Yamaha XSR 700 XTribute

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Photos: Motorradtest.de

The weekend is exactly your thing? But not to relax, but because the supplement of the daily newspaper says where pork belly is available for 2.99 euros a kilo? Then, quite honestly, this test is not for you. Everyone else will know what the Yamaha XSR 700 has to pay for a significant extra price on the MT-07 basis.

Retro bike based on MT

Then we start with the beginning. So far ahead. That's when Yamaha came up with the idea of designing an enduro that would impress with its stability as well as its off-road capability. There was such a thing, but at the beginning of the 70s of the last millennium it usually had no road approval. The future cult bike, the Yamaha XT 500, was ready.

Half of the customers whistled for approval because they would find slopes where they would go, at best, but no roads in western understanding. Despite its slender 27 hp maximum power, the XT mumbled itself to accompany every world traveller to all the windy, dusty and rough corners of the earth. And there was a second clientele 40 years ago: those who greatly appreciated the off-road look but stayed on the road. Marlboro man for beginners, so to speak. In this respect, the XT 500 was a very early adventure bike.

Schnipp - welcome to the here and now. Yamaha has a formidable bike on offer, the MT-07. A Naked Bike, 75 hp strong, good and with 6,799 Euro new price cheap. She is so good that she regularly populates the top 3 of the admission statistics and we were also very impressed in our test. What does this have to do with the XT 500? Of course, the MT-07 forms the basis for the XSR 700 we tested, the modern interpretation of the XT 500. Most of the technology is identical, but the price is not.

In the heart an MT-07

Together with the motor, the key rotation awakens the round and digital display. It is amazing when you look at the Playstation formations of some motorcycles, what you can accommodate in the comparatively small display of the XSR. Two circumstances help the Yamaha: The inverse display - here the inclined biker receives the information not black on white, but white on black - is very easy to read. The second advantage: There is not much to display. The Yamaha dispenses with many electronic helpers in the sense of the extended retro idea: Didn't exist before.

The very upright sitting position is striking. Therefore, and thanks to the lack of wind protection, the maximum maximum speed of 200 km/h becomes a purely academic size. The bench is rather of the hard variety and completely straight except for a holding strap. In the further course of the test, this becomes a problem: one does not sit in the motorcycle, but on it. That's cool, but since the 75 hp are of the extremely lively variety, the handlebars become the saving holding rod at full acceleration, otherwise you would just plump down at the back.

The short rear wheel swingarm provides a very short wheelbase. What this technical information does in practice is that the Yamaha XSR 700 is incredibly manoeuvrable. The fact that she weighs only 186 kilos in full weight naturally supports the whole thing. It will be far too spooky for a stability-oriented clientele, everyone else is already looking forward to the next curve.