1969 Yamaha DS6-C Street Scrambler. Owner: Ed Heckman, Paso Robles, California.
For more than 10 years 250 two-stroke twins were the mainstay of the Yamaha range here in the United States, from the DS1 of 1959 (though not sold in the U.S. until 1961) to the DS7 of 1972. We have no idea what the DS stands for, but doubt that it has anything to do with the DS prefix used in Yamaha?s music department. Two-strokes were the popular engines for sporty bikes in the 1960s, being reasonably powerful and inexpensive to make. Running against this 250 DS6 were Suzuki?s Hustler and Kawasaki?s Samurai, all in the $600 range. Any college student having a few bucks in his pocket could probably arrange time payments with the local dealer…backed by Dad?s signature. When Yamaha advertised this quarter-liter as having 30 horsepower, interest was great. And it passed the eye test as well, with high pipes, one on each side. This was styled as a dual-purpose machine–hence the C in the alpha numerology. The chassis design was much more favorable to the street rather than the trail, so the high pipes were more a styling point rather than functional.
The history of the DS6 engine was long and had the distinct advantage of being associated with Yamaha?s racing 250, the TD1, which had great success over the previous decade. Riders could thank Yamaha?s racing shop for improvements, as the company was intent on keeping its 250 riders on the podium. And what is good on the track can be tuned ...