Yamaha R7 looming?
Yamaha has released a teaser pointing to a new sportsbike, but is it the rumoured and higher-capacity successor to the YZF-R6?As teasers go, the latest from Yamaha is about as light on for detail as they get: 28 seconds of sultry imagery of a flowing racetrack and a winding road, with not a centimetre of metal or plastic in sight.
But the heading for the brief clip on Yamaha Motor Europe’s YouTube channel gives us a little more… So does, “Track. Street. R/World.” reference the much-touted YZF-R7 that is rumoured to be in the wings, as successor to the YZF-R6 that was recently cut – after stocks run out, at least – from Yamaha’s line-up?
The R6 will continue only as long as remaining stock is available, but its loss creates a rather large void in Yamaha’s Supersport range – a yawning chasm between the YZF-R3 and the YZF-R1.
Related reading:
Outgoing Yamaha YZF-R6 could be replaced by fully-faired MT-07
2021 Yamaha MT Range Review
2017 Yamaha YZF-R6 Launch Review
UPDATE: All-new 2022 Yamaha YZF-R7 revealed
A stepping stone between the two is very much needed, and just when Aprilia is grabbing plenty of headlines for its all-new RS 660 (we’ll have a full review on that little Italian thoroughbred shortly!).
Word on the grapevine seems to suggest that a fully faired version of Yamaha’s MT-07 may well fit the bill. After all, the 689cc parallel-twin ‘CP2’ engine in the MT-07HO (High Output) was recently updated to Euro 5 emissions compliance, as it was for the 655cc LAMS variant also available here in Oz. Check out our review of the new 2021 Yamaha MT range, including the all-new MT-09 and MT-09SP.
As for the R7, we’ll just have to wait to see, but we shouldn’t be waiting too long. According to the Yamaha Motor Europe YouTube clip: “R/World is coming your way with something new. Soon.”
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