Riding Two Great Midsize Motorcycles Nose To Tail To Pick A Winner
Over the summer, we had the opportunity to sample the new Honda CB750 Hornet, and the 2024 Yamaha MT-07 last fall. Both of these are fantastic, affordable middleweight naked sportbikes, and we loved them both. We got the bright idea of riding them together, side-by-side and nose-to-tail, since they are comparable in size, displacement and rider triangle. After pitching the idea to Honda, who wholeheartedly jumped at it, Yamaha must have read our twisted minds, and preempted us by calling and offering a new 2025 MT-07, once they learned we had the Hornet.
Thus we began the bout.
As we noted in our preview article about these bikes, while in the same middleweight “hypernaked” or “standard” category, they sport several significant differences. The Honda runs a 755cc twin engine, the Yamaha runs a 689cc twin. The CB750 Hornet boasts more HP and torque, more ride modes, and more available tech, for $600 MSRP less than the MT-07. The Hornet MSRP lists at $7999 USD, the MT-07 for $8599 USD. Yet the Hornet is a brand new entrant to the North American market, while the MT-07 has a stellar history as the Tuning Fork’s “numero uno” selling street bike for the past 6-7 years. It’s that good.
The middleweight contenders- Yamaha’s 2025 MT-07 (L) and Honda’s 2025 CB750 Hornet (R).
I’ve (Rob) been riding both motorcycles consistently over the past month, first one then the other, day in and day out, noting their similarities and their differences. Enter a new friend, Drew Perlmutter. Drew is a professional photographer in the Atlanta area, a vintage motorcycle enthusiast, cross-country traveler, and is quite handy with both a wrench and a keyboard (i.e. he’s a very good writer). Drew has followed Road Dirt for several years, and offered to do some collaborations with us, which we’re thrilled about. We planned some time to have him out to ride these bikes together, and the following observations are the result.
We’ll start here. While the MT–07 engine is guttural, grunty and growly, the CB750, though torquey, is more refined feeling. The Yamaha 689cc twin mill is a torque monster for its size, making great power across the rev range in each gear, especially down low. And that MT-07 stock exhaust note is angrier sounding, which we both liked. The Honda Hornet really comes into its own the higher you go in the rev range of each gear, positively howling above 6500 rpm. Oh yeah.
Both of these twin cylinder bikes, with their 270–degree crankshafts, are an absolute blast to ride.
Photo op stop in the old cotton town of Bostwick, Georgia.
The Hornet comes stock with a quickshifter, but honestly, I’m not very fond of it. The unit doesn’t work well, even on the softest of its three settings. It seems to shift the “smoothest” between 4000 and 5000 RPM, and that best when shifting 4th-5th and 5th-6th. Everywhere else, it’s clunky, not what you’d expect from a modern quickshifter from Honda. We did note that downshifting through the gears with the QS is much smoother, oddly. To be honest, I quit using the quickshifter altogether by my third day with it, after having tried the three different settings and shifting at varying RPM ranges in each. Guest tester Drew made the same observations.
If you are leaning toward the Hornet because it comes with a stock quickshifter, don’t. The quickshifter is not this bike’s best asset. The clutch and shifting of the Hornet is light and quick, by the way, without using the stock QS.
Taking a break in Good Hope, Georgia.
The MT-07, without a stock quickshifter, clicks more smoothly up and down through the gears, with a very light clutch pull. A quickshifter is available in the Yama OEM parts bin for an additional $300, and reader boards we’ve found assert that the QS when installed works quite well on the MT-07. But there again, you add even more cash to the cost of the MT over the Hornet, making it nearly $1000 more.
Both bikes have similar though not identical rider triangles. The MT-07 ride height sits less than half an inch taller than the Hornet’s, but feels a bit more than that due to a somewhat wider seat at the tank. Drew noted, “The Honda feels a little more aggressive in the rider position, with its lower handlebar and footpegs that are slightly more rearward. On the Yamaha I felt more upright, while on the CB750, I felt leaned in to the bike a bit more.”
Curve carving nose-to-tail, MT-07 followed by CB750, outside Monroe, Georgia. This is where both bikes shine.
The seats on both bikes are typical “bricks” to our scrawny asses, but don’t consider that a deal-breaker. My boney hindquarters are probably the problem, more than the stock seat. That’s all I’ll divulge about it. As we noted, the handlebars on the MT are slightly higher, and therefore more comfortable for all day riding. Like Drew observed, the Hornet’s bars are a bit lower, but not terribly so. Both are still pretty comfortable riding positions.
When you compare the bikes head-to-head and nose-to-tail like Drew and I did for a day, the differences between the bikes’ performance specs become more evident. The Hornet sports 66cc over the MT-07, makes about 5 more ft. lbs. of torque and 11 more hp, yet weighs in 19 lbs. more than the Yamaha as well. Those aren’t huge differences, obviously, but chasing each other around north central Georgia and swapping bikes all day, we both noticed those subtle differences. Drew noted, “The MT-07 is punchy, but out on the highway stints we did, the Hornet packed a little more punch.”
It doesn’t get much more fun than this, with two light and quick bikes. Rob on the CB750 in front, Drew on the MT-07 giving chase.
Aesthetically speaking, both of these motorcycles are drop-dead gorgeous. Yamaha has done much to refine the 2025 model over its predecessors, and the headlight nacelle up front looks much better than previous models. The rims of the “Ice Storm” model we had look really sharp in that light blue, color-matched to the accents on the tank and body parts. The Tuning Fork also offers a “Matte Charcoal Black” (boring) and a “Team Yamaha Blue” (another beaut). This is one good-looking motorcycle.
The Mt-07, beautiful in any light.
But the Honda CB750, at least in this color scheme, wins the beauty pageant in our humble opinion. The “Matte Pearl White”, with its black accents and that Marilyn Monroe-lipstick red frame, just knocks us out. Geez, that’s a sexy color. They sell a “Matte Black Metallic” Hornet for the same price, but we’d take the Marilyn Monroe, all day. We even imagined a Honda accessory rims offering, color matched to that frame. Phil mocked one up in Photoshop, and we just had to share it here.
Check this out-
How gorgeous would that be?!
Honda, you have to develop and offer these as an accessory! You’ll sell them, without a doubt. Or better yet, bump the price up a little, comparable to the MT-07, with those rims coming standard on the white one. For that, I’d have to find a way to add one to my personal garage, as would Drew, per our discussions. Oh, and ditch the quickshifter, if you need to keep the price down. We’d take lipstick red rims over that QS, totally.
We’ve ridden both of these motorcycles now for about a month, and I’ve had the enjoyment of jumping back-and-forth on both of them. From day rides, to commuting, to performance testing, and just end-of-day jaunts out into the countryside and back at sunset, I honestly love both of these motorcycles. Spending a day riding these bikes nose-to-tail with Drew, and swapping back-and-forth all day comparing thoughts and notes, we both have to agree, that while you can’t go wrong with either one, you get more bike for the buck with the Honda. It’s engine is larger, performs slightly stronger, is prettier, and boasts more tech features, the quickshifter notwithstanding. For $600 USD less.
Historic Monroe, Georgia.
Our 2025 summer middleweight street fighter match-up has to go to the CB750 Hornet, by a narrow margin. Congrats Honda, you have a winner here. But we must acknowledge the amazing motorcycle that the Yamaha MT-07 is. It’s pure adrenaline, pure motorcycle, with few farkles getting in the way of the ride. If that appeals to you, the extra $600 is worth it.
Huge thanks to Yamaha Motors USA and Honda Powersports USA for making this comparo possible. And thanks to Drew Perlmutter for joining in the testing. You are a heckuva lot of fun to ride with, my friend. Find Drew here- (Drew on Instagram)
For more on both of these bikes, check out their links below:
Check out our video ride & review below!
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