2021 Middleweight Naked Bikes Shootout

Опубликовано 15 июня 2021, 20:20

We last performed this public service in 2017, when your Yamaha FZ-07 prevailed over the Kawasaki Z650, Suzuki SV650, the new Harley Street Rod, and the new and indeterminate Benelli TnT 600, in that order. The FZ-07 has since morphed into the MT-07 amidst a host of well thought-out upgrades in 2018, and then again for 2021. The Z650 got a modern instrument pod in 2020 with a few other tasteful refinements, and the SV650 hasn’t changed a bit (God bless it). The Benelli is still around but didn’t get the call this time, and the H-D Street Rod has been withdrawn from the market under a hail of ridicule. Sad.

Luckily for us all, two brand-new motorcycles have dropped into our laps for 2021 to challenge the status quo: the Aprilia Tuono 660 and the Triumph Trident. I mean three. Let’s not forget the easily forgettable Honda CB650R.

Why is this happening?

From Ryan Adams’ MT-07 review in 2018: “According to Yamaha, the Hypernaked category, which in these statistics include all manufacturers, is up by a staggering 260% since 2012. As supersport sales have decreased, we see these more versatile machines rise in popularity.”

At the launch of this year’s MT, Troy learned Yamaha has sold more than 25,000 FZ/MT-07s to owners spanning age groups from 25 to 55, with most buyers in their early 30s, but only by a few percentage points.

As the rich get richer and demand ever-more sophisticated superbikes and ADV machines but fewer of them, the time is again ripe for great motorcycles in the $8,000 range for the rest of us peasants – UJMs that no longer necessarily come from Japan. And the suddenly fierce competition in this class has happily gotten us to the current situation, where there are absolutely no stinkers left in the group.

Read the full comparison review here: motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/2021...

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