CROWD PLEASER
You can’t please all of the people all of the time. That’s been true probably since the dawn of humanity – but a look at the world right now shows it’s more relevant than ever. We’re a tricky species to keep happy at the best of times, and whether it’s politics, economics, international relations or even sport, we’ll always find something to moan about…
Bikers are, generally, a bit easier to please. Give us an engine and two wheels, and we’re well on the way to satisfaction. But even here, there’s plenty of dissent and rancour. Not enough power, too much power, a bit heavy, plain styling, too expensive, too many electronics – the punter in the generic biker café on a Sunday morning will sound off happily over a bacon roll and a cuppa.
Ironically, an all-round machine is probably the trickiest to get right. The no-compromise nature of a full-on superbike or hardcore offroader is easier to comply with: 200bhp, full electronics and Öhlins/Brembo chassis kit on the former, 21” front wheel, knobblies, sub-160kg mass and foot-long suspension travel on the latter. The obsessives will be happy.
But when it comes to something that can do it all, the bar is higher. A bike which needs to go shopping on Saturday, scratching on Sunday, touring in August and commuting in November, two-up, one-up, laden with kit or travelling light has to get its compromises spot-on. Too much of one thing will render its other roles moot, and the designers’ heads are filled with competing demands.
Which means that the sweet-looking new Tracer 7 parked up in front of me has had a lot of work put into it. I’ve arrived at a nice hotel outside Porto for the press launch of the 2025 machine, and Yamaha’s smooth PR operation is in full swing.
On the face of it, this is not a flagship bike: a steady middleweight all-rounder, which aims to do it all, in the tradition of Yamaha roadbikes going back to the Fazer 600 of the 1990s and beyond.
Yet it’s an important machine for the tuning fork firm: as the presentation tonight will reveal, there have been more than 60,000 of them since it launched in 2015, mostly in Europe, where the bike is designed (at a Milan R&D office) and built (at Yamaha’s former MBK factory in France).
The target audience is the typical European rider: aged 30-50, 90% male, mid-high income, living in the suburbs and happy to spend a little more for a premium product.
And the new bike does look fairly premium. The standard spec now includes gizmos like cruise control, colour dash, adjustable fork and new rider aids, while the GT variant has posh gold anodised fork tubes, a taller screen, standard panniers and heated grips. A new styling job brings the looks bang up to date, and detail changes abound, raising the overall standard without affecting the practical nature of the beast.
We’ll not be needing those GT heated grips on this job mind. The metaphorical mercury is nudging 23 degrees over breakfast, and as I don my Shoei lid and Alpinestars airbag vest, I’m already feeling the humidity. Outside, get on my assigned machine, and we’re away.
We’re based on the Douro river outside Porto, and the roads round here have to deal with both the hills and mountains, and the river valley. So there are A Lot of twists and turns right from the off. We have a 280-300km route planned, and the very nice Yamaha lead rider seems up for a laugh, so there’s a good day ahead of us it seems.
Last night’s presentation took us through the 2025 updates, and also gave a bit of an insight into the designer’s plans. They were apparently quite happy with the performance of the old bike, with the 72bhp CP2 689cc parallel twin engine and nimble chassis, based on a steel tube frame with tall-ish suspension.
The Tracer is very much a road bike, despite the mild hints at adventure styling here and there, with the longer wheel travel, upright seating position and vertically-aligned bodywork all providing sport-touring comfort rather than any dirt ability at all. Sir or madam will be wanting the Ténéré range if they have any ambitions in that direction.
The changes for this year fall into a few categories: there’s the essential engine changes needed to make the engine Euro 5+ compliant, which means a new ride-by-wire Y-CCT engine management system and more emissions cleaning. Then there’s a new front end, with rebound-adjustable USD forks and radial brakes.
Finally, there’s a ratcheting-up of the touring toys: colour dash with navigation included, cruise control, adjustable windscreen, bigger 18 litre fuel tank and comfier accommodation. Meanwhile the £1300-pricier GT version comes with hard panniers, centre stand, taller screen, heated grips and posher seat.
I’m appreciating all the updates as my mind gets to grip with the early start though. We’re trundling along some urban roads to get to the good stuff, and I’m feeling nicely at home. I’ve been riding a 2025 Tracer 9 GT in the UK for much of the past six weeks, so am now used to Yamaha’s new switchgear, with its slightly-fiddly indicator switch, great cruise control buttons and neat joystick for accessing menu info.
I’m on a base bike to begin with, so the shorter screen keeps my head in the cooling breeze even when I try the easy manual windshield adjuster mechanism, ideal to keep fresh air through my Shoei. The little twin motor burbles away underneath me, and when we begin to raise the pace, there’s a neat intake roar.
