They love their heritage and tradition those Italians. And the Abarth tuning firm ticks all the boxes. It made its name back in the glory days, tuning up tiny Fiat 500s to go rallying, where its teeny-tiny hot-poop motors did plenty of giant slaying. Fiat’s been a major sponsor of Yamaha’s MotoGP efforts over the years - and its top rider Valention Rossi is as Italian as pasta and cash payments.

So if you’re wondering what the hell Yamaha is doing making a special XSR900 in association with Abarth, there’s your answer. But more to the point, it’s a tasty looking piece of work. Of course we expect smart paint schemes, natty logos and tasty chassis jewellery. But there’s also a rather nice Akrapovic dual-silencer exhaust, and a wacked-out carbon fibre nosecone. The rest of the spec is standard XSR900 - a 115bhp 847cc inline-triple motor shared with the MT-09, USD front forks and radial mount calipers. Yamaha showed it off at a fancy pre-show event, hosted by Yamaha bigwigs, and featuring Mr V Rossi as special guest star.

The Abarth XSR is limited to just 695 copies, and to prove it, you get a limited numbered plaque on the side. No word on price yet - expect more info at the NEC bike show later this month…