A few years ago, our own Enrico Punsalang, who lives in the Philippines, named the Yamaha PG-1 as his Editor’s Choice of the Year. If you click on that link, incidentally, you’ll get his thoughts on TL;DR; One has only to read the title of the article to see the DR version: Yamaha should completely sell the PG-1 in the US.
If you’ve read my writing so far, you probably expect me to agree. And I do this, even though I’m well aware that small-displacement machines often have a hard time breaking into America. As much as I love them, they will likely remain only a special interest to riders here, simply because our country is just absolutely huge.
Bikes like the Yamaha PG-1 are for smaller, defined areas; Congested urban environments, college campuses, and the like. Places where you want to go a little faster than you normally would when walking, but not places where you have to regularly climb high-speed highways to get anywhere. Places where massive mile-munching at high speed isn’t really on the menu.
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Source: Yamaha
But what about Honda?
The thing about the Yamaha PG-1 is that it has a lot of personality, much like its similarly small-displacement Honda Minimoto counterparts: the Monkey, the Grom, the Dax 125, the CT 125 (or the Hunter 125, if you prefer), and of course the Super Cub. I’ll also throw in the Ruckus and the Big Ruckus here, even though they’re technically scooters. There are plenty of small-displacement optimizations to go around!
As such, it’s not at all difficult to imagine that a similar type of customization scene would immediately spring up around the PG-1, should Yamaha see fit to bring it to American shores. A quick search of Webike Vietnam (which is the country, let us not forget, where the PG-1 first debuted and promptly began stealing international hearts a few years ago) gives ample reason to believe that this may be the case, as there are already plenty of custom bits and bobs on offer in that market to make your PG-1 your own. Plus, you know, K-Speed exists.
That’s great, but why are we talking about this now?
that’s easy; good people are here autobuy Noted that a new trademark filing has surfaced in Japan For PG-1 in that market. While the cute little guy has been busy making inroads in Southeast Asia, it hasn’t previously appeared in Japan.
Although Yamaha has yet to officially announce it in that market, a trademark filing in any market is usually enough to make those of us who follow such filings wonder if (and when) it might head to said market. One factor that made it more likely to appear in Japan was that the latest version got ABS, which the earlier version did not have.
Of course, the usual warnings apply here; Just because a company files a trademark doesn’t mean it’s certain it’s on its way. Companies file trademarks for a variety of reasons, all of which have to do with protecting their IP, and (sadly) not all of which have to do with pleasing small-displacement motorcycle fans.
Now, of course, filing a trademark in Japan does not indicate that a given model will appear in the US, or anywhere else. However, it does seem to be an indicator that Yamaha isn’t opposed to expanding the PG-1’s footprint, making it seem a little more possible that it could eventually appear elsewhere in the world, somewhere down the road.
And hey, I know Honda has locked down specific motorbikes in this displacement range, at least in the US. But remember, Kawasaki saw fit to bring us the Z125 Pro, and it has plenty of fans of its own. Will there be enough potential PG-1 fans to justify a similar move by Yamaha? It’s unclear, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility; Especially if Yamaha can price such an option attractively.
For our readers outside of Southeast Asia, would you consider the Yamaha PG-1 if it comes to your market, especially if it’s priced well? It doesn’t have to be your only bike; This would probably be a great second bike for local errands, something like what Enrico was talking about when he named it his Editors’ Choice pick for 2025. Also, why or why not? Let me know in the comments.