Bikes are getting quieter from the side of the road, so the engineers’ job is to make them sound good to the rider, at least, and the Tracer 7 does alright here.
The chassis begins to impress even more though. That new front end, together with the excellent Michelin Road 6 GT tyres combine to give a really secure connection with the asphalt. Okay, it’s very warm and dry here today, and it will be good to double-check on the proverbial wet Tuesday in Croydon, but I’m amazed at how well the Tracer 7 handles.
The new radial calipers let you push your braking points back with ease, and the Michelins feel totally planted into the road. The wide bars let you fling it into the bend hard, yet it’s totally stable through the long horseshoe bends that litter the hillside routes round here, and you’ll have it scraping the footpegs before you know it, with no complaints at all.
Much of the local road surfaces are pretty good, but there are the odd rougher sections, and here the suspension does a great job of absorbing the bumps. It’s perhaps a little bit on the firm side compared to softer touring machinery, but I’m very much satisfied with the compromise. It’s well worth a bit of discomfort on the cobbled roads through some of the old villages in return for that assured cornering on the new EU-funded Tarmac elsewhere.
The engine performance is good – but you are sometimes reminded that this is a machine at the lower end of the middleweight class power envelope. The peak output of just 72bhp is okay most of the time, but naturally brings limits. Some of that is good – I never get into too much trouble on the twisty ‘B’-road equivalents round the Douro valley today, and it would be a boon if you were on six points at home and doing a lot of miles.
Even when pushing hard, you’ll not often be speeding too badly on motorways and A-roads. And the power deliver is still very pleasant on the CP2 engine: it feels like a stronger motor thanks to that plumped-up midrange. But at the end of the day, if you like a big power hit from your daily ride, you’ll need to consider the Tracer 9 (or an MT-10 with panniers and tall screen) if you want a sporty-touring Yamaha in your garage.
In terms of rider aids, the traction control was never really troubled on these hot, grippy roads, and there’s a question over how necessary it really is on such a modest power output.
What’s more clear is the lack of a quickshifter though: it’s an extra-cost option on the new Tracer, and I’d be pushing my dealer hard to throw one in at a discount were I to buy one of these beasties.
At lunchtime, we swap bikes, and I leap onto a nice blue and silver GT. Considering how minimal the changes are between the two models, it’s impressive how different the GT looks. The big panniers, tall screen, gold fork tubes and subtle paint all make it look like a much more sensible option, despite the essential performance being the same.
On the twisty Portuguese back roads, the extra mass (around 10kg more) lends a slightly different feel to the handling, perhaps magnified by the psychological effect of a big screen in front of you, and the base bike does seem a little bit more aggressive, and easier to throw into a bend. That’s more than made up for by the extra touring kit though: if you regularly spend a bit of time on big motorways doing big miles, then the comfort seat, 90mm taller screen, hot grips and panniers will make a lot of sense.
Add in the useful centre stand (which will deck out in a bend along with the pegs if you push it), and the GT is a solid, good value upgrade which will be the best option for a lot of riders, especially in the UK.
The last part of the day is pure fun though. I’m back on the red base bike, and trying to encourage our Yamaha lead rider to go a bit faster so we can get back to the hotel for a well-earned Super Bock beer. He’s happy to oblige, and we’re soon barrelling down the Douro valley like a couple of dogfighting WW1 biplanes.
The 270° parallel twin motors are barking away like Gnome-Rhone rotary engines, and the Michelin rubber is more than earning its corn, gripping tenaciously on the brakes, through the bends and on the gas out the other side. The roads are beautifully quiet on this Monday afternoon, and there is a fairly intense period of an hour or so, as we make our way back to the hotel. Superb fun.
There’s a return to dull reality as we approach the end of the route – my fuel light has been on for the last 20km, and I was a little worried about running out of gas. But the Yamaha man was very confident we’d be okay, and sure enough, we easily make it to the fuel station near the hotel.
I’m impressed once more: we’ve done around 300km all-in, with the photography miles added to the basic 280km route, and the Tracer has done it all on one tank, despite some pretty hard riding. The official consumption is an impressive 69mpg, and while we’ve not managed that with our throttle-happy antics, it’s still a great range from the 18-litre tank.
Congrats to the designers for not sticking a 14-litre misery-container on the thing, as too many firms are doing these days for some ungodly reason.
Half an hour later, and I’m considering the new Tracer 7 over a nicely-chilled Super Bock. It’s ticked a lot of boxes for me today, and I’m really impressed with the job Yamaha has done here. It’s met its targets in terms of adding touring props, while maintaining the performance package nicely. The Michelin tyres are a masterstroke, adding a lot to the handling where a lesser fitment would let things down.
