In the 21st century, motorcycle manufacturers with significant histories love to resurrect their historic badges on new machines. There's both good reason and plenty of precedent for this, of course. Sometimes it works in how a new model with an old name is perceived, and sometimes it's more complicated.
Longtime fans of middleweight sportbikes have a special regard for the Yamaha R7 badge. That is, of course, because they're thinking back on one of the most desirable bikes of the 1990s, the racing homologation special OW02. So naturally, when Yamaha announced plans to resurrect the R7 badge on a solid but basic and affordable middleweight sportbike, it resulted in more than a few raised eyebrows among enthusiasts.
