Yamaha grows its superport lineup with the introduction of its 2022 YZF-R7 ($8,999). This twin-cylinder sportbike gets the Tuning Fork brand’s YZF-R7 moniker— last used on a limited-edition 750cc superbike offered for the 1999 model year. Although the name invokes a competition meaning, today’s R7 is an everyday person’s street bike in the vein of vehicles like Aprilia’s RS 660 and Kawasaki’s Ninja 650 ABS.
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Throw a leg over the R7 and it feels nice and slim. The reach to the clip-on style handlebar (below the top clamp) isn’t much of a stretch and it’s a fairly easy motorcycle to get comfortable on for a six-foot tall rider. The saddle is thicker than an R6 or R1M which will likely afford greater comfort on the road.
Although the R7 only weighs five pounds less than the retired four-cylinder R6, due to its parallel-twin engine configuration, it feels lighter and more maneuverable with wheels in motion. Folks seeking an easy handling sportbike will appreciate the R7.
Suspension-wise the R7 offers adequate pitch and damping control even at an elevated track pace on Bridgestone’s grippy Battlax RS-11 competition tires. Battlax S22 street rubber is OE fitment.
The suspenders also include spring preload and damping adjustment. Still its components don’t offer anywhere near the same level of precise feel and road holding as an R6 or an R1. However, considering its lower speeds, we can certainly live with this setup.
As usual, we are big fans of the CP2-generation liquid-cooled parallel-twin. Not only does it make for a slim motorcycle, it gives a usable powerband and acceptable character courtesy of its V-twin-like engine firing order. But with only 67-horsepower, we’d be lying if we didn’t miss the high rpm wail and power hit of a four-cylinder. Still the R7 affords just another acceleration to keep you engaged.
Yamaha also offers a GYTR accessory electronic up-shift only quickshifter which makes for faster shifts between each of its six gears. The clutch mechanism has been upgraded with a slipper function to mitigate rear wheel instability if you downshift in too low of a gear for vehicle speed...
Find out more: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2022-yamaha-yzf-r7-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Drew Ruiz
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
Motorcycle Riding Gear Worn
Helmet: AGV Corsa R
Custom Helmet Paint: Tagger Designs
Suit: Dainese Misano 2
Gloves: Dainese Full Metal 6
Boots: Dainese Axial D1
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
--
Throw a leg over the R7 and it feels nice and slim. The reach to the clip-on style handlebar (below the top clamp) isn’t much of a stretch and it’s a fairly easy motorcycle to get comfortable on for a six-foot tall rider. The saddle is thicker than an R6 or R1M which will likely afford greater comfort on the road.
Although the R7 only weighs five pounds less than the retired four-cylinder R6, due to its parallel-twin engine configuration, it feels lighter and more maneuverable with wheels in motion. Folks seeking an easy handling sportbike will appreciate the R7.
Suspension-wise the R7 offers adequate pitch and damping control even at an elevated track pace on Bridgestone’s grippy Battlax RS-11 competition tires. Battlax S22 street rubber is OE fitment.
The suspenders also include spring preload and damping adjustment. Still its components don’t offer anywhere near the same level of precise feel and road holding as an R6 or an R1. However, considering its lower speeds, we can certainly live with this setup.
As usual, we are big fans of the CP2-generation liquid-cooled parallel-twin. Not only does it make for a slim motorcycle, it gives a usable powerband and acceptable character courtesy of its V-twin-like engine firing order. But with only 67-horsepower, we’d be lying if we didn’t miss the high rpm wail and power hit of a four-cylinder. Still the R7 affords just another acceleration to keep you engaged.
Yamaha also offers a GYTR accessory electronic up-shift only quickshifter which makes for faster shifts between each of its six gears. The clutch mechanism has been upgraded with a slipper function to mitigate rear wheel instability if you downshift in too low of a gear for vehicle speed...
Find out more: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2022-yamaha-yzf-r7-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Drew Ruiz
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
Motorcycle Riding Gear Worn
Helmet: AGV Corsa R
Custom Helmet Paint: Tagger Designs
Suit: Dainese Misano 2
Gloves: Dainese Full Metal 6
Boots: Dainese Axial D1
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey folks, good morning and welcome to this special edition MC commute coming
00:07 to you live from the official US press introduction of Yamaha's all-new 2022
00:16 YZF-R7. Now this YZF-R7 is a new super sport style motorcycle that
00:28 effectively replaces on paper but not in spirit Yamaha's YZF-R6 which was
00:38 retired for the 2020 model year due to cost and low sales. Now this YZF-R7 is an
00:53 everyday man's sport bike designed for riders who want to step up from Yamaha's
01:02 YZF-R3 but aren't ready for the performance and of course the price of
01:11 Yamaha's YZF-R1 and YZF-R1M. But enough talking about this R7, let's swing a
01:21 leg over it and tell you what it's like to ride. Well folks there it is Yamaha's
01:27 2022 YZF-R7. This motorcycle features Yamaha's tried-and-true 689 cc
01:35 parallel twin. It has a steel frame with preload and rebound adjustable shock
01:44 and an inverted front fork with spring preload compression and rebound damping
01:52 adjustment. What does everyone think of the styling on this motorcycle? I love
01:56 the signature Yamaha R styling bits like these fish gills that come off the YZRM1
02:04 MotoGP bike. I like this seat. The seat looks awfully similar to the YZF-R6
02:11 but it's a little bit thicker. There is room for a passenger if you want to
02:16 bring a passenger. Nice sharp LED lights. I love that. Under slung exhaust another
02:24 signature R6 style styling point. Clip-on style bars below the top clamp. This is a
02:36 cast gravity top clamp while the bottom clamp is a forged alloy. Yamaha did that
02:43 so the bike has a good rigidity balance and feel when it's leaned over in a turn.
