A legend dies: Yamaha is discontinuing production of the R6 for good

The Yamaha R6 has fallen victim to its own success. As the Supersport World Championship had increasingly become little more than a Yamaha Cup, the FIM and Dorna decided to relax the regulations to allow motorcycles with larger engine capacities. Since 2022, the ‘Next-Generation Regulations’ have been in place, allowing the use of bikes such as the Ducati V2, MV Agusta F3 800 and the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS.

In the first year of the new regulations, Dominique Aegerter won the last Supersport World Championship title on the R6 – a traditional 600cc motorbike!

With the arrival of the Yamaha R9, the R6 lost its raison d’être

However, from 2021 onwards, Yamaha only offered the R6 as a track-only model, a move also linked to the Euro 5 emissions standard. With the introduction of the R9 as the new Supersport bike in 2025, the R6 was no longer used in the World Championship, meaning the R6 race model lost its raison d’être.

Nevertheless, production continued in Japan. The falling demand has now led to a consequence: the most successful supersport motorbike can only be ordered from Yamaha dealers until 31 August 2026; the final delivery will take place in 2027.

According to reports, the offer is primarily aimed at Japanese customers. Those interested outside Japan will have to hope for remaining stock.