In the early 90s Yamaha was not shy about putting bold colors on their bikes. One of the most striking graphic schemes was a pink and blue over white livery used on several performance and racing machines. For 2027, Yamaha is reviving those classic colors on the XSR900.
The colorway pays tribute the 1993 YZF-750R and 750SP, a homologation bike for the TT-F1 (Tourist Trophy Formula 1) road race series where it competed against machines such as the Honda RC30 and Kawasaki ZXR-7. Officially, the color was called Bluish White Cocktail #1 (paint code 0390), accented with Vivid Red Cocktail #1 (paint code 0121) and Deep Violet Metallic #1 (paint code 0297). In short, it was simply called the pink bike, or “pinky”.
Prior to 1985, Yamaha used two colorways for its racing machines. American Yamahas were painted in a yellow and black “speedblock” design, while globally its colors were white and red. In 1985, yellow and black was officially retired as Yamaha sought to consolidate its image under one color scheme. In 1990, they pivoted to the magenta and blue over white, not only on sport bikes but dirt bikes as well. Then in 1995 they switched over to the solid blue that is still used to this day.
While colors like the yellow and speedblock have been resurrected many times for throwback colors on recent Yamaha bikes, this is the first time they’ve brought back the pink and blue on a street bike since its original use on the 90s.
For 2027, the retro colorway is called Neon White, which pairs with a silver frame with pink and blue accents. It’s a completely new color, contrasting with the existing to Midnight Black, with black frame and gold wheels and emblems, that carries over from 2026.
Mechanically, the XSR900 remains unchanged. It’s still powered by Yamaha’s DOHC inline 3-cylinder CP3 engine, making 119 horsepower at 10,000 rpm and 68.6 lb-ft of torque at 7000 rpm.
Currently the Neon White color has only been announced for the European and Australian markets. In the past, Yamaha has staggered its global product rollouts, initially revealing new colors in Europe before making announcements for the North American market a few weeks or months later. Hopefully, it’ll make its way here because the current sportbike market could use some loud colors.
I hope they use this colorway on the XSR900 GP as well. To me, that’s by far the best looking bike they’ve done in decades and this would take that even further.
it’s pathetic many bike companies are barely changing colors. 90s bikes were the best. the colors, the logos, the style defined bikes era