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The Yamaha Ténéré 700 Raid prototype was one of the (few) darling releases from the 2021 EICMA show in Milan, and the up-spec middleweight adventure bike brought more questions than it did answers.

Was Yamaha teasing a new higher price ADV machine for its future lineup? Was it trying to drum up business for its GYTR aftermarket parts catalog? Maybe a combination of the two? It’s hard to say.

So, it is curious that today we see that the Yamaha Ténéré 700 Raid machine getting spotted in European patent documents, by our colleagues at Cycle World. And once again, that creates more questions than it does answers.

If we weren’t living in the time of COVID, we would be wrapping up our coverage of the Isle of Man TT right now, but instead the iconic race sees another year of canceled races because of the global pandemic.

The Isle of Man government has been busy planning for the iconic race’s return though, with a plethora of changes and announcements made for the 2022 edition and onward.

The biggest news is the live video package that is planned, but there are also a number of rule changes to the Lightweight TT and Sidecar TT classes, in addition to more races and more races days.

By now, the dust has settled on the commotion surrounding the Yamaha YZF-R7 debut - one of the more surprising and interesting motorcycles to debut so far this year.

This fully faired middleweight-twin takes the Yamaha MT-07 platform, with its 689cc parallel-twin engine, and prepares it for Yamaha's "R" world of sport-focused, track-ready, motorcycles.

This week, we will see the first real life assessments of the new R7, and of course the reviews will be glowing pieces of literature - because those are the only kind of reviews that Yamaha USA will now tolerate.

Don't let that detract from what the R7 represents, however. Like its naked sibling, the YZF-R7 will disrupt the middleweight-twins category, which has long been stagnating on the vine with bikes like the Suzuki SV650.

This stalwart bike has long been the go-to entry point for new riders and veteran racers alike, but the SV650's decades of service have seen little in the way of deserving and meaningful change.

The means that the opportunity for a little disruption is ripe, and the Yamaha YZF-R7 is just set to be one of the key bikes to satiate our appetite.

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The speculation and rumors can finally end in the middleweight-twin category, because the 2022 Yamaha YZF-R7 has finally debuted.

Taking the name from an iconic predecessor, this 689cc parallel-twin sport bike aims to bridge the gap left behind by another icon, the YZF-R6 – filling in Yamaha’s lineup between the R3 and R1 models.

Built off the MT-07 platform, Yamaha has incorporated some smart enhancements on the naked bike’s design in order to make the YZF-R7 and affordable, and also potent, package for track and street riders.

Earlier this year, we broke the news that Yamaha was going to release a full-fairing version of its popular MT-07 street bike, to take on bikes like the Aprilia RS 660 and cater to the rising lightweight racing class.

The news was vetted by our Bothan spies, but it also passed the sniff test as we have seen the trend growing in the amateur and professional racing circles when it comes to Yamaha’s parallel-twin platform.

Things got a bit interesting though when we saw that Yamaha had used the “R7” name for a twin-cylinder sport bike in filings with the California Air Resources Board.

The internet is rife right now with rumors of a Kawasaki Ninja 700 in the works, to compete better in the budding middleweight-twin class.

According to the rumors, the bike would be an evolution of the current Kawasaki Ninja 650, with an obvious displacement bump to help it compete against the likes of the Yamaha MT-07 and even the higher-spec Aprilia RS 660.

The veracity of this rumor is up for grabs, but there is some logic to the idea – should it pan out to be true.

The bike we never thought would make it to the United States is getting closer to actually landing on American soil, and today we have even more good news about the Yamaha Ténéré 700.

This is because Yamaha Motor USA has just shared with us pricing for the 2021 Yamaha Ténéré 700, and the Japanese brand has nailed things on the head with their $9,999 MSRP for this middleweight adventure-tourer.

Debuting just before this year’s EICMA show in Milan, we see one of the Tuning Fork brand’s few exciting bikes for next year.

What will surely continue to be a European model only, the Yamaha Tracer 700 gets refreshed for the 2020 model year.

Based off the Yamaha MT-07 platform, this parallel-twin sports tourer boasts a new full-fairing design that is strangely eye-catching.

Beneath that fairing though is where the real changes reside, as the big highlight feature for 2020 is that the 689cc engine gets tweaked for Euro5 emission homologation.

I had to go back and lookup when we first saw the Svartpilen 701 from Husqvarna, because even though it was only a year ago…that time seems like an eternity.

Maybe it is because of Husqvarna’s measured pace with its street bikes, maybe it is the design overlap between the 401 and 701 models, or maybe it is because we have wanted to see what this retro-modern flat tracker was going to look like after the lawyers had their way with it.

The answer is probably all of the above, but it doesn’t really matter. The 2019 Husqvarna Svartpilen 701 is ready for your two-wheeled consumption.

We have been waiting a very long time for the Yamaha Ténéré 700, with the machine first debuting as a concept in 2016. A no-show at the 2017 EICMA show, the Yamaha T7 concept instead went on a worldwide promotional tour.

So, surely we thought that the 2018 EICMA show would announce the Yamaha Ténéré 700 as ready to go…yes and no. The Yamaha Ténéré 700 is finally coming as a production motorcycle…but not quite yet.

Expected as a Fall 2019 model in Europe, off-roaders eager for a middleweight adventure-touring bike will have to wait another year. If you happen to live on this side of the pond however, we have even worse news for you.

The Yamaha Ténéré 700 will be a 2021 model year machine in the USA, debuting in the second-half of 2020, making this perhaps the most disappointing new model release at the Milan trade show.