Yamaha Finally Brings Out Its Own Giant Adventure Scooter, And It's A Brawling, Big-Shouldered Beast

Team Blue clearly wants you to be asking, "X-ADV 750 who?" after you meet the RW700 and RW700 Explore. Will they succeed?

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Janaki Jitchotvisut

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Nov 4, at 7:32am ET

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Let's get this out of the way right now. The Yamaha RW700 family is so, so boxy and broad-shouldered. It's like a cartoon bulldog, all ginormous ham-hock shoulders and teeny, tiny back end trailing along behind it like it isn't even sure it's part of the same animal. With its super-blocky, square headlights, you know what? I kind of love it.

Sure, it took a minute (or several) for Yamaha to finally decide it was tired of Honda creating an entire big ADV scooter category several years back and then basically walking away with it. Or rolling away. Pick your verb of choice. But now that it's finally caught up, the RW700 sure seems like it's built to play some fun games for riders (well, of course, depending on how it ends up being priced).

It's powered by Yamaha's tried-and-true CP2 parallel twin engine, the very same one you can find in the MT-07. I like that engine a lot, so when I found that out, I nodded approvingly. It also has some sweet features, including both cruise control and a speed limiter as standard (so, you know, you have choices).Y-AMT comes as standard, with your choice of manual or automatic modes.

The base RW700 has a 41mm inverted front fork with a claimed 160mm of front wheel travel, as well as a rear monoshock with 155mm of travel out back. There's a 17-inch wheel (!) up front and a 15-inch in the rear, both with spokes; and yet, standard tires from the factory are a set of tubeless Pirelli Scorpion Rally STRs, so you really can have the best of both worlds.

Gallery: Yamaha RW700, RW700 Explore, and RW350

Source: Yamaha

The saddle gives you the look and feel of a motorcycle saddle, and yet Yamaha says you can fit a single full-face helmet in the space underneath (though it also adds a caveat that it will depend entirely on the size and shape of said helmet, which I get because my head is ginormous).

Fascinatingly, it gives you the option of the kind of floorboards you expect on a scooter, and also actual footpegs! Big beefy ones, too; probably goes along with those massive shoulders. Other trick bits include auto-cancelling turn signals and Yamaha's Smart Key functionality. There's a little 5-inch TFT dash up front as your display, which looks very similar to other concurrent Yamaha dashes at the moment. Bluetooth connectivity to your phone is practically a given these days, and this has it; you can also apparently use the Garmin StreetCross navigation app for free with this display, as well. Opt for the upgraded RW700 Explore, and you'll get an adjustable front suspension, heated grips AND a heated seat, backlit switchgear (ooh), and a center stand fitted as standard.

If you're not up for the RW700, maybe the RW350 is more to your liking. Interestingly, although it features a smaller and less powerful 330cc single-cylinder engine, it doesn't seem like the RW350 is decontented as compared to its bigger siblings. You still get underseat storage that can fit some full-face helmets, cruise control, a 5-inch TFT display, Smart Key, and auto-cancelling turn signals. You also get the option of footpegs and floorboards, so you can choose your adventure as to where you put your feet when you're riding.

The biggest difference, besides the engine, is that the RW350 uses a V-Belt Automatic transmission (read: standard scooter automatic centrifugal clutch) rather than the Y-AMT implementation favored on the RW700 and RW700 Explore.

What do you think?

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The RW700 and RW350 come in your choice of three colors: Sage Blue, Arashi Sand, or Midnight Black. The RW700 Explore comes in Forest Green or Midnight Black. The RW700s are both available in 35kW A2 license versions in Europe.

Pricing has not yet been announced, and it's also worth noting that these have so far only been announced for Europe. If and when they're announced for other markets, we'll be sure to let you know at RideApart.