The Yamaha YZF-R7 is Yamaha’s answer to Twins Cup racing, refined over the MT-07 it replaces to have a stiffer chassis, better suspension, and some minor engine tweaks.
The real beauty of the R7 though is that it takes much of the work and expense in racing an MT-07 out of the equation, especially with its $9,000 price tag.
Hoping now to make the race-prep situation even simpler, Yamaha has released a bevy of “Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing” (GYTR) products for the twin-cylinder machine.
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.
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 Yamaha YZF-R7 is coming back as a 2022 model, according to filings made with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), but before you get too excited about the news of this iconic motorcycle name, you should understand it’s not what you think.
Spotted by the eagle eyes at Motorcycle.com, the CARB filing tips that the 689cc motorcycle will use the parallel-twin engine found in the Yamaha MT-07.
As such, today’s news would seem to confirm the rumor that we were first to publish, that Yamaha is working on a full-fairing version of the MT-07, to compete in the growing middleweight twins segment.