Mt-01 / Muscle Bikes

[Yamazer-92]

Didn't want to hijack Ogri's wanted thread but am genuinely quite interested in what riding one of these is like. Has anyone ever owned one or had a decent go? What are they like? I think they look and sound incredible, have the same horsepower as a 600 like I have but have torque that could rip up the road. From reviews, allegedly they handle pretty surprisingly decent too and are great for tall riders which sounds awesome. I can imagine motorways wouldn't be great, you probably can't take a pillion and fuel consumption would be terrible but as a unique fun bike they look awesome, just a shame I can't afford one.


I have always loved muscle bikes, I had a go on my mates GSX 1400 once in a fairly big car park and coming from a DT 125 and restricted GS 500 it felt like an utter goliath of power. The huge engine and beefiness of it, the way it rumbled at tick over were all just epic. My mate at the time could keep up with the GSX owner on his Hornet 600 though, so realistically is the extra price really worth it is what I find myself asking when I ever think about future upgrades of my Fazer.


Still, interested to find out more about the MT-01 though. Not at all interested in the MT 09 looks like a happy meal toy.

[Dead Eye]

I love the idea of something like the MT-01

I'm a fan of the "Muscle" style for both bikes and cars so it's something I'd like to try and hopefully own one day I'm in two minds as to which direction I go with my next purchase. Do I go down to the muscle route for a more "relaxed" touring type of machine or something ridiculous that will scream its head off...

[ogri48]

I rode one in a group test for bike magazine once..I've never quite got over the experience. We were in Yorkshire, on the mt-01 I was bombing along( quite literally..it sounded like a Lancaster bomber) with the big twins low rev drone bouncing off the stone walls..90 mph was summat  like three and a half thousand revs..I loved it expensive new, but a helluva buy now I think, most come in at four to five grand, that's an awfy lot of bike for the dosh. Newer ones have the black motah and stealth look, but their pricier.
Not massively powerful, but handles really really well, brakes good too.
It's gotta be done..

[jonesthesteam]

Took a ZRX1100 for a test ride once, easy to ride, simple power delivery and looked good but the handling was terrible, probably just the bike I was on wasn't any good but felt like it was a cut 'n shut, every slight bump in the road set up a head shake and needed a lot of effort to go round corners


As I say I wouldn't want to besmirch all ZRX's on the basis of one test ride but I wasn't impressed, although it was a lovely looking bike and I would still be sorely tempted to buy one that rode okay


A mate of mine has a CB1300 and he says it's a great bike, huge torque, dead comfy (he's a big chap) and as fast as he would ever need a bike to be, but I know he has spent many £'s upgrading it


Just my tuppence worth


Jonesy

[chaz]

I've had mine over a year now, what do I think of it? well it's a big lump but it handles well, I tend to think I'm going slower than I am due to the engine revving so slowly, you have to watch the speedo in 30 limits? It vibrates more than a 4, fuel consumption depends on how you ride, the last time I checked it was 65 mpg, which was 40 miles on back roads to Fridaythorpe, having a bit of fun then back to Squires mainly sticking to speed limits.
It's hard not to use the torque, it's so much fun but the rear tyre pays the price? £115 for less than 2000 miles.
You should be able to pick up an early one for under 4k with under 15k miles on it, dealers are asking around 5k.
If you get one check front fork oil seals, tend to leak if bike has not been used much, easy to fix if you have chain blocks to lift front end up.