It looks good with the new styling, and the extra equipment all works well (my only complaint is some of the text on the 5” LCD dash’s navigation screen is a little small for my old eyes to read). The motor is still great, considering its capacity, but if you’re used to 100bhp+ machinery, or spend a lot of time two-up on Autobahns and the TT Mountain Course the 72bhp peak figure might feel a little light at times.
Will the new 2025 Tracer 7 please all the people all the time then? Well, no. But it does come impressively close.
TRACER TECHNOLOGY
Engine
For 2025, Yamaha’s whole 700 range – the MT-07, Ténéré and Tracer (no word on the XSR700 as yet) – is gradually moving over to the new Euro 5+ version of the CP2 689cc parallel twin motor. The big change is a new ride-by-wire throttle setup, which cleans up the emissions while adding more sophisticated rider aids. The retune also improves the midrange, while keeping the same peak power output.
The transmission gets a new slipper/assist clutch for lighter actuation, and the shift dogs on the gear teeth are modified for smoother changes. The Y-AMT automatic transmission isn’t available on the Tracer 7 as yet, but will be available in a future update it seems – the firm is flat-out supplying Y-AMT Tracer 9 and MT-07 models at the moment, and will turn to the Tracer 7 option later on.
Electronics
Three preset ride modes – Sport, Street and Custom, with three power settings and two traction control options. The new traction control system can also be turned off completely.
Frame
The steel tube backbone frame has been uprated with higher rigidity (up 13%) and strength thanks to new reinforced plating and tubes, and extra bracing around the swingarm pivot. Detail mods also accommodate the new Y-CCT ride-by-wire throttle setup, and there’s a 500g weight increase due to reinforcement at the luggage mounting points. Overall frame weight is just 15.3kg.
Swingarm
A new asymmetric cast aluminium arm is 40mm longer than the 2024 Tracer 7 and 100mm longer than the 2025 MT-07, with a forged aluminium monoshock link. Yamaha claims the design gives even more stability while retaining agility.
Suspension
New front end features a unique 41mm KYB upside-down fork with rebound adjustment only – no preload or compression adjustment at all. Rear shock has a remote preload adjuster on the GT, conventional on the base bike, and also has rebound damping adjustment.
Brakes
The new upside-down front fork lends itself to some smart new radial four-piston brake calipers, though the discs remain the same modest 298mm diameter. They work very well though.
Wheels/tyres
Yamaha says it tested the Tracer 7 with its lighter, fancier ‘Spinforged’ rims used on other 2025 models, but they didn’t suit the bike. So it gets conventional cast rims, with slightly more mass, which the firm says gives better balance to the chassis. Hmmmm. The engineers went all-in with the rubber though: proper Michelin Road 6 GT tyres, which were brilliant on the test ride.
Equipment
New 5” colour LCD dash with built-in navigation via Yamaha’s phone app, and a selection of four display modes. LED lighting, USB-C charge/data socket, indicators in hand guards, manual-adjust windscreen, cruise control, and optional up/down quickshifter fitment. Finally there’s a new bigger 18-litre fuel tank giving a 200 mile range.
GT equipment
The Tracer 7 GT has a 90mm taller windscreen and 30 litre hard side cases, together with a centre stand and heated grips as standard. It also has a different, thicker seat which gives a 15mm taller position, and rubber pillion footpegs for less vibration.
Accessory packs
Yamaha offers three basic accessory packs: Urban with a tall screen, topbox and backrest, Tourer with tankbag, LED foglamps and engine bars, and Sport with a tail tidy, quickshifter, uprated LED indicators and sport screen.
SPECIFICATIONS
2025 Yamaha Tracer 7 [Tracer 7 GT in brackets]
Price: £8,804 [£10,104]
Engine: DOHC 8v, parallel twin, l/c, 270° crank, 689cc
Bore x stroke: 80×68.6mm
Compression ratio: 11.5:1
Carburation: ride-by-wire fuel injection
Max power (claimed) 73bhp@8,750rpm
Max torque (claimed) 50ft lb@6,500rpm
Transmission: six speed gearbox, wet assist clutch, chain final drive
Frame: steel tube diamond/backbone
Front suspension: 41mm KYB USD front fork, 18-click rebound-adjustable, 130mm travel
Rear suspension: cast aluminium swingarm, preload/rebound adjustable monoshock, 139mm travel
Brakes: dual 298mm discs, four-piston radial-mount ADVICS calipers (front), 245mm disc, single-piston Nissin caliper (rear)
Wheels/tyres: cast aluminium wheels, Michelin Road 6 GT 120/70 17 front, 180/55 17 rear
Rake/trail: 25.2°/99.1mm
Wheelbase: 1,495mm
Seat height: 830/850mm [845/865mm]
Dry weight: 203kg [212kg]
Fuel capacity: 18 litres