Motorcycles

Yamaha T7 concept actually looks like a practical mid-size adventure machine

Yamaha T7 concept actually looks like a practical mid-size adventure machine
The Yamaha T7 concept is built for serious off-road
The Yamaha T7 concept is built for serious off-road
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Yamaha T7 concept: back seat
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Yamaha T7 concept: back seat
Yamaha T7 concept: twist release pins
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Yamaha T7 concept: twist release pins
Yamaha T7 concept: left switchgear
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Yamaha T7 concept: left switchgear
Yamaha T7 concept: GPS mount
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Yamaha T7 concept: GPS mount
Yamaha T7 concept: Dakar style rally screen
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Yamaha T7 concept: Dakar style rally screen
Yamaha T7 concept: four LED projector headlights
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Yamaha T7 concept: four LED projector headlights
Yamaha T7 concept: Akrapovic exhaust
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Yamaha T7 concept: Akrapovic exhaust
Yamaha T7 concept: desert rally adventure machine
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Yamaha T7 concept: desert rally adventure machine
Yamaha T7 concept: mid-sized adventure machine mased on the MT-07 parallel twin
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Yamaha T7 concept: mid-sized adventure machine mased on the MT-07 parallel twin
Yamaha T7 concept: compact adventure machines are the hot topic at this year's EICMA
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Yamaha T7 concept: compact adventure machines are the hot topic at this year's EICMA
The Yamaha T7 concept is built for serious off-road
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The Yamaha T7 concept is built for serious off-road
Yamaha T7 concept: a Tenere by any other name would smell as sweet
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Yamaha T7 concept: a Tenere by any other name would smell as sweet
Yamaha T7 concept: carbon fairings and bashplate won't make it to the production model!
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Yamaha T7 concept: carbon fairings and bashplate won't make it to the production model!
Yamaha T7 concept: an excellent reaction to the trend of enormous adventure bikes
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Yamaha T7 concept: an excellent reaction to the trend of enormous adventure bikes
Yamaha T7 concept: sliding with style
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Yamaha T7 concept: sliding with style
Yamaha T7 concept: the basis for a 2018 mid sized adventure model from Yamaha
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Yamaha T7 concept: the basis for a 2018 mid sized adventure model from Yamaha
Yamaha T7 concept: will it be as highway friendly as it is dirt friendly?
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Yamaha T7 concept: will it be as highway friendly as it is dirt friendly?
Yamaha T7 concept: an adventure machine for those that skew toward off-road
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Yamaha T7 concept: an adventure machine for those that skew toward off-road
Yamaha T7 concept: could this bike galvanize a mid-size adventure segment?
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Yamaha T7 concept: could this bike galvanize a mid-size adventure segment?
Yamaha T7 concept: just a concept, but a harbinger of a production model to come
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Yamaha T7 concept: just a concept, but a harbinger of a production model to come
View gallery - 20 images

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.

Yamaha T7 concept: the basis for a 2018 mid sized adventure model from Yamaha
Yamaha T7 concept: the basis for a 2018 mid sized adventure model from Yamaha

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.

Yamaha T7 concept: compact adventure machines are the hot topic at this year's EICMA
Yamaha T7 concept: compact adventure machines are the hot topic at this year's EICMA

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

View gallery - 20 images
2 comments
2 comments
possum1
Bring back the Tenere, as long as this new thing has a big fuel tank it will be well received in Australia. Although, that seat could use some work as there is a bit of time on the freeway before you get to the good stuff !
DavidRogerBrown
Looking forward to details like weight and a actual production model. BMW new 300 also looks interesting with a low entry price. Thanks Loz