Yamaha’s XS Line; a Brief History

By Jeff Pamer

History: the story of how we got from there to here. I have a theory that a lot of us are drawn to history, even if we don’t watch war documentaries. The sales of retro-style bikes show that something about the past, to many of us, strikes a deep chord. Let’s pull the thread a bit on my current retro-inspired bike, the XSR 900. It’s a longer thread than some realize, it will take us back to October of 1969, when Yamaha first introduced, the XS 650.

When the odometer of the world was clocking over to 1970, motorcycling was at a spectacular and forever changing moment in its history. Honda had released the earth-shattering CB750 that would later go on to deeply wound the British bike industry and take over the future of all motorcycles in one way or another. The thing is though, in 1969/1970, no one knew that was going to happen. Honda’s CB was undeniably advanced and impressive, but no one knew yet how the market would accept it.

So, Yamaha decided to split the difference. They shifted away from 2 stroke engines, and moved to 4-stroke, but released a parallel twin mirroring British bike’s staple power plant. The XS was equipped with modern flourishes like a single overhead cam, and a horizontally assembled crankcase. What stuck from British designs was the flat firing order that would produce some character-building vibrations while at idle. Flat firing order or not, the XS 650 was equipped with one of the most advanced parallel twins on the market producing 53 horsepower, powering the bike to a top speed of 105mph. These stats were bolstered by the fact that Kenny Roberts used the powerplant in his championship-winning AMA dirt track racer. The XS 650 went on to have a legendary 16 year run from 1969 to 1985, coming in many variants.

You may be thinking that this plainly explains the heritage of the parallel-twin-powered XRS 700 that Yamaha released in 2016, but how does this line relate to the 900cc triple that’s wedged into my bike. For that, we need to dive into the next Yamaha to have the XS badging.

There’s an entire article about why I think three-cylinder bikes are in many ways like a well-made Old Fashion, most notably that they’re both the best, but I’ll save that for another day. The first manufacturer brilliant enough to make a motorbike with a three-cylinder engine was Triumph with the recently resurrected Trident in 1965. At the end of the Trident’s first run in 1975, Yamaha was ready to release their first triple, the XS 750.

The XS 750 was part of a plot by Yamaha to fight the big four-cylinder bikes that were taking over the market. The drive train was produced in partnership with Porsche, which led to the choice to run the triple with a shaft drive rather than a chain. The Yamaha triple was celebrated by critics, as it partners incredible power, out on an engine that was thinner between the rider’s legs. Yamaha’s triple also featured a 120-degree firing order, and dual overhead cams which in partnership with the naturally balanced three-cylinder set up, made for a comfortable, and smooth riding experience. The XS 750 wasn’t all engine either, it had dual disk brakes up front, a single disk in the back, and even had self-canceling turn signals. The engine was the party piece though, not for the power, or the top speed, because they were, frankly, lackluster, but for the sum of the parts that the XS 750 was. The XS triple was upgraded to an 850cc version before the triple was put to bed by Yamaha in 1981. When Yamaha decided to put a three-cylinder engine in a bike again, it was 2014, and arguably changed the game in modern motorcycles.

The engine in my XSR 900 was originally in the MT(FZ)09 released in 2014. The character, the power, the torque, and the absolute insanity of the 872cc triple that Yamaha assembled will leave a permanent mark on motorcycling. The XSR is a tribute to an attempt to do something special, both in the XS 650, and 750/850. Yamaha made their name in modern motorcycling with the XS line of bikes and continues to today.