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No 3-Cylinder Yamaha YZF-R6, at Least Not Now

There’s been quite a stir in the media about Yamaha planning to use its new 3-cylinder engine in the new generation YZF-R6 supersport bike, but the latest papers relating to this bike the California Air Resources Board (CARB) dealt with are destroying this rumor… at least for now.
2014 Yamaha YZF-R6 1 photo
Photo: Yamaha
It looks like the emissions documents CARB received for the homologation the R6 machines need for being legally sold in 2015 showed the same 4-cylinder in-line power unit, with no modifications over the previous version. That means the R6 enthusiasts who were dreaming about a heavily updated bike for the next season will just have to do with the current configuration which puts them in charge of 123 horsepower @14,500 rpm and 66Nm (49 lb-ft) at 10,500.

However, the fact that Yamaha has filed papers for an R6 with the same engine as the one used for the previous model does not completely exclude plans for building a new supersport machine using the new generation of engines.

Truth be told, Yamaha has already shelved two new engines, the 689cc parallel twin used in the MT-07 and the 847cc triple of the MT-09. Now keeping the R6 in the supersport-specific class specs would mean keeping the displacement under 700cc… therefore a NEW triple should have been designed, which is yet an unlike move from Iwata.

Indeed, with displacements slightly going up, we might see Yamaha using the two new power units in new sport machines, but so far there’s no word on such plans. Even more, Iwata should definitely tweak those new engines for more power, as their current state is not in line with what the competition has, even though they seem perfect for the bikes they’re in now. So, at least one more year with pretty much the same R6…
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