Australian Road Rider — August 2017

and composure, equipped with what can

only be described as mundane suspension

components, with not a USD fork or damping

adjuster in sight, a ached to a tubular steel

chassis. The suspension is set up stiff er than

that on the MT-07 to cope with the expected

extra burden of a pillion and/or luggage and

yet is certainly compliant enough to work well

with just a single rider aboard. In fact, we think

overall it’s an improvement on the setup of the

standard bike. The chassis also has an extra

50mm in the swingarm to improve high-speed

stability, giving a wheelbase of 1450mm, yet it

hasn’t made the bike any less manoeuvrable in

quick direction changes.

Even though this bike is built to a

price, build quality still seems excellent;

the bodywork feels solid and thick and

comes with wind-defl ecting handguards

incorporating the indicators. There’s even a

slo ed cross-brace on the handlebar to allow

mounting of GPS and other devices. There

are cool-looking wave-style discs as standard

and it also comes with a height-adjustable

windscreen, operated by two thumbscrews.

r Hardware is exposed, so you'll have the pressure washer on hand after a dirty ride.

r The road-going MT-07 was Aussie market's best-selling LAMs bike last year. The Tracer uses a similar engine.

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 55

TEST REPORT: YAMAHA TRACER 700

ARR139_048-056_YamahaTracer.indd 55ARR139_048-056_YamahaTracer.indd 55 6/23/2017 3:44:17 PM6/23/2017 3:44:17 PM