When Yamaha unveiled the FZ-07 naked bike last year at EICMA, we were pretty sure it wouldn’t make it to Canada anytime soon. It turns out we were wrong, and the bike will be for sale in Canada in the spring.
According to Yamaha, the new naked bike (built around a water-cooled 698 cc parallel twin) will be in dealerships by end of June, with a $7,299 MSRP (cheaper than much of the 650 competition from Japan). It’ll be available in grey or white.
If you need your memory jogged, you can see our initial look at the bike here, when it was first released last fall. Basically, it’s a scaled-down version of Yamaha’s FZ-09 naked bike, coming in a bit smaller but also more affordable – not that the FZ-09 was pricy.
The motor is supposed to put out 74 hp at 9,000 rpm, and 50 ft-lb of torque at 6,500 rpm; it’s designed to be particularly torquey in the 3,000-6,500 rpm range, for ease of use on the street. It’s supposed to weigh 178 kg at the curb (even lighter than Honda’s 500 lineup unveiled last spring).
The FZ-09 has a 14-litre fuel tank, 805 mm seat height, 1400 mm wheelbase, and dual 282 mm discs up front (single 245 mm disc in rear). It rolls on 17-inch wheels.
GALLERY
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Traded in my Suzuki DDR650 for one on Saturday and now just need to wait until June to get it.
Lightweight 700 twin with 50 foot lbs torque, I think that needs to be the center piece of a new XT700. Yamaha, if your listening, it doesn’t have to be a technological marvel. Steel frame is fine, single or double cradle will do, gives us options for mounting protective skid plates and bash bars. Parts binning will help with costs, reuse the speddo assembly, switchgear, brakes and levers from the FZ-O7 will be fine. Stick them on some spoke rims, 18 rear, 21 inch front please. 25 liter gas tank, and maybe the bodywork from the 660 Tenere….. Just a thought
Please Yamaha Canada let your next new bike be the SR400. Having said that I am ordering my FZ07 this week.
Lots of people want the SR400! It seems pricing is the issue.
We’ve already got these in the UK and was very interested in the bike until I had a seat on one. Very poor legroom compared to the MT-09. Anyone over 6 foot will stuggle with the tank cutouts. Shame since it looks like a great bike!
Beautiful. My first two bikes were Yamaha RZ350’s. I love the idea of a light yamaha parallel twin.
I’m thinking I really, really, really want to try one of these.
No ABS option for the FZ-07 or FZ-09? That’s silly. ABS is a serious safety advantage, especially for the new or less experienced riders who are likely to be buying these nice middleweights!
I think it’s an option in the EU, so I assume it will be an option here eventually.