MT-09 Just arrived in my local Stealer

[Grahamm]

Fuel capacity is hardly generous at 14 litres, but the MT is reasonably economical, averaging almost 50mpg to give a typical range of about 120 miles, if not the 150 miles claimed by Yamaha.

Foc that, with the Power Commander on the "economy" map I can get 190 miles out of my FZ6 before getting to the reserve!

And I've done 20 miles on reserve with fuel still left in the tank.

[Skippernick]

Well i went and saw it, just before it went on a test ride, so no ride for me.
In the flesh it looks awesome much better than pics. It's got a very aggressive riding position, so that coupled with a 14 litre tank, average mpg was showing 49.9 which considering people will be yahooing around on it is not bad, means its more of a toy, plus theres no storage space.


Keep the fazer and have a second bike, if only i could afford it.

[locksmith]

I suggested to the mrs that I should buy one and keep the FZ1 in case I don't like it.

[Skippernick]

I suggested to the mrs that I should buy one and keep the FZ1 in case I don't like it.

   Mines away at the moment maybe i should just use the credit card.

[ogri48]

There was a new one parked outside tinklers yamaha dealer in norwich on Friday. Number plate was mt09 yam. That's kinda cool I guess...

[Phil]

I drove over to Cresent Yamaha today just to have a look at one as it was
raining. It looks nice in the flesh, sitting on it the bars seem quite high
and wide and the footpegs quite far forward and low. I'd say its halfway
toward a trail bike riding position. I was quite suprised at this, wasn't
expecting it at all. Great for my knees though.  Frank started it up and it
does make a nice noise at low revs. Nobody had booked a test ride in the
afternoon and he suggested I book it for 3pm and hope the sun came out.
Driving home the sun did come out and the roads started to dry, so I got the
bike out and rode back over straight away. I had 1 1/4 hours on it. 60
miles. I went from Charminster past Three cross and down the Cranborne Chase
road towards Wimborne.

Sitting on the front part of the very triangular seat the bars are very
close and it feels like a supermotard. Back a bit on the wider part feels
more normal. Its very narrow, my knees didnt rest against the tank like the
Fazer8, a bit like the F800GS I rode in Feb.

The engine is a peach, pulls hard from low revs. I seem to remember the
Street Triple I had came alive in the 6-9000 range (or 5-8000 cant
remember), with a huge induction roar as sound track. No induction roar like
that with the MT-09, but a decent noise from the can and power was
everywhere. 50mph in 4th on the Fazer8 gives a bit of a dead spot at 5000
rpm, but the MT-09 had none of that, no holes at all. Riding along back
roads in 4th and overtaking traffic was easy. Impressive.
Gearbox was great. The bike had done less than 600 miles and was due its 1st
service soon. Bikes I've run in have had sticky gear changes as they
approached 1st service mileage.

I found the suspension fine for my tastes, it soaked up a lot of bumps well.
Much better than the stuff the Fazer8 came with. Even with the posh Ohlins
shock I've got I have it set slightly softer than the suggested standard
settings.
Pillion seat is small and there is nothing behind it.
A couple of times I slowed down, stuck it in 2nd and opened it up just to
see what happened. It did sit down slightly at the rear, but I wouldn't say
it was bad. Whilst doing this changing up from 3rd to 4th the front did get
flighty over some small bumps. The front came off the ground once. I put
this down to the higher wider style of handlebars and riding position and
nothing to do with the suspension. Too much pressure on the bars at speed
might cause a few wobbles.
This is where comparing the MT-09 and Sreet Triple like the mags are doesn't
make sense as they seem so different in feel. The only thing in common
really is 3 cylinders. It isn't a Street Triple with an 850 engine in it.

The brakes were fine without being impressive.
Recently I had a go on the new Tiger Sport, and reckon the MT-09 has a much
more lively engine and better suspension. The Tiger was far too hard on the
rear, although I didnt try adjusting it, although it felt like the spring
was way to stiff. Steering felt oddly heavy at slow speeds too. I wasn't
impressed, I really wanted to like it. So as a comfy sporty tourer it failed
big time.

The only thing I didn't like was in 'A' mode, the sporty one, at low speeds
in 1st/2nd opening from throttle off wasn't to clever. It just got so far
and whacked the power in.  In the other 2 modes it was fine. In 3rd and
above 30-35 mph it wasn't a problem. Defintaly needs a tweek there and I can
see why it gets a mention in the mag tests. Its not as bad as some of them
make out though, in my opinion.

The saleman said up until