Australian Road Rider — August 2017

le to right across the entire visible horizon.

For a few seconds I thought it was fog before

realising I was looking at a vertical line where

a near impenetrable curtain of rain began.

We hit it at a goodly clip and it was suddenly

like being in a paintball version of Custer’s

Last Stand. I can’t remember the last time it

actually hurt to be riding in the rain but this

was something way beyond just rain. I thought

I was already pre y wet, given we’d been riding

in near constant drizzle since early morning,

but apparently I was mistaken; within about

half a second I was soaked to the very skin and,

by some quirk of turbulence, even had water

travelling upwards on the inside of my visor.

Visibility went to almost nil and there were

inches of standing water on the sloping road

surface simply because no amount of gravity

could make it run off fast enough. Once the

tempest had got into its stride there was no

let-up and I believe 150mm of rain fell on us

that day. My gloves valiantly tried to soak

up what they could while my underpants

apparently dealt with the rest.

For a test of any bike, these were extreme

circumstances, to say the least. But Yamaha’s new

LAMS-legal Sports-Tourer not only excelled in

the conditions but turned out to be somewhat

well suited to the situation. Based on the MT-07,

which just happens to have been the best-selling

naked bike last year, the Tracer 700, as it’s called,

is likely to be something of a hit for Yamaha,

THE AUSTRALIANISED

VERSION

As well as the standard model reviewed

here, Yamaha also brought along its Aussie

version of the Tracer 700. Most noticeably,

this features chunky, knobbly tyres in

the shape of Continental TKC80s, which

immediately lend the bike a way more

muscular look. It was also fi  ed with a

much bigger screen, large-section tubular

crash bars and additional fog lights. There’s

also a lower cowling around the front of

the engine and fi nally a tasty-looking,

titanium Akrapovic exhaust system

featuring a short muffl er. All up, a much

more purposeful and thuggish-looking

iteration of the Tracer — and did I mention

we’re ge ing one as our next long-termer?

Can’t wait.

r Crowley concentrates. The launch tested both bike and rider with foul weather conditions prevailing.

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