Yamaha MT-07: Refined Enegade

Yamaha’s gone back to the drawing board with its middleweight mentalist and given it some subtle tweaking.

- Dangerous Bruce

It was four years ago that Yamaha launched the MT-07 and they could never have guessed it would’ve become such a chart-topper. A third of the brand’s hypernaked sales are ’07s, and with volume demand more consistent than a Saharan weather report, it looks as though this little gem is going to be a linchpin in their line-up for a very long time – especially now it’s had a bit of a fettle.

Money talks and with a price tag so low it left other manufacturers spitting feathers, there were one or two areas that weren’t exactly premium, let’s say… such as the suspension. If you like a ride with more bounce than a pogo stick, you’d have found yourself a fan of the original MT. But for the rest of us, it was the Achilles heel to an otherwise respectable middleweight naked. It needed sorting out, and so did the bargain parts bin guise of the MkI, which Yamaha’s addressed with this second iteration. While the frame, brakes, engine (it’s now Euro 4) and running gear stay exactly the same, the aesthetics of the bike have had the Gok Wan treatment. A first gen MT-09-style headlight and seat unit have joined the mix, and so too has a remodelled tank and a much more comfy (and fat-arse friendly) rider seat. But the major change is to the suspension, which is still pretty basic and non-adjustable. That said, it now comes with 130mm of travel at either end, and they’ve both benefited from increased damping and spring rates. Job done, then? Well, we headed to Spain to find out…

Notably better