VOL. 54 ISSUE 14 APRIL 11, 2017 P81
Put it this way: the last time the R6
got properly updated in 2006, I was a
mechanic in Australia with a full head of
hair. Really, I was.
In racing terms, there was very little
wrong with the old R6. It's still the cur-
rent MotoAmerica Supersport, Super-
stock and Australian Supersport Cham-
pion, and it won the World Supersport
Championship with Sam Lowes (2013),
Chaz Davies (2011) and Cal Crutchlow
(2009). In the last 58 MotoAmerica
Supersport and Superstock 600 races,
the R6 has won 56 of them.
So why has Yamaha decided to invest
more money, time and energy into their
little mini superbike? It's a hard question
to answer. There's no denying the 2016
R6 was and still is an excellent ma-
chine, but it's old, and old bikes need a
refresher if they are to stay in the public
eye when they go hunting for some new
wheels. As such, the next sentence may
shock you.
THE 2017 YAMAHA YZF-R6
IS NOT AN ALL-NEW BIKE
Yamaha has not started with a fresh
sheet of paper in the same way they did
the R1 a few years back. Developing a
brand new motor costs money, lots of
it, so while the R6 can pass the Euro4
The dash is
basically the
same from
the previous
generation R6.
The new face:
Yamaha's made
the R6 look ultra-
mean. We think it
looks better
than the R1.
Three flavors for your new R6, sir.
