XT550K

This Yamaha XT550K is the 1983 market version of Yamaha’s XT big-single dual-purpose line, which evolved from the XT500 family that had become a landmark off-road and adventure motorcycle. Yamaha’s own history notes that after the XT500, the company updated the concept by releasing the XT550, keeping the rugged, long-distance dual-purpose character while adding Yamaha’s YDIS dual-intake approach and other refinement aimed at broader performance and competitiveness. The K suffix identifies the 1983 model-year iteration of the XT550 nameplate, used in Yamaha’s North American model listings and parts references. In historical context, the XT550 sits at a transitional moment between the original XT500 and the later XT600 Ténéré era: it represents Yamaha’s effort to modernize the formula before the larger adventure-oriented machines took center stage. The nameplate appears to have had a short, single production run under this designation, making the XT550K a relatively brief but important chapter in Yamaha’s air-cooled four-stroke trail-bike lineage.