Test: Yamaha XSR 700

A trip to a fairy tale is no coincidence, as the history of the Yamaha Faster Sons family of motorcycles, which includes this new Yamaha classic, is also quite unusual. Shun Miyazawa is a Yamaha product manager who showed so much courage and atypical Japanese thinking that he offered Iwati engineers something unheard of - a future with ideas from the past. Pure heresy for Japanese engineers! Progress paves the way to the future, and the stairs lead one after another, always only upwards. However, Shun states that if you don't know and appreciate the previous ladder, you don't know where to go next. So he found inspiration in the Yamaha machines of the seventies and eighties, came up with a logical continuation in the new motorcycles of classic design and called them Faster sons, “fast sons”.

Classics in fashion

The trend of increasing popularity of modern retro motorcycles has done him good. But be careful! A closer look and technical details reveal that the twin-cylinder XSR 700 is an artificially aged MT-07 home bike. Like its sister, the XSR, despite its high seating position, is nimble, nimble and easy to use. True, triangular handlebars, seat, pedals come in different sizes, more adapted to the classic motorcycle segment. Of course with equipment and accessories that only emphasize this classicism: front and rear lights, fuel tank, seat, counter. Yamaha has a plethora of accessories available and Akrapovic already has an exhaust for them. With the Slovenian soundstage, the feeling is even better, with a little more power and a concrete sound, and the bike already looks almost "rocking" due to the exhaust draft under the seat.

However, the XSR 700 is not just a clone of the MT-07 and has quite a classic charm. For example, Yamaha is four kilograms heavier than its sister. Also equipped with excellent ABS. While its second, larger three-cylinder counterpart, the XSR 900 is aimed at more demanding users, the XSR 700 is looking for opportunities for those who have already mastered the basics of automotive engineering and want to take it one step further. Still, the 10 is in good hands, very fast and doesn't want to be (only) a beginner's bike. It will feel good on both long and short legs, as well as female drivers, even though the seat is set 07 millimeters higher than the MT-XNUMX. Yes, Al, that sounds pretty crap to me. It looks like it's not for me either.

text: Primozh Yurman, photo: Sasha Kapetanovich

• Basic data

  Test model cost: € 7.695 XNUMX €

• Technical information

  engine: two-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-cooled, 689 cm3, 2-cylinder

  Power: 55,0 kW (74,8 hp) at 9.000 volts / min

  Torque: 68,0 Nm at 6.500 rpm

  Energy transfer: six-speed gearbox, chain

  Frame: steel pipe

  brakes: front disc 282 mm, rear disc 245 mm, ABS

  Suspension: telescopic fork facing forward, center shock absorber at the rear

  Tires: 120/70-17, 180/55-17

  Growth: 815 mm

  Fuel tank: 14

  Wheelbase: 1.405 mm

  Weight: 186 kg

We praise and reproach

Retro look

Details

Possibility of personalization