2018 YAMAHA XSR700
FIRST RIDE
P58
Yamaha Europe is one of the largest volume sellers of the
brand in the world, and thus were "tooled up" to build the
XSR before Yamaha Japan. It's only in the last 12 months
that Yamaha Japan has had the required tooling to build
the bikes from scratch, hence the two-year wait for the
U.S. market to get their XSR700s.
Tardiness aside, it's indeed a good thing the $8499
XSR700 is finally here. This is a bike spawned directly from
the MT-07, a bike that represents some of—if not the—best
value for money in the middleweight sector. The MT retails
for a lovely $7599, packing with it one of the most enjoy-
able, bratty little motors and minimalist, edgy styling. It's a
teenager's dream bike (or at least, it should be).
(Left) The lovely neat back-end
has the XSR logo embossed into
the seat. (Below left) The front
guard is designed to be easily
detachable/modified. (Below)
Make no mistake, that little CP2
motor is an absolute gem.
The XSR takes everything that makes the MT so great
and gives it a touch of sophistication, a little touch of
class, if you will. Taking the same bodywork as the 900,
the XSR700 gets different colors in the admittedly boring
matte gray and aluminum color scheme, with the rasp-
berry Metallic version our pick of the two. ABS comes
standard fitment, but there's no traction control, no quick-
shifter, no alternate riding modes. You don't need that
stuff on an XSR, anyway!
Nestled between the XSR's frame rails is the same
delightfully bonkers 689cc parallel-twin four-stroke mo-
tor that has won so many fans in the MT-07—it's a small,
light power unit that has a seriously surprising amount
