2022 Yamaha YZF-R7 global unveiling on May 18

Is Yamaha all set to launch a successor to its YZF-R6? Or the company plans to revive the ‘YZF-R7’ name from the past? All will be revealed on May 18 when the supersport from Yamaha will make its global appearance.

Based on the street naked MT-07, Yamaha has developed an all-new YZF-R7 supersport, which will fill the space between the YZF-R6 and the YZF-R1 in the international market. The YZF-R7 will be Yamaha’s contender in the middle-weight motorcycle segment and will reveal the Aprilia RS660, Honda CBR650R, and Kawasaki Ninja 650.

As regards the question of whether the YZF-R7 is the successor to the legendary YZF-R6, it's too soon to jump to a conclusion, for the packaging and orientation of the upcoming YZF-R7 are unknown. For now, we would like to be optimistic and hope that Yamaha is developing a new generation of its YZF-R6, which will continue with an in-line four-cylinder layout, with more power and more track-focused geometry.

Screengrab from the second video teaser from Yamaha Motors Europe

As mentioned above, the new YZF-R7 will be largely based on the Yamaha MT-07. Consequently, we can expect it to share the latter's platform, powertrain, and cycle parts. The engine could also be the same Euro5 (BS6) compliant 689cc parallel-twin engine from the 2021 MT-07, which could be mated to a six-speed gearbox with re-worked ratios. The engine has a bore and stroke length of 80mm and 68.6mm, respectively, which makes it an oversquare engine. This means that it's possible that engineers at Yamaha might tweak the engine to be a high-revving unit to make it more part for a supersport.

The primary changes are likely to be in terms of styling and riding posture. The YZF-R7 will carry a more committed rider’s triangle. The styling on the new YZF-R7 will be more modern and is expected to be the first to sport Yamaha’s new design language.

The new fully-faired Yamaha YZF-R7 will break cover on May 18, 2021, and the company will hand out the details and specifications as well. The motorcycle is mainly targeted towards the European market, and Yamaha has no plans to launch the 2022 YZF-R7 in India.

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