Supersport gap filler: Yamaha MT-07 dresses up to replace R6

[weeksy]

i think also within a month or two it'll get a remap out there along with a free flowing exhaust.

Happily the Yamaha guys at Silverstone are getting one we can hire for a session, hopefully this year too. I'll deffo be sending Mrs Weeksy out for a session on it.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The 90's JDM 400's were all capped at 60bhp. Most would hit 130 on a good day (unless they still have the speed restrictor enabled), the ZXR400 was supposed to be good for 140.

I've seen 140 on the speedo of a ZXR400, took a long time to get there, and the high gearing spoiled the bike, my GSXR400 would do about 135mph, I think my FZR will do 130, maybe a bit more, and NC30s do about the same.

Early faired SV650s also indicated 130 - 135.
I think top speed of this will be about 130, I'm tempted by one, but it will mostly come down to riding position.

[Bigjawa]

My NC30 did about 125ish, my SV showed about 136 but it took a long time, had a PCIII, full micron and was dynod at 68 at the wheel, bloke said it was a particularly healthy example. It ended up as a race bike.

I used to say an SV with a decent front end would make a perfect road bike, maybe Yamaha have made it?

[Supermofo]

I used to say an SV with a decent front end would make a perfect road bike, maybe Yamaha have made it?

I often used to wish that there was a middleweight with top suspension that wasn't OTT speed wise for the road. And my thoughts were of the SV but people only view them as shopping/starter bikes so I got why manufacturers didn't build one. As you say Yamaha might just have done the job, sadly to late for me to want clips ons and rear sets! I did consider buying an SV and upgrading the suspension but I'd never get my money back and KTM made the 690 so hence I bought the Duke.

I speed checked my mates curvy SV on my blade. He was flat stick, flat on the tank at about 125 whilst I was bolt upright, 2 up with my GF on the back egging him on

[weeksy]

SV650 I had 9mph more on back straight at Donny than on the 690

[Supermofo]

SV650 I had 9mph more on back straight at Donny than on the 690

That's not bad for a ditch pump is it!

[weeksy]

SV650 I had 9mph more on back straight at Donny than on the 690

That's not bad for a ditch pump is it!

Not bad at all fella.

[Couchy]

My SV was 74hp at the wheel with the mods it had so in theory an 80hp engine and it would pull 135 ish on the clock.
My tenere with this engine pulled 126 on donington back straight with more to go so even with an allowance for the speedo it will prob do a genuine 120-125. This R7 is lighter and more aerodynamic so it has to do 130+.
I love the CP7 engine it’s livelier than the power suggests and has great drive. I’ll be getting a go as I like the sound of it for a fun track bike

[Couchy]

Learner bikes don't need that stuff or you'll never learn to ride properly and become too dependent on the stuff.

Complete bollocks from someone who is by his own admission largely lacking in experience of what he's talking about here....

Well, actually I'm with Yorick on this.

Learn on a basic bike, gain the skills needed to ride that well first, then you'll understand what the advanced aids do and how (and IF) you can actually exploit them.

If all you do is let the bike take care of all your problems, you're not really in control of it... and when the bike encounters an issue it CAN'T solve - like a slick surface - you'll find you're in trouble.

Case in point. I see way too many riders on 1000cc-plus bikes who haven't the faintest clue how to use a gearbox. They argue "I need a powerful bike to make it easy to ride" completely failing to understand thrust curves.

I think it just means riders ride closer to the edge with no idea when they'll cross it.

No, not in most cases IMO- the ones who run off tracks or crash through being hamfisted are still likely to do it with electronics, most will never even even get it cutting in, unless they have it on a very intrusive setting, as Yorick obviously did on his- Couchy puts it best IMO-

I'm still talking about the road here.

