Fully loaded
“There is no grabrail so holding on to the rider is necessary”
Pillion
The seat has been revised for 2018. Yamaha has extended both the rider and pillion pads rearwards slightly. This gives the illusion of a bigger seat as the front seat now meets the pillion. There is no grabrail provided so holding on to the rider is necessary, and the pillion seat is also mounted quite high and feels similar to a sportsbike, though foot rests are at a comfortable height and would be fine on longer journeys. From a rider’s point of view, the rear seemed to sag once a pillion was on board, which made the steering lighter. This isn’t something you would expect with an average-weight pillion, so the preload would definitely need adjusting.
Luggage and load
It’s easy to fit a tailpack to the MT-07 remove the pillion seat, Velcro the strap around it, then clip it back on. There are points on the pillion footrests to mount the front bungee hooks but none at the back so you have to use the rear light and numberplate bracket. This works well though and the tailpack is secure. Yamaha has soft 14-litre pannier bags available, which expand to 21 litres and cost £174 but need a fitting kit. There are three Yamaha tankbags: ‘City’ is 11 litres and expandable to 15 litres (£141); ‘Tour’ is 16 litres expanding to 22 litres (£151) and ‘Sport’ is 5 litres capacity expanding to 9 litres (£97). All three require the Yamaha mounting kit at £40.66.