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TECH DATA

Where Bruce’s R7 makes a very strong case for being the most important bike of a generation, the original makes a similarly strong case for being the poster bike of a generation. Both are and were hugely important to Yamaha, but for very different reasons – yet for all its iconic status, the old R7 only raced for a couple of seasons and, relative to the amount invested by Yamaha, will probably go down as a bit of a damp squib in terms of results.

The year 1999 yielded just one victory and a couple of podiums out of 52 race starts, if you consider that two bikes started each race, and while 2000 was much better, it still only produced four wins and eight podiums on the way to a distant third in the Constructor’s Championship – miles behind Ducati and Honda and their 1000cc V-twins. It was like taking a knife to a gunfight, and the plucky R7 just won less than 5% of the races it started. There’s no getting away from the fact that the regard in which the bike was – and still is – held isn’t because it was especially successful on track.

So, what did and does still keep the original R7 held in such high regard that the mere thought of another bike bearing its name can