There are (at least) two ways to look at Yamaha’s striking new retro XSR9 00 GP. It either ships you back to the 1980s and 1990s when Yamaha’s Marlboro-liveried YZR 500 V4 won world titles in the last great two-stroke era of grand prix racing, or it doesn’t. I suppose it depends on your age…
For those who lived and breathed sportsbikes through the 1980s, when mullets were fashionable the first time around, it’s impossible to separate the emotively styled machine we see before us from the deeds of Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey who, on their fiery redand-white factory YZRs, delivered multiple world championship.
For those of slightly more tender years, any stirring of the soul is likely to be less pronounced, but still strong. For me, aged 48, the XSR generates memories of a misspent teenage youth – of a succession of Yamaha FZs and FZRs and TZRs, all those fast and fine handling Yamahas with the same signature flat-top petrol tank and YZR500-derived styling.
Either way, such is the power and execution of the XSR 900 GP’s retro styling, it’s easy to foresee some customers heading, cash-in-hand, to Yamaha showrooms soon – the buying decision made on appearances alone.
when Kylie Minogue was on Neighbours. Yamaha has taken the excellence of the base XSR900 triple and blended it with some hot tech from the Yamaha MT-09 and MT-09 SP sports nakeds
