Ed Burke
2002, Industry
If you are cruising down the highway on a Yamaha Royal Star - or
perhaps a Road Star Warrior, a Virago, a Midnight Special or even a
Maxim - you are astride a figment of Edmund Burke's imagination.
As Division Manager Research and Design for Yamaha Motor Corp USA,
Ed Burke was called by "Cycle World" "the point man in the modern
cruiser movement" and one of the ten most influential people in
American motorcycling. Coupling sound market and engineering
research with a rare talent as a visionary, Ed has nurtured the
creation of several landmark motorcycles from dream to reality.
Burke's first bike - a Cushman Eagle - was bought as a teenager and
he reportedly had to hide it from his parents at a friend's house.
After three years in the Army, Ed was involved in road racing and
scrambles, and eventually bought his own dealership where he sold
Yamaha, BSA, Honda, Harley, BMW and Husqvarna lines. In 1968 and
1969, he started building and tuning Class C road racers for Ron
Muir, winning the 1969 Daytona 100 Mile Amatuer Big Bake Race on a
350 Yamaha.
The call from Yamaha came in 1967 and the rest is history on two
wheels. His resume of models conceptualized, developed and brought
successfully to market from 1971 to 2002 is a stunning list of 36.
It doesn't appear that Ed Burke is likely to stop imagining the
future or to stop making riders' dreams come true.
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