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Image courtesy of Yamaha Motorsports Global. A Look Back At the Previous YZF-R7 The original, 1999 Yamaha YZF-R7 (OW-02 in race spec).
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However, there is one very important point that many either didn’t know, or intentionally didn’t mention: This isn’t the first R7. No matter what side of the argument you personally landed on, there were points to be made for either side. Others called it a brave decision that was in keeping with the times. Some called it an unprecedented misstep by Yamaha, missing the mark of what supersport riders want. As such, when the R7 was announced to be coming with a parallel-twin engine instead of an inline-four, the motorcycle forums around the internet exploded. When the 2022 Yamaha YZF-R7 was teased without any specs about it, the initial thought was that Yamaha was going to up the size of the inline-four engine from the R6 to give it more grunt, more torque, and finally settle the issue of which mid-tier supersport was the king of the track. However, Yamaha replaced the R6 with something that is possibly, in the supersport world, even more controversial. Often touted as the best supersport for the money, even when compared to the more powerful and less expensive Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6 636, it was (and still is) a bike loved by many a track day enthusiast. To say that the decision of Yamaha to retire the YZF R6 in 2020 and have a year without a 600cc class supersport was a controversial move is quite possibly the understatement of the century so far.