My buddy Larry Barnes passed along this classic Yamaha MX gear ad I’m guessing from sometime in the 1970s.
This is what you should have looked like if you raced motocross on a Yamaha in the 1970s.
State of the Art MX Gear circa 1970s
Rider Files
Our Life and Times in Motorcycle Racing
Rider Files 
Hey Larry.
So looking at the old Yamaha US color scheme let us start a discussion on the origins of the yellow and black color scheme. The color scheme used by Yamaha International was not the yellow and black. This scheme was only used in the US. I have an interview on tape with Don Jones telling me the origin of the color scheme. While I FULLY believe the account give by Don Jones I am curious if others out there know of a different story about the origins of this color scheme.
All the best
Paul
LikeLike
Paul
Great question. I heard it was so Yamaha US could tell its riders from the international riders in MX and road racing. What have you heard?
Larry
LikeLike
I remember the different colors, although this was the first time I’ve actually heard the explanation of why. International riders were red and white when I first started paying attention to MX back in the middle 1970s as a kid; yellow and black were US riders starting in mid-1970s. Other than some old MXAs and DBs with plenty of pictures to illustrate this, I know nothing more, though. I do remember seeing pictures of the MX des Nations and noting the different color schemes there, but my first real notice and questioning of the colors were when Danny LaPorte won a world title on a Yamaha in 1982. I remember thinking, “Why is his bike white and red…?” A couple years later America had white and red bikes starting in 1984, I believe.
LikeLike