Intriguing Yamaha teaser points to retro-livered XSR900
Cigarette sponsorship in motorsport may be outlawed, but that isn’t stopping Yamaha from potentially launching a retro Gauloises-style XSR
YAHAMA has rolled out a new teaser video across Europe that seems to point to a retro-naked XSR kitted out in a deliciously retro YZR500 Gauloises colour scheme.
Before we go any further though, yes, we know, smoking is bad ummkay, and sponsorship is banned so, the official bike (if that is what it actually is) won’t be coming adorned with Gauloises stickers. For added authenticity, you can find them on eBay. the marketing folk on this video have also been very careful to ensure that the brand is left out of the teaser video you can see below.
Yamaha R7 (2022) video review
So, what can we see… Well, first up is a stunning YZR500 in the famous blue and yellow colour scheme being spanked around a track by none other than Christian Sarron. Sarron is a legend of the Iwata brand’s racing history, piloting pretty much nothing but Iwata-built machines from the mid-70s until he retired in 1990.
Sadly though, the machine at the heart of the story might not be the 500cc two-stroke we all are crying for. Nope, sadly emissions laws won’t allow such things. This bike is likely to be a special edition of an existing four-stroke machine.
Legend reborn.
November 2nd, 2021 at 14:00 CET.
Stay tuned.#Fastersons pic.twitter.com/1KFa385b8d— Yamaha Motor UK (@YMUKofficial) November 1, 2021
After a bit of super-sleuthing, we came up with the XSR range as the topic of the teaser, with either the XSR700 or XSR900 (possibly both) likely to gain the Sarron-replica paint scheme. For one, the teaser carries the hashtag Fastersons, A term that accompanies the firm's in-house custom projects, many of those are centred around the retro XSR range of bikes.
The second clue comes in the form of a fleeting glimpse of somebody riding the new machine. You can’t actually see the bike in the clip, although the shadow outlines the fuel tank and front end of the bike, and it is unmistakable as an XSR of one capacity or another.
With EICMA just around the corner, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the new Yamaha models we catch up with at Milan later this month. Until then, the wraps come off this new motorcycle at 13:00 UK time today!
Stay tuned!
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
