The Yamaha DT-07 Dirt Track Concept Gives Me Dirty Feelings
Nothing beats simplicity on two wheels.
Oh, Yamaha. Please don’t tease me like this. The FZ-07 already has a place in my heart: I’m convinced it’s the best of a fresh crop of fantastic new middleweight motorcycles. That cross-plane parallel twin makes rude, rude noises and, displacing 689cc’s, it makes plenty of torque too. Especially down low, right in the meat of the powerband. Right where, say, a flat track racer would want it.
Which is why this Yamaha DT-07 Concept really gets to me. Because, man, that’s just right. Discarding the FZ-07’s fine, stiff space frame for handsome and spindly custom job, ditching the angular headlight and passenger accommodations for a long single-piece body. Forks plucked from an R6. New and righteous Propulsion Labs wheels. It’s art. This concept tickles that funny thing that makes all motorcycles desirable. Because while the FZ-07 is a reasonably handsome, modern machine, nothing beats simplicity on two wheels. And this DT-07 concept is just that. Yamaha, you’re singing my song.
The DT-07 was put together by the company’s race shop at their US headquarters in California. Frequent Yamaha fiddler Jeff Palhegyi chipped in as well, he’s responsible for that bitchin’ bodywork. While a Yamaha FZ-07 engine already powers an impressive AMA Pro Flat Track machine, the factory treatment and 60th anniversary color scheme stand this DT-07 concept apart. The bike debuted today at the AIMExpo in Orlando, but I’ll be itching to see it just as soon as it comes home.
Hat tip to our buddy Sean at Lanesplitter.
