As much fun as it is riding a motorcycle around the city, nothing beats taking an adventure bike to far flung corners for riding across sand, rocks, and mud. That kind of riding is exactly what the Yamaha T7 Concept is built to handle, with its sweet combination of off-road talents, racing chops, and long-range riding prowess.
Unlike most modern adventure bikes, the long-range, off-road racer keeps electronic assist features to the minimum, focusing much of its equipment on surviving rugged trails instead. That means, it should appease those who find modern adventure bikes to share too much in common with road-going models, making it feel like a throwback to earlier years of enduro riding.
The Yamaha T7 Concept mounts a 700cc CP2 parallel-twin engine on an all-new mid-size chassis that’s suited for dual-spot riding, with a styling that mimics WR450F Dakar rally bikes and a general design that harkens to mind the outfit’s discontinued XT 600 enduros. Joining that setup on the prototype is a lightweight aluminum fuel tank and a custom snap-crackle Akrapovic exhaust, with high-spec KYB suspension both front (21 inches of travel) and rear (18 inches). Other features include a carbon fiber fairing, carbon fiber skid plate, and quad-projector LED headlights.
For now, there are no production plans for the Yamaha T7 Concept. The company, however, has acknowledged that it will play a huge part in the way their future adventure models will be designed.
