The YZF-R7 has now been on the motorcycle market since 2022, as a next-gen middleweight that arrived with big shoes to fill after Yamaha discontinued R6 production in 2020. Modern emissions restraints come into play for the R7 in a big way, since despite the increased displacement from the R6’s 599cc inline-four to a 689cc parallel twin, dropping two cylinders results in around 65 horsepower and 45 lb-ft of torque. For context, the R6 possessed nearly double that output, at 116 horsepower, and yet the R7’s wet weight still increased by around 10%, too.
Advertisement
Still, the R7 delivers slick styling and updated tech, and most riders should know that starting with an underpowered bike always helps to improve technique and skills that transfer over to bigger, more powerful motorcycles equally. Already, though, many R7 owners have concluded that in addition to the power drop and weight bump, the R7’s suspension stands out as the bike’s most limiting factor. Track rats in particular began almost immediately swapping on components from the outgoing R6, a known quantity with proven performance, to bolster the R7’s stability and speed.
I recently spent a full day at Sonoma Raceway riding an R7 back to back with an R1, while battling a recent repaving job that resulted in terrible track conditions for motorbikes, to suss out whether it’s worth buying an R7 at $9,199 or whether serious riders should simply bite the bullet and go all-out for an R1 at about double the price.
Advertisement
Price And Specs Compared
