "X" (for the "big" part of it), but we'll change the "s" to a "V" in honor of our new big twin engine". In any event, one way or another, the "X" was reused, the "S" was changed to "V", and the "XV" family of twins was born. So we have RULE #1:

"XV" Stands for "Big Twin Street V-Twin", for the Virago series.
Yamaha also uses the "XV" designation on Royal Stars, but they added a "Z" to distinguish between the models. So an "XVZ" prefix in the model number means Royal Star.

The "700" is easy. That's the displacement of the engine; although, as we know, this number seldom reflects the exact displacement. (The "700" in reality, in this case the "699cc" was chosen to bring it under 700cc, to avoid the added tariff which Harley talked Washington into placing on imported bikes 700cc and over, and which lasted through the mid-eighties.) Thus RULE #2:

(XV-700) The number stands for advertised engine displacement.

Now the pot thickens! As a general rule, the letter right after the displacement number reflects the model year of the bike - the year the bike was made. (Note that this year may not always be the same as the year of the bike as shown for vehicle registration purposes.) For example, 1981 (the first year of the Virago) was year "H". But, a difficulty arises in that Yamaha did not assign subsequent letters in strict alphabetical order. If 1981 was year "H", 1982 should be year "I", right? Wrong. 1982 is year "J". And whereas 1984 was year "L", 1985 became year "N". Then "O", "P", "Q", and "R" got dropped and 1986 showed up as year "S". By 1989 we are at year "W", for 1990 Yamaha blew off "X", "Y", and "Z" (no doubt to avoid confusion with models using these letters) and started at the beginning again with your "A". So you can't count on sequential lettering. To really know this stuff, you would have to learn each year by rote, that is to say, memorize it!.

1981 H	1982 J	1983 K	1984 L	1985 N	1986 S	1987 T	1988 U	1989 W
1990 A	1991 B	1992 D	1993 E	1994 F	1995 G	1996 H	1997 J	1998 K

To complicate things further, while the letter designation for the model year usuallyfollows the displacement number, this is not always so. In the years 1981 and 82', Yamaha offered the chain driven "Euro" model 920 (not called Virago), which they designated "R". This "R" shows up before the letter year. Hence, the 920 Euro for 1981 was called the "XV920RH", where "R" is for "Euro", and "H" is for 1981. The same scheme applies for the 1982, year "J".

In 1983 Yamaha dropped the "Euro" model 920, but offered both the 750 and 920 models in two states of trim; the regular paint job, and the "Midnight" paint job. So, in this year, we had the "K" and "MK" models.

"MK" Designates Midnight.    (Same as "K" model except for paint and trim.)

     In years 1986 and 1987, Yamaha offered XV700's with either cast or spoked wheels. So, in 1986 you could buy an XV700CS, where the first "C" means "cast" and "S" is year 1986; or you could buy an XV700SS, where the first "S" means "spoked" or "special", and the second "S" is again the model year. You'll find the same arrangement to be true for 1987 as well, after which Yamaha dropped the spoke wheel models in these displacements. RULE #3: The letter after the displacement designates the model year, except where more than one version was offered, in which case a letter identifying the version comes before the letter designating the model year.

     Finally, we come to the easy one. RULE #4 is: Whenever you see a "C" as the last letter of the model number, it means "California Model". (A primary difference - maybe the only one - between California models and other models is the addition of an evaporative emissions comtrol system consisting of a charcoal canister which collects gas evaporating from the fuel tank. This gas is then sucked into one of the carbs when the engine is running.)

     So now you should be able to look at the model number: XV700CSC and rattle off exactly what it stands for. You're right! It's a Virago Series, 700 cc, Cast Wheels, 1986, California Model, Yamaha motorcycle.

     Finally, a few comments on some of the models. From '81 - '83 all Viragos were shaft drive, mono-shock, with the exception of the "Euro" model which was chain drive. (The "Euro" model was actually not called a "Virago", but was simply designated "RH" and "RJ" models.) In '84 Yamaha went to todays more cruiser-like look. As part of this, the mono-shock was dropped in favor of dual shocks for all models from then on. Regarding the RH, it was offered only in '83 and had cast wheels; the swirl kind like in '81-'83 models. As far as I know, all XV535 models were spokes. From '83 on, all models were shafties, with the exeception of the XV250. (It was called the Route 66 from '88 to '90, when it was dropped from the line. It came back again in 1993 as the XV250 Virago.)

US Virago models by year:

Model Year	Model Designation
1981	XV750H XV920RH (Chain Drive)
1982	XV750J XV920J XV920RJ (Chain Drive)
1983	XV500K (Only one year) XV750K, XV750MK (M=Midnight) XV920K, XV920MK
1984	XV700L, XV700LC XV1000L, XV1000LC
1985	XV700N, XV700NC XV1000N, XV1000NC
1986	XV700SS, XV700SSC (Spokes) XV700CS, XV700CSC (Cast) XV1100S, XV1100SC
1987	XV535T, XV535TC XV700ST, XV700STC (Spokes) XV700CT, XV700CTC (Cast) XV1100T, XV1100TC
1988	XV250U, XV250UC (Route 66) XV535U, XV535UC XV750U, XV750UC XV1100U, XV1100UC
1989	XV250W, XV250WC XV535W, XV535WC XV750W, XV750WC XV1100W, XV1100WC
1990	XV250A, XV250AC XV535A, XV535AC XV750A, XV750AC XV1100A, XV1100AC
1991	XV750B, XV750BC XV1100B, XV1100BC
1992	XV750D, XV750DC XV1100D, XV1100DC
1993	XV535E, XV535EC XV750E, XV750EC XV1100E, XV1100EC
1994	XV535F, XV535FC XV535SF, XV535SFC (Special) XV750F, XV750FC XV1100F, XV1100FC
1995	XV250G, XV250GC XV535G, XV535GC XV535SG, XV535SGC (Special) XV750G, XV750GC XV1100G, XV1100GC
1996	XV250H, XV250HC XV535H, XV535HC XV535SH, XV535SHC (Special) XV750H, XV750HC XV1100H, XV1100HC XV100SH, XV1100SHC (Special)
1997	XV250J, XV250JC XV535J, XV535JC XV535SJ, XV535SJC (Special) XV750J, XV750JC XV1100J, XV1100JC XV100SJ, XV1100SJC (Special)	1997	XV250K, XV250KC XV535K, XV535KC XV1100K, XV1100KC XV100SK, XV1100SKC (Special)
1998	XV250K, XV250KC XV535K, XV535KC XV535KJ, XV535SKC (Special) XV1100K, XV1100KC XV100SK, XV1100SKC (Special) (XV-750 Discontinued)

Researched and written by Mac Mc Curdy

VOC Webmaster

Rev. 9/97