A 106 bhp motorcycle never looked so good, it never cost so much either.
In 1999 a brand spanking new R1 retailed at £8,500, the sticker price on the R7 was getting on for three times that much. The R7 wasn’t designed to sell in large numbers, it was a means to an end for Yamaha who needed something fresher than a constantly reworked YZF750 to race in WSB. They built 500 bikes to keep the suits who make the WSB rules happy, we only got around 40 here in the UK, list price was a lumpy £22,000.
Most of those bikes went to the track, many were fitted with the Yamaha race kit parts that would have set you back another £10,000 for a 55bhp hop up.
We were at Santa Pod last month and stumbled upon this modern day classic. The owner wasn’t around but he had left some information next to the bike that was there on display. This bike could well be the finest R7 on the planet, it’s never seen fuel and is box fresh. Some people will say that it’s a waste of bike, we hear you, but every so often you just have to accept that it’s down to an owner what they do with their machines. Whatever side of the fence you are on, let’s just come together to appreciate the R7.
