Faced with the Honda RC30 in World Superbike racing, Yamaha decided to build its own homologation special for the 1989 season. Named the OW-01, the Yamaha featured a light weight solo tail section,  massive aluminum perimeter frame, aluminum gas tank, 5 valves per cylinder, titanium connecting rods, short skirted 2 ring pistons, coupled with a head with oversized valves and hand finished ports. The front fork featured rebound and compression damping and an Ohlins shock handled the rear end. A version made for the Japanese domestic market featured a different tail light and headlight along with restriction in the intake boots to get it to comply with Japanese market regulations while the rest of the world got unrestricted power and rest of the world headlights and tail lights. Roughly 1000 bikes were produced from 1989 to 1990.

The bike here is a Japanese model, imported by from Japan by White Knuckle Motorsports in Utah. It is completely stock except for un-restricted intake boots and rejetting to bring it to full performance.