footpegs . I found myself shaking out my hands half an hour into my ride . It is not the roomiest for my 182cm ( 5ft 11in ) frame being right on the limit for comfort . I think if you ’ re over 183cm ( 6ft ) you would be having some trouble . That said , it ’ s in keeping with the rest of the bikes in Yamaha ’ s R-series that I ’ ve ridden .
TWIN CYLINDER POWER Now to the part you ’ ve probably been waiting for , the engine . Taking my first big handful ... didn ’ t knock my socks off . It ’ s a LAMS machine and I ’ ve been racing a BMW S1000RR in NZSBK , so it ’ s to be expected . But ... I did really enjoy the torque range of the motor . The MT-07-based engine pulls really well in every gear , so there was no chopping and changing gears all the time to keep it in the power . With that torque , it thrives through winding corners , sitting in 3rd and 4th gears just rolling the throttle on and off . It ’ s nice and smooth with great response . It ’ s a great motor for the road and combined with the great manoeuvrability , it was a joy to punch around the city streets . In terms of top speed the R7 definitely isn ’ t the fastest and feels very flat up at the top of
the rev range . 200km / h is all it had with a full road racing aerodynamic tuck on our test track . I thought it would be quicker than that , but I admit that with the superfast looks I pretty much forgot it was a LAMS bike – which is a compliment . Anyway , it ’ s definitely fast enough to keep you on your toes . Stopping power is plentiful and I didn ’ t hesitate once when pulling up on the brakes . They have a very similar feel to the brakes fitted to the R6 , and I wouldn ’ t be able to tell them apart if I had my eyes closed . They are nice and smooth when sailing round , but when you need to pull up in a hurry you can be really aggressive with the lever .
RACING POTENTIAL To touch on the racing side of things , it would be great to see this bike be able to compete in the NZ Pro Twin championship to give Aprilia ’ s RS660 a run for its money . This has been the case in MotoAmerica where the R7 won the 2022 Twins Cup Championship . We also saw the R7 for the first time at the Isle of Man this year in the hands of Peter Hickman , winning race two in the Supertwin class . This bike is starting
94 KIWI RIDER