I'm pissed off with Yamaha

I'm a Yamaha fanboy—no secrets there. I’ve owned a Tenere 700, two MT-07s, and a WR250. Honestly, my blood bleeds Yamaha blue. But right now, I’m frustrated—more specifically, I’m frustrated with Yamaha New Zealand.

Now, you can call this millennial entitlement if you want, but I think I have a solid point here.

As part of what I do, I run a number of social media channels, with one of the largest being @T7Adventures on Instagram. It’s grown to over 12,000 followers, with a weekly reach close to 400,000 users. That’s significant reach and all of it built on content I’ve made using the Tenere 700. For the past three years, I’ve been showcasing the Tenere 700 and, essentially, promoting the bike and brand for free.

In running this website, I rely on manufacturers, importers, and distributors of major motorcycle brands to supply information and, where possible, make test bikes available. From there, I share it all with you in written, video, and audio form—across YouTube, on the podcast, and here on this site. However, despite multiple efforts, Yamaha NZ has ignored every attempt I’ve made to reach out.

Well, that’s almost true. They did respond once, only to say, “We won’t be sending you any press releases; we don’t need you.”

To put this in perspective, Harley-Davidson regularly provides me with bikes and press releases almost weekly. Triumph is open with information all the time, and although it can be tricky to get bikes in Wellington, they offer me bikes if I’m ever in Auckland. Moto Morini has a bike parked in my garage right now, and Beta was kind enough to let us test out the RR430 last year. Other brands recognize the value of sharing information and bikes for the purpose of creating content for you, the reader. But Yamaha? They act like I don’t exist.

Fine. I can live with the silence on information—whatever. It’s like having a crush on the cool girl at school who doesn’t even know you’re alive. But here’s where it went from frustrating to maddening.

About two months ago, I contacted a local Yamaha dealer asking for some body panels for my T7. They requested the chassis number, so I provided one—from a different T7, a black and blue 2020 model—specifically because I wanted those black and blue body panels. My T7 is red and white, but I had a plan for a series of content that would only work with the blue and black color scheme.

I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Now, to be clear, this isn’t the dealer’s fault. The issue lies squarely with the person at Yamaha NZ handling the parts order from Japan or France, or wherever the parts were sourced. They took two months to arrive, and when they finally did, they sent me the red and white panels.

This is, in the grand scheme, a minor annoyance. But I had graphics made up that were designed to go with the black and blue look, so it’s still frustrating. And, true to form, Yamaha NZ has ignored every attempt I’ve made to reach out about it—or about anything else, for that matter.

So here I am, left with no option but to rant about it on my website.

Yamaha, I’m one of your biggest fans. I’ve been loyal to the brand for years, sharing my experiences and showcasing Yamaha in my content. All I’m asking is for a little acknowledgment, maybe a response. Hit me back and show some love.

In writing this, I’m probably sealing my fate as blacklisted in Yamaha’s books, but… oh well. What have I got to lose?