I often wonder if anyone who comments on modern electronics has ever ridden one in anger and tried to make the cut in ? 90% of those on a Trackday won’t ever trouble abs or traction control. View them as a performance aide and try to use them as such and they are superb, you can still crash if you give it full throttle exiting a corner as a mate did last week. But get smoothly on the gas earlier and earlier and eventually, they’ll kick in. But the limit is very high and takes a lot of reaching

Yup

As I said, I would have liked the traction control to do something when I lost the backend mid-corner on the latest model V-Strom. It did nowt. I saved that one the old-fashioned way! Luck!

braaaaap,braaaaap,braaaaaap. That's all the point they need

Exactly that- it's fun and addictive

I suppose it's like programming a 3D printer. I'm sure that's fun. But it's also fun to make something the old-fashioned way by hand. And to me at least, far more rewarding.

I can see learning to change gear and blip the throttle is a skill that’s needed. But traction and abs aren’t skills to at can be learned on the road without crashing lots .
I don’t see these electronics as safety nets I see them as performance enhancements. Plenty of people still high side on track with them so they can’t mask incompetence. But as a performance aide they are superb, enables you to push harder and harder smoothly till the rear starts to spin. Most allow a lot of spin too before they intervene and some have slide control as well. They can be pushed to a point the rear spins and they don’t interfere and this for me is good to have

[The Spin Doctor]

ABS you CAN learn on the road... if you already have learned the basics of hard braking... you just brake harder to trigger the ABS then you know how it works.

Something like 40% of small bike crashes in London (so likely ridden on CBTs) were 'loss of control' and it's very likely many of those involved locking up the front wheel (or possibly the rear - my very first crash) by panic braking.

ABS can't stop you if you don't use the brakes or don't give yourself room to stop, but it can stop you falling off 30 metres short of the car that's just stopped directly in your path on a wet surface. (The bike slid past, I didn't - broken arm).

So maybe a few riders WILL use ABS and traction control as performance aids. But I can honestly say that many of my advanced trainees have never kicked the ABS off and most are actually reluctant to try it out, too - and that includes many with IAM / RoSPA tickets.

[Couchy]

ABS you CAN learn on the road... if you already have learned the basics of hard braking... you just brake harder to trigger the ABS then you know how it works.

Something like 40% of small bike crashes in London (so likely ridden on CBTs) were 'loss of control' and it's very likely many of those involved locking up the front wheel (or possibly the rear - my very first crash) by panic braking.

ABS can't stop you if you don't use the brakes or don't give yourself room to stop, but it can stop you falling off 30 metres short of the car that's just stopped directly in your path on a wet surface. (The bike slid past, I didn't - broken arm).

So maybe a few riders WILL use ABS and traction control as performance aids. But I can honestly say that many of my advanced trainees have never kicked the ABS off and most are actually reluctant to try it out, too - and that includes many with IAM / RoSPA tickets.

What I meant was learning to brake as hard as ABS without ABS is a tricky thing to do so it’s nice to have ABS on the road, I didn’t realise some folk even with ABS won’t brake hard enough to trigger it !. On track it’s better without it tbh especially with sticky tyres

[The Spin Doctor]

What I meant was learning to brake as hard as ABS without ABS is a tricky thing to do so it’s nice to have ABS on the road, I didn’t realise some folk even with ABS won’t brake hard enough to trigger it !. On track it’s better without it tbh especially with sticky tyres

After I ended up on the deck at the Aldwych looking at the front offside tyre of a Routemaster stopping a few feet from my head, I decided it was time to stop falling off through panic-braking on the front brake.

I went off to a car park and spent an hour or so every couple of days for several weeks just going up and down and hitting the brakes progressively harder, till I could lock the front on demand AND release it before losing control.

I remember suggesting that to someone on VD who'd had several front end lock-up crashes in London, the last being when a vehicle turned across his path whilst he was riding down a bus lane. He thought it was mad to actually PRACTICE braking hard, and RISKING locking the front... so I guess he probably kept on falling off.

[Mr. Dazzle]

One of the very first things I did when I got a bike was lock the front deliberately a load of times. I don't think I'd be brave enough to do that as a novice now, so I'm glad I did it as an invincible 17 year old!

[formula400]

I am liking this R7, wonder how it compares to my 675r, looks very tasty.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'd forgotten about practicing braking, it's something I used to do as part of warming up for a fast road ride, deliberately brake hard enough to nearly lock the front wheel, must get into the habit of doing it again, especially on track.