Yamaha throws their hat in the ring…

Have you seen the Yamaha XSR900? I would say that this is Yamaha’s line in the sand. They have thrown down their hat in the ring with a Scrambler rival.

Yamaha Scrambler- via yamahamotorsports.com

Hey, that color scheme looks familiar! Who else has a little scrambler that’s actually called that, comes in yellow and –
Oh!, ladies and gents, this just got interesting!
Yamaha showed us an XSR700 over the summer, then they smack us in the face with this, just in time for the Progressive® IMS Long Beach this weekend.
It’s still a bit heavy if you ask me, but it sure is a knockout in the looks department.
Back in the day, you had a motorcycle. You scrambled on it. The lighter the better. So an 850cc triple wouldn’t be my first choice for a starting point. It’s actually only 20lbs heavier than the Ducati’s (claimed) wet weight of 410lbs, and it packs around 40 more ccs.  The heads that you’ll turn at the coffee shops and on the occasional fire road or campsite are sure to make you feel like you’re king of the hill. Price is still TBD (don’t open wallet until Feb 2016!). Look out Ducati! Yamaha is soon to be scrambling up Mt. Hipster too.
-Cheers