[Rexr]

I've had 2 zrx1200r's great bikes very good looking bikes as well but do have a few short falls.......I've also had a xjr1300sp totally different to the kwak as it's more of a cruiser type muscle bike great engine (one word WHOOSH...!!) but crap build quality everywhere else, I've had a go on my m8 cb1300 nice bike, but to heavy and comes with a weak gearbox......gsx1400 nice bike but to huge for any real fun......I had a go on my m8's stage 2 MT 01 and it's totally different to the others in feel as u would expect, one thing I found was it was very heavy and to me it felt top heavy, ok when ur up n going at speed but nervous at lower speeds, if they had made it lighter I would of had one....but I tend to do long runs on the weekends and riding this would have to tiring, saying that all the new bikes coming out from manufactures these days seem to be heavy bikes.......one thing I will say though it's a great engine in the MT that 1700 whooshes u along very quickly indeed, but I just think there are better bikes out there to be had for less money, I had a go on a Buell XB12S (long) and now that's how I would have liked to MT to be, very impressed with that Buell I was 1200 thunderstorm engine is a cracker and nothing like the Harley engine it's based on as the only bits that are stock from the Harley motor are the barrels everything else is upgraded.......it's light, flickable, good brakes, and fast.....     

[Dead Eye]

I think my only quibble with the MT-01 and the reason I have second thoughts about buying one is that I don't like the look of under-seat exhausts. It just doesn't look right when you look at the bike from behind

[darrsi]

http://20carwallpaper13.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/yamaha-mt-01-black-bull.html

[Rexr]

I have to say that does fook all for me.....

[darrsi]

I have to say that does fook all for me.....

I'm not too keen on the height of the tank, so i can understand why you said earlier that it was top heavy, 'cos it really looks like it.

[woodwizzard]

That ain't my cuppa either, looks like a futuristic prototype. Each to their own though.

[Dead Eye]

...damnit... I actually kinda like that :P

[witchfinder]

My mate owned an mt01 a few years ago and it was rather impressive up to about a ton but he did complain about it running out of puff shortly after that,but it always looked bloody well ,I owned a zrx1100 for nearly five years and I loved her she was well sorted with zzr cams and lots of other goodies ,it went well ,handled well for what it was ,was bloody ace two up mile munching,she looked bloody well too ,was well made I loved her but wrote her off twice first time I rebuilt her but second time Id had enough  Ive also owned a couple of xjr 1300s got rid of the last one for the fz1,xjr nothing like the zrx nice motor but very wayward handleing even on upgraded fork springs etc ,very heavy but one of my all time fav looking bikes but I would never own another  Some one mentioned the Buell xb12 not really a muscle bike but boy what a tool one of the best bikes Ive ever ridden in 35 years and Ive been on a fair few bikes 

[Yamazer-92]

All the bikes mentioned in this thread are bikes I love, the Buell is amazing and I like the innovative design features but they look pretty small and impractical for all round use if I was being really honest. I think the MT-01 would be borderline practical, especially after chaz said his can get 65mpg that is quality. Doubt they can take a pillion well though unless you have a small girlfriend / mate. I would love a test ride on any of these bikes but am not really sure how to go about doing that, or if at my age I would even be allowed? If you test ride it I also feel you need to be at least half interested in buying it which unless on some finance / px thing I wouldn't be really. Also, off on another tangent here and I feel a bit bad saying this being British but am I the only person that isn't really at all interested by anything Triumph has to offer? I think the triple engine is about the only engine other than some old parallel twins that I find a bit "meh". I haven't actually ridden one, so could be completely awoken to their awesomeness after riding one, but the styling and sound of the engine of say a street triple just doesn't interest me. The fact nearly every second weekend hooners bike I see is a triumph now is also putting me off, they're getting a bit common? Or do I just have dodgy taste?

[Rexr]

A couple yrs back I had a early 1050 speed triple and have to say it's a hell of a bike, the only reason I got rid of it because of the need for a half fairing, but have since found out that the gen 2 fz1 half fairing fits the speed triple with a few minor mods making it the bike triumph should have made all along, I have thought about getting another and doing the conversion theres a few guys on triumph rat forum who have done this and to be honest it looks like it was always ment to be there......food for thought man I love the triples

[witchfinder]

Hmmm triples are a funny thing ,a few lads I know had them and raved about them so I got one, only had it a couple of months it did nothing for me ,Ive since ridden newer triples and same thing personally I dont rate them but folks who do love em its a funny old world ,I did hea a rumour that they are made in china and only bolted together in this country nowadays too which kinda defeats the object of buying british dont it