What do you think? Would you buy it? Is it a rally bike, or a travel bike or an Adventure bike wannabe? Remember this IS a prototype, so will change!

More at https://world-raid.com/

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

not a fan of the stationary headlight and the whole front fascia...
it looks like it will have upside down front forks and it looks like it's gonna be light and nimble... ride height looks a lot so looks like it can go places ... hopefully the engine and the output will be close to ktm standards so it will be a competitive adventure / rally bike hybrid... if it will be less than 55 hp it will soon be forgotten...

GJ, it's not a prototype anymore... see my post from a few months ago


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...rly-pics-94679

I love the look, very similar in style to my xt660z tenere.
If yamaha don't do what honda did with new Africa Twin
I am definitely interested in getting one. Parallel twin is way better for long travels then big single.

Hadn't noticed that - but I think of it as a prototype until I can buy it!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Will be hard to judge the bike until it's in the hands of the press ... and a few thousand new owners get hold of it and start riding.

Probably 6 months to a year away before actual owner feed back trickles in, but I'm thinking the Press are probably riding the T-7 now ... so maybe some feedback in the mags by Fall?

Lots of bikes look good on paper ... but sometimes the ownership experience doesn't live up to the specs. Take one of Yamaha's disasters (In the USA anyway), the TDM850. I owned one! The good news was it was reliable.

IMO, Yamaha have been over pricing some of their bikes lately ... like Super Tenere 1200. Re-sale of those is not great, continues to drop off.

Yamaha know enough now to hopefully get this bike right first try. But like with so many bikes, sometimes it takes until the first upgrade/revision to really sort it out. That upgrade is typically 3 to 5 years down the road.

Hopefully no fatal errors for Yamaha on this first gen T-7 and it's a sales success.

As to what it is ... ???

May be up to the owner to decide. Looks to be fairly versatile and can be moulded into the shape the owner wants.
Seems nowadays terms like "rally", "Travel" and "Adventure" bikes kind of run together and may overlap in places.

I don't think Yamaha are building a Rally race bike with this model ... but they may offer that version to teams the way KTM do with some of their bikes.

Competition will come mainly from new KTM 790. Too early to know how they compare ... but I can speculate based on having ridden both the 1200 Tenere and also, most recently, the KTM 1090. Bikes from different planets far as I could tell ... with the KTM coming out far ahead IMHO.

the bike has been spotted also in milan with number plates, being tested by yamaha belgrada who are nearby, so i guess it's pre-production by now rather than proto.

i rode the mt-07 and it's has a peach of a motor, torquey AND revvy and bike is very light, so that half is really sorted.
yes, ktm build great race ready bikes, but with al the stories about reliability, i doubt if ill ever buy one, even if im super tempted by the old 990 SD. they still have some to learn form japan in that sense.
used to do a bit of journalism and spoke at the time with a yamaha italia guy who admitted they got it all wrong with the 1200... the new 900 triple and 700 twin are a different breed.

For those that can ride around the world or big trips on road with some mild offroad,(aka gravel roads) it'll be a nice ride, like the Africa Twin . For those of us that ride daily commuting, playing offroad / winter ice/snow ect... just another overweight- too bulky "adventure" bike that I have no interest in . Give me a headlight attached to the handlebars , smaller fairing , front fender off the tire , single piston or compact twin that is easy to pick up . At least they're trying to stay in the market.


.

__________________
'86 XT600/3TB motor,,, '88 XT600, ,,'92 XT600e,,, '08 Husky TE510,,, '05 DRZ463,,, '95 KLX650 ,,,'96 KLX650

I'll be getting one.


Looks like a great ride.

I’ll be interested in how it rides - in particular the fuelling. If they get that right I’d definitely consider it.

Until 3 days ago i had the XT660z (RSA) and the XT1200z (UK). I love the 660. But in 3 years I just couldn’t bond with the 1200 - the fuelling was just not right, absolutely ruined the bike for me. Now replaced with an 800 Tiger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes ... "how it rides" is critical.
In the USA most dealers of Japanese bikes do not typically offer test rides to off the street random potential customers.

In contrast BMW, Triumph and KTM often do offer test rides on some models.

Some test rides offered are chaperoned group rides going 30 mph for 1/2 hour with 10 other riders. If things are slow you may get a ride alone for an hour or an afternoon.

In all cases if the dealer knows you ... just about any bike can be had for a solo test ride.

The test ride sales strategy has worked wonders for BMW and Triumph, not sure about KTM. IMO, If Yamaha are smart they'll ensure they have a few demo bikes available, circulating round dealers.

This would be new for Yamaha motor, USA ... but in my opinion the pre-order scheme they used with success on on the FJ1300 will not work with new T-7.

Don't think Yamaha ran this in UK but in USA you signed up and pre-paid for your new FJ1300, then you waited ... sometimes months ... bike was bought SIGHT UNSEEN, with NO test ride. Don't think that will fly now.

Regards "How does it ride", yes, fueling is important but I'd be looking at several other critical areas too. I have a 60 mile loop I use on test bikes. The route features a broad mix of roads and conditions. So in just over an hour I can get a pretty good picture of what is bike is like and ferret out both niggles and praise.

These days most reviewers spend four paragraphs talking about power setting menu's, ABS, traction control and menu settings ad nauseam.

Many leave out articulate description of the nature of the power and overall visceral feel the bike brings to the rider. How is torque delivered?

Handling is often glossed over, few details or comparisons offered.
Handling to me is JOB ONE and the most important thing a journo should be focused on.

Ok..first time i ever hear about changing bike because fuelling is not right.. Hope you have more sucsess fuelling the Tiger

Cheers. Please to report the Tiger fuelling is flawless so yes, very happy with the switch.

I talked to the dealer, improved it from bad to adequate with a Power Commander (especially on closed loop), but it was never right. May be just a big twin thing, although no issues in 8 years with the V-Strom 1000 I had before. Pitching into a tight alpine hairpin, opening the throttle and getting a slightly stop/go, feels like the chokes on, fluffy response just didn’t work for me, or my confidence. Judging by the S10 forum I was not alone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well i still didnt understand what you are struggling with, didnt you find the cap fast enough for pit stop?

Many early versions of various F.I. bikes have had fueling problems. Early Vstroms (I owned an '02 DL1000), my former '07 Tiger 1050 and many test bikes I rode through the magazine. It's hard to ride smooth with a sudden JERK of power going from OFF throttle to ON. Especially true if leaned way over at the edge of traction.

The Tiger 1050 was most disappointing for me. But all current 800's I've ridden have had good fueling, so Triumph fixed the problem. Rode the big Tiger Explorer and it was smooth as well.

BMW GS's too have struggled with this very jerky ON/OFF fueling for years. And as mentioned above, this is especially irritating riding steep Alpine hair pin switch type corners ... even worse when Two Up. Lots of bumping of helmets as the power re-engages suddenly with a JERK.

This is very common.

Many spend a lot of time and money to smooth out this jerky transition from OFF throttle to ON throttle. Power commanders and other ECU hacks can help a lot, as can a simple throttle cable adjustment or careful syncing of throttle bodies.

But IMO this is something that the OEM should solve before bringing the bike to the market for sale.