STORY: NIGEL CROWLEY
PICS: JULIE CROWLEYS
omeone at Yamaha had a really
good idea when the new 700 Tracer
arrived here in Australia. In fact, they
had two really good ideas, but we’ll
come to that. First, they decided to “Australianise”
the LAMS-legal sports tourer and make it more
of a dual-purpose adventure bike. There’s a lot
of tarmac in this country but there’s a whole
lot more dirt and making the bike suitable for
both seems like the right thing to do. It’ll likely
open up another section of the market that the
standard version doesn’t really cater for as well.
To that end, they equipped it with a number
of diff erent components from its standard
brethren, the most signifi cant of which must
surely be the huge-looking, knobbly dual-
purpose 180/55, 120/70 tyres: Continental TKC
80s to be exact, giving the Tracer a much-
improved off -road capability. Not only that, but
they look incredibly butch when fi ed and give
the bike a totally diff erent vibe. Add to that
some chunky crash protection in the form of
engine bars and crash bungs, plus the addition
of a couple of extra fog lamps, and suddenly
the whole thing takes on a very purposeful,
almost Mad Max-like demeanour.
The inclusion of a much bigger screen and
colour-coded engine cowling completes the
look and functionality of this funky version.
Viewed side by side with the stocker, you’d
almost think they were two diff erent models,
such is the visual impact of all that good stuff.
The second good idea? Give it to us as a long-
termer and let us do things to it and take it
places that the standard Tracer might not be so
keen to have a go at. With that in mind, we’ve
put our thinking caps on and planned some
cool trips and activities as well as a full reviewof the bike and its pros and cons compared to
the road-focused model.
In addition, we’re also going to a empt to
make it even tougher and more dirt worthy.
We’re thinking some much more substantial
handguards, defi nitely a proper metal
bashplate to protect the underneath, maybe
a suitable rear rack, and we’d love to get some
really butch, metal luggage for it in place of the
slightly fragile semi-rigid ones it comes with.
On top of that, I’m going to do an off -roadskills clinic to fi x my relative lack of dirt-riding
experience before I fi nd myself looking at
the underneath of the thing from a new and
interesting angle as I pick sticks out of my face.
Just a note: this isn’t a bike you can buy off
the shelf. If you want your Tracer to look like
this, you’ll have to spec all the individual parts
and get them fi ed either by yourself or your
local Yamaha dealer. We’ll be covering those
costs later as well as any extra items we throw
at it and where you can source them. ARR“There’s a lot of tarmac in this country but
there’s a whole lot more dirt, and making the
bike suitable for both seems like the right
thing to do.”
r The Tracer is more than happy to take on light off-road duties.98 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDERLONG-TERM YAMAHA TRACER
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