Yamaha Tracer 700: The sum of the parts (and then some!)
We all know what we’re getting with the Tracer 7. The only thing is… none of us expected this bike to be THIS good.
This is Yamaha TDM850 for today’s generation of motorcyclist.
There you go, I can’t think of a better compliment to bestow upon this bike.
So here’s what you do if you’re not sure what the TDM850 is, or was. Go and Google it. Go and read what test riders of the day said about the bike. It was great. It was ahead of its time. It was practical. It was fun. It was a solid performer with character. You could hustle, hassle and have a laugh on it – when you weren’t commuting or doing big miles across Europe.
Oh man, have we needed something like that again for a long time. Well, now we have it. The Yamaha Tracer 700 is – outwardly – a familiar blend. It’s an upright MT-07 with many of the same touches and refinements you’d find on the 900 version of the lineage.
And Yamaha thinks that the success it’s already found with the 900 (15,000 sold since January 2015 which is a 35% share of the market against the likes of Suzuki’s DL1000 V-Strom, BMW’s F700GS and F800GS, Honda’s VFR800X, Triumph’s Tiger 800 and 1050, Kawasaki’s Versys 1000 and MV Agusta’s Veloce 800) will be, at the least, replicated with the 700.
Of course, you wouldn’t bank on selling a 700 where a 900 has been so successful already and Yamaha says that the plan is for 80% of these bikes to go to the under 40s. That’s an age group that’s largely passed over the Tracer 900.
Why? Why have so many riders not picked up on the bigger Tracer? It’s a great bike. It has a good, strong engine. Boasts a good, predictable chassis. It’s good. Real good. But in the wider world the perception is it’s no fun. And that, you see, is the rub. It’s the very essence of the Tracer 700 existing at all.
Ladies and gents – this is the funner, lighter version of the Dark Side of Japan. If you see what we mean.
Now, having ridden this machine in the Italian Dolomites for a couple
of hundred kilometres or so (and you can see my very-first-impression inhelmet review of the initial 100km on the bike as it happened on our MoreBikes site) I can confirm three things about this Yamaha. 1: It’s very comfortable 2: The engine is just on the right side of hoon (you have to stir it a bit to get it going)
3: Get your fun head on and it goes from ‘sedate everyday-er’ to upright fun machine
Yeah, I could go on and tell you about how it feels as a tourer. How it’s easy to bolt luggage to and how the fairing and screen really keep the wind and elements off you just enough to keep fatigue at bay. Blah, blah, blah.
The bike is great. The cross plane crank engine gives you plenty or driiiiiive out of corners and it smooths out the delivery in such a way that you can almost pick a single gear and roll the throttle on and off as required.
Climbing all over the Dolomites, dodging between behemoth coaches and snaking cycle races was a doddle on the Tracer 700 because there was not a single point where I had to think about the gear I was in or what revs I was using.
The power delivery is intuitive and lets you get on with the job of riding.
The Tracer 700 has a kerb weight of just 196kg which is 14kg lighter than the Tracer 900. Its seat is 10mm lower and costs a massive £1850 less than it’s big sibling.
Yep, £1850 less. That’s a lot of wedge. And for the life of me, I can’t see why anyone would spend that difference and get the 900 over the 700. In a tale of the tape, the 900 kicks out 113bhp @ 10,000rpm and 65lb-ft @ 8500rpm – the 700 scores 74bhp @ 9000rpm and 50lb-ft @ 6500rpm. Yes, that seems a lot – and while on the launch we didn’t get to do any motorway miles – but where it matters, in the twisties, the 700 had more than enough oomph about it. I’ll go out on a limb and say that for 80% of modern road riders the 700 is enough bike. And it’s one that leaves the best bit of two grand in your pocket over the 900 version.
Chassis-wise the bike can be pushed to feel a bit overwhelmed. But it’s not an issue. This is a real world motorcycle built to a budget and yes, you can feel it sometimes if you push it pretty hard but don’t forget the Tracer is carrying 14kg of bodywork and various bits over the MT-07 and that must have something to do with the limiting suspension factor.
But you know what? It all adds to the bike. Throughout the launch ride I found my mind flicking back to comparisons with great bikes of the 1980s and 90s. Bikes that felt alive and fun and interactive. Bikes that didn’t deliver a beige riding experience of mundanity and efficiency. Blimey, if I want a beige and efficient travelling experience then I’ll take the car. If I want to feel involved and alive, I’ll be choosing something very much like the Tracer 7.
It doesn’t need sorting out. Or replacing. It’s great and lively – you can push it to the point and when
you do it’s even more fun. Okay, if you really WANT to replace it then you can. You can spend more money improving the suspension on a bike built to a price but I think that if you do that then you miss a whole part of the essence of what makes the Tracer 700 so much fun.
So don’t. Get the bike and enjoy it for what it is. You’ll be much happier for it, I promise.
I love the brakes on this bike (just thought I should mention the semimonobloc set-up on the front). The system is great and gives loads of initial bite but is easy and useable throughout. Simple and great to use.
Yamaha went to great lengths during the launch to talk about the 50mm longer swingarm and how this gave better stability at speed. It does, but don’t think that the longer swingarm means a reduction in ‘flickability’ with the Tracer 7; this is a bike that drops into a corner with complete ease at any speed you care to go at.
Ergonomically, this bike is a treat. Yes, the seat isn’t as plush as you’d find on a specifically made, much more expensive tourer, but then at just over £6000 on the road, would you seriously have expected it to be?
At 5ft 10in the high bars and ample drop between leg and footrest were perfect. The riding position actually drops you very slightly into the prone position, but it’s certainly nothing of any note. The 64mm manually adjustable screen is a nice touch, but impossible to adjust on the move.
Pillion-wise the seat is big and accommodating and the grab rails are large enough to be able to use with a chunky glove on.
According to Yamaha, the 17-litre fuel tank means a range of more than 230 miles between fill-ups. I have no reason not to believe that number, but on the test we rode ‘enthusiastically’ through the mountain range and my bike gave back a best mpg just shy of 41. I’m absolutely convinced that on another day of solitary riding – and when I didn’t have anywhere specific to be – I could nurse that figure well into the 50mpg range without trying. It’s really not a thirsty bike, unless you turn the taps.
Just going back to the fairing before we close, the hand blades are great and really keep the wind off. Throughout the entire launch we maybe hit 90mph a couple of times and throughout it all the blades and fairing deflected the air expertly.
There are some areas of the bike where the cut-costs show. Some of the metal feels cheaply finished (footrest hangers, tail light holder) and there’s no remote switches for info on the dash. But so what.
The pluses hugely, HUGELY, outweigh the minuses on this motorcycle. The chassis is great fun, the engine is a blast, the bodywork and periphery are finished very well and the vibration is managed so well that the mirrors are superb.
At a knock over £6000 this bike is truly something of a grail for motorcyclists. If you’re of a certain age then the Tracer 700 just brings home all the fun of great, involving bikes of the past with modern refinement. If you’re younger or relatively new to the motorcycle world then this is the most welcoming, fun and practical motorcycle you can find.
Go spend more money if you want to, but as of right now you don’t have to. It doesn’t matter what – or how – you ride already, the Yamaha Tracer 700 is, very nearly, the perfect motorcycle for you.