Yamaha HL Series

The Viking

The HL500 was originally a heavily modified XT500 by Swedish Motocross Legends Torsten Hallman and Sten Lundin, taking the standard 30hp XT500 engine and tuning it to produce over 50hp and slimming it down to just 247lbs. The idea was to take everyone’s favourite 4-stroke big single and bolt it to a lightweight Husqvarna motocross frame making the bike competitve with the 2-stroke bikes of the era.

Torsten’s Company, Torsten Hallman Racing (THR) comissioned ProFab in the US to produce a limited run of 100 frames to be sold as a kit with swingarm for $1000, and combined with the required donor parts from other bikes came to around $3000 in 1978 which today is an eyewatering $15,000, clearly placing the HL500 in professional hands only.