Best image of Yamaha's R25 so far

LET’S get one thing clear: this isn’t a real photo of Yamaha’s soon-to-be-launched R25. But it might as well be as it’s about as accurate as a computer-generated picture can be.

OK, the colours might change for the proddy version, but the shape is spot-on, based as it is on the line drawing that flashed up in Yamaha’s weird RevStation teaser video. Japanese mag Young Machine (you can’t fault the Japanese when it comes to naming their magazines) has filled out that image with colour and details to create a photo-realistic take on the road-going R25, which will probably be called the R3 over here thanks to an extra 50cc in the Euro-spec version of its parallel twin engine.

It’s been years – decades even – since a 250 sports bike has been a really drool-worthy thing, but despite being a four-stroke the Yamaha looks set to be a modern take on machines like the old TZR250s, RG250s and NSR250s that were every young rider’s dream ticket back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Come on Yamaha, enough teasing – show us the real deal…