If there's been an emerging theme out of EICMA 2017, it's that manufacturers have been listening to people that actually get out and do adventure riding. So if you feel like getting as far away from civilization as possible for some reason you'll be needing an adventure bike, and probably one that's more capable off-road than the big boys. Yamaha's T7 concept might be just the ticket, based on the MT-07 parallel twin motor.
The adventure tourer category that has been so popular over the last decade is full of enormous, heavy bikes epitomized by the BMW R1200GS Adventure, which is great for cross-country touring but an absolute bastard to pull out of a boggy mud patch if you drop it, and if you're interested in going deep off-roading down technical single trails, you'd better be an absolute gun rider to get one of those things through it.
Most off-road riders will make better progress on something smaller, lighter and more manageable, and a slew of smaller-capacity all-road adventure models debuting at this year's EICMA seems to reflect this: the Suzuki wee-strom 250, the BMW 310 GS, Ducati's Scrambler Desert Sled, Honda's CRF250L Rally and Kawasaki's Versys-X 300.
It might be great timing with a lot of people probably wanting to get as far away from civilization as possible at the moment, and all these bikes look capable of carrying a goodly amount of tinned non-perishable food.
But one that really looks like fun is Yamaha's T7 concept. Walking in the footsteps of the venerable Ténéré of the 1980s, it's a mid-size Dakar-style rally adventure machine based on the awesome parallel twin motor from the MT07.
It's big enough to look like it could hold its own on a long highway, but small enough to look like a genuine option for hardcore off-road action, too.
It's got a four-projector LED headlight, an aluminum fuel tank, and KYB forks. It's also got a carbon fairing and bashplate, which gives away that this is very much a concept and not a production model.
But it's a great motor, well suited to the task, and Yamaha is clear that it's going to be the basis for a new model in 2018. We'll stay tuned!
Source: Yamaha Motor Europe