02:49 What does everyone think of this YZF-R7? Let's swing a leg over it and tell you
02:57 what it's like to ride. Alright folks here we are riding Yamaha's 2022 YZF-R7
03:07 at the official US production introduction for this vehicle at Atlanta
03:13 Motorsports Park in the Peach State. Now this 2022 YZF-R7 is all stock besides
03:24 the Bridgestone Batlax R11 competition specification dot labeled race tires. So
03:32 those tires are on this bike. This motorcycle also is outfitted with
03:36 Yamaha's GYTR accessory quick shifter right there so we can shift gears
03:43 without having to use the clutch. There's our buddy 650ib on YouTube. Check him out.
03:52 He's got great content. The street racing is kind of for me but everything else is
03:59 great. So this is Yamaha's new super sport. Let's start her up and go. There
04:07 are no power modes, traction control, nothing. All we have is ABS so it's
04:14 pretty easy to set the bike up. You just turn it on and go and away we go. This
04:20 motorcycle is powered by Yamaha's tried-and-true 689 cc CP2 parallel twin.
04:30 This engine was introduced seven years ago or six years ago for the 2015 model
04:36 year with the FZ07 turned MT07. So this engine is so awesome because it is
04:44 compact, it's small, and it produces the majority of its torque from as low as
04:51 3,500 rpm all the way to redline. Now at the business end of this tire it
05:01 produces 67 horsepower at the 180 series Birdstone tire. Now that's not a lot of
05:10 power. The outgoing YZFR6 made right around 100 you know with a pipe
05:15 and some grace gas get that thing to 120. So this motorcycle is certainly not the
05:20 fastest but what it lacks in terms of sheer speed it makes up for in how
05:27 easy it is to ride. I like that this motorcycle steers so well. It's really easy to put it
05:39 where you want on track. I also like that when you're turning this motorcycle you
05:46 can really easily make mid-corner adjustments. You can steer a little bit,
05:50 you can tighten up the turn, you can go also go a little bit wide and this
05:55 motorcycle does it very easily.
06:00 Now it's worth noting that Yamaha didn't just steal the MT07 chassis. They did
06:08 some very careful modifications to it to make sure that it handles like a real sport bike.
06:18 And I like the handling of this bike. Again, I love the way it steers. It offers good stability and speed.
06:32 And I can't just say it enough, easy to ride is what this bike is all about.
06:41 Suspension. Now the suspension on this motorcycle it's a tad soft for my taste
06:49 but it's not so soft that it's limiting my ability to ride this motorcycle at a
06:55 decent clip and have fun on it.
07:00 The fork offers spring preload, compression and dampening position
07:07 adjustment which is a nice touch so you can tweak the action of the fork to your liking.
07:14 The shock on the other hand offers spring preload and rebound damping
07:20 adjustment only. So there is a little bit of suspension
07:26 tunability for riders that want to dial in the way the motorcycle pitches and moves.
07:32 Instrumentation. This motorcycle has this cool LCD backlit display.
07:43 Now I like this instrument panel but the gear shift indicator, gear position indicator could be a little bit bigger.
07:54 It's a little hard to see what gear you're in. Right now I'm in the wrong gear. I should have been in fifth gear but I didn't do that turn.
08:02 But it's okay because we're still having fun.
08:08 Brakes. Triple disc hydraulic brakes slow this bike down. The brakes are definitely
08:18 effective at shedding speed on this 414 pound YZF-R7. For reference the R6
08:26 weighed five pounds more than 419. Isn't that crazy they were able to get that four cylinder bike
08:32 and have it so light? Unbelievable. So the brakes do a good job of slowing this
08:39 bike down. They're not super bike, they're not modern super bike brakes by any means.
08:44 But they're effective and ABS, always on ABS, mitigates any wheel instability during
08:54 brake application. So and to be honest at this pace, even at this elevated pace, I
09:02 haven't felt the ABS intervene all day. But to be fair we're not really going
09:10 fast enough to need to just be jamming on the brakes like you would on a big
09:15 bike that needs a ton of power.
09:18 I love this section of the turn. It's fun just to pull this thing wide and just butter through the gearbox. I love that sensation.
09:33 Ergonomics! I am six foot tall and I fit quite nicely on this bike. I blew that turn too, sorry guys.
09:42 I fit quite nicely on this bike. The windscreen is tall enough for me to tuck
09:49 in behind and be out of the wind. The foot pegs are low enough to give me good
09:55 comfort when I ride in this bike. But they're not so low that they're gonna
09:59 touch down on the pavement through turns. The seat is nice and thick. Generally you
10:08 don't want a thick seat for track riding. You want the thinnest seat possible so
10:13 you can have good rear tire and shock feel. But I bet you anything that this
10:19 seat would be really comfortable for street riding.
10:26 Of course during this press introduction we're not going to do any street riding.
10:33 It's just a one-day track ride. But from initial impressions this motorcycle is
10:41 pretty dang comfortable.
10:46 Electronics! This motorcycle is not fitted with any form of electronics. There's no
10:54 traction control, no adjustable power mode throttle response.
10:59 I'm not going to hold back against the automobiles.
11:03 I mean for $9,000 it's okay that it doesn't come with electronics.
11:08 And this motorcycle is so easy to ride that it almost doesn't even need electronics.
11:15 Just the way the power, the power band, how friendly it is, how easy this thing
11:21 steers.
11:24 The riding dynamic is so well calibrated that it almost
11:31 removes the need for electronics. And when it comes to it I'd rather have a
11:36 really balanced easy ride, easy to ride bike that has a good dynamic over a bike
11:42 with bad dynamics and electronics to help it be better. So we're not going to
11:49 strike Yamaha for not having the electronics.
11:54 Maintenance. Now aside from the initial 600 mile service, this motorcycle requires oil
12:05 changes every 4,000 miles and oil filter changes every 8,000 miles.
12:11 Valve adjustment or valve inspection is at 26,600 miles. That's crazy!
12:19 26,600 miles you can travel on this vehicle before the valves need to be
12:25 inspected. It's a great feat. I really like this CP2 engine. It's just easy to ride, good torque and feel.
12:37 Even though this bike doesn't sound nearly as awesome as a YZF-R6 or YZF-R1,
12:44 you can feel a little bit of Yamaha or Pedigree inside the engine cases a
12:51 little bit.
12:54 Now for some, the fact that this motorcycle is named YZF-R7 is going to be
13:06 sacrilegious. The original YZF-R7 was a limited edition superbike, 750cc inline
13:14 four superbike made for the 1999 model year. But Yamaha,
13:21 they wanted to name it the YZF-R7 because they didn't think people were
13:28 going to buy it if they didn't. If you guys remember the FZ6R from back in the
13:34 day, that thing, it's a nice bike but it didn't really sell.
13:38 Personally, I would have named it MT7R. MT7R is what I would have named this
13:47 bike just because I'm a diehard sport bike guy and that Yamaha YZF-R7
13:53 nameplate is just that figure down in history. But it is what it is and that's
13:59 why this bike is called the YZF-R7.
14:05 All right folks, that about does it for today's MC commute. Let's pull in to the paddock, wrap things up, and we'll talk to you guys later.
14:19 Well folks, that was a fun day riding Yamaha's 2022 YZF-R7. This bike is a
14:29 fun little sport bike for riding at medium-sized tracks. It just has enough
14:37 power to excite you but it doesn't have so much power where it's gonna scare you.
14:42 This bike is crazy nimble. It's crazy nimble and I love the ability, the easy
14:49 ability to steer and make mid-corner trajectory changes. This bike handles
14:56 very nicely. Yeah, the suspension's a little soft, a little fast, but for
15:02 whaling around a medium-speed track it is a fun bike. If you got a bunch of
15:07 friends with these bikes and you got out to a track day and were able to battle, I
15:12 think you would have a good time. Of course, this bike having the YZF-R7
15:19 nameplate, I'm not a fan of that. I think the YZF-R7, the 1999 model, should
15:26 go down in history and I wouldn't have used that name for this bike. I probably
15:30 would have called it the MT-7R but I get why Yamaha named it the R7. Their
15:39 customers want R-spec bikes. They want the styling of the R6 and R1 and YZR M1
15:49 MotoGP bike and I get it. But for $9,000 it's a nice sport bike. It handles very
15:57 well. It's got good power. It fits a six-foot tall rider very well. And if
16:03 you're looking for a bike, a new bike that you can have some fun on and it's
16:08 not gonna break the bank, this vehicle is a good option. Alright folks, that's a
16:14 wrap from the official US press introduction of the 2022 YZF-R7. Give
16:20 this video a thumbs up if you liked it, thumbs it down if you didn't. Check out
16:24 MotorcyclistOnline.com for all of my written review and we'll see you folks
16:29 next time. Thanks for watching.
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