Words : Colin Cooper

Scotty Brooker at MotoSR rang us up to say he ’ d been working on Yamaha ’ s new adventure bike – and he thought we should give it a go . So , our mission was to head to MotoSR in Taupo and run the stock Yamaha T700 against MotoSR ’ s Project Yamaha T700 on genuine offroad terrain and evaluate the improvements . The T700 has an un-cluttered ‘ flight deck ’ and narrow girth . It certainly omits impressions of a dirt bike / rallye race machine from Yamaha ’ s thoroughbred lineage . The stock T700 sports a typical ‘ comfort ’ suspension package – admittedly with plenty of adjustability , but also typical of a street compliant adventure tourer . My prior doubts of satisfaction after adding the wife and or luggage were self-evident – the stock T700 , while comfortable riding and reasonably controlled is too soft when pushed offroad or laden . For serious use , let loose into some of New Zealand ’ s awesome back country off-road terrain , the suspension action would greatly benefit from an upgrade . This is where the Moto SR team steps up . MotoSR ’ s ‘ NZ ADV package ’ offers an economical suspension enhancement , whilst still retaining the KYB fork and shock units .

66 KIWI RIDER