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Yamaha’s Most Striking Retro Motorcycle in Years Just Scored the Brand’s Ultimate Visual Upgrade

As a tribute to a legendary American rider, the brand has added a new option to its catalog that riffs on one of its most iconic race liveries.

Yellow Yamaha motorcycle rear section with black seat and gold wheel against blue background.Yamaha
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By Gray Van Dyke

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While there’s no denying that the retro-styled XSR900 Yamaha offers here in the United States makes for one seriously cool motorcycle, Europe and Japan get an even more striking triple in the form of the GP.

Between its racy front fairing and its squared rear seat cowl, the bike offers a clear callback to the legendary competition steeds of the 1980s and 1990s — a time many two-wheeled fans consider to be the Golden Era of racing.

Yellow and white Yamaha XSR 900 GP motorcycle with gold wheels parked on wet pavement near a building.
The XSR900 GP looks better than ever, thanks to the combination of Yamaha’s speed block livery and some bronze wheels.
Yamaha

It’s all the more unfortunate (read: ironic) that Yamaha doesn’t sell the XSR900 GP in the United States because of its latest visual upgrade. As a tribute to a legendary American rider, the bike will be donning the brand’s most iconic livery for the 2026 model year.

Honoring a legend

On the XSR900 GP, Yamaha calls it ‘Legend Yellow’ — and rightly so. Anyone who recognizes the design will know it as the iconic speed block livery that adorned the Tuning Fork company’s race bikes starting in the early 1970s.

Yellow Yamaha sport motorcycle with gold wheels ridden on a road with green hills and cloudy sky background.
The matching helmet design really helps tie the look together.
Yamaha

It’s a color scheme that’s most closely associated with ‘King’ Kenny Roberts, and Yamaha’s option for the 2026 XSR900 GP will thus be paying tribute to his success.

After all, once Roberts became the first American rider to secure a World Championship in the 500cc era, he followed up that performance with a further two wins, making for a total of three consecutive global titles from 1978-1980. 

What’s more, Kenny Roberts is the only American to have ridden his way to an AMA Grand Slam, winning races in everything from short track and TT to half-mile, mile and road race.  Those are but a few of his achievements, as he was a multi-time Daytona 200 winner among various other feats.

Yellow and white sport motorcycle front view in an empty room with concrete floor and walls.
To capitalize on the race-ready look, Yamaha kept the headlight small and central.
Yamaha

In any case, Kenny Roberts made a name for himself on hyper-focused full-faired race bikes like the YZR500.

With the addition of its venerable Speed Block livery (also sold on Kenny Roberts specials of the day like the RZ350), Yamaha has transformed the bike into not just a tribute, but a true retro-styled imitator.

Embodying tradition

That’s because, even before the Legend Yellow option, the XSR900 GP was a bike that was packed with brand tradition.

Close-up of a Yamaha XSR900 GP motorcycle engine and front wheel with yellow and white fairing.Yamaha

Yamaha designed the front cowling and knuckle guards to be directly reminiscent of the YZR500, also fitting the bike with a boxy rear tail section to complete the retro racer look.

It’s a unique choice — while the market is awash with designs hearkening back to the chrome-heavy look of the 1960s and 1970s, the Radwood era remains comparatively underserved.

The similarities aren’t limited to aesthetics, either, as the XSR900 incorporates Grand Prix DNA on a functional level, too. Yamaha first started using its Deltabox frame technology on race bikes in the 1980s, and the innovation continues to inform the brand’s designs even today.

Motorcycle digital dashboard display showing mode options including Sport, Street, Rain, Custom 1, and Custom 2 with settings for PWR, TCS, SCS, and LIF.
The TFT display is one of the differences between the XSR900 and the GP.
Yamaha

Stateside promise?

Yamaha has yet to bring the XSR900 GP to the United States, so the brand had better have plans to do so if it intends to capitalize on the Kenny Roberts legacy.

For one, the King is one of the few great American riders in the history of motorcycle racing, so it’d be a missed opportunity not to cater to stateside buyers.

Yellow Yamaha XSR 1200 GP motorcycle with gold wheels ridden on a road with greenery in the background.
Were it not for the modern running gear and lighting, Yamaha’s XSR900 GP could almost fool you into believing that it’s a real classic.
Yamaha

Practically, though, beyond the bodywork, a set of clip-ons and some subtle suspension tweaks to account for the differences in riding position, there’s little separating the GP from the standard XSR900 — it’s merely a naked motorcycle.

Both bikes come powered by an 890cc triple rated for 117 horsepower and 68.5 lb-ft of torque, and they’re equipped with similar suites of electronics apart from some features like a GP-specific TFT display.

Given that Yamaha previously used a Kenny Roberts special (the 1984 RZ350) to introduce a novelty for the United States motorcycle market in the form of the first catalytic converters, hopefully, history repeats itself and the XSR900 GP makes the jump across the pond.

About the Author: Gray is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, motorcycles and anything else with wheels. When he’s not chasing the latest industry news, he’s probably wrenching on one of many projects. For better or worse, he believes classics make perfectly practical daily drivers.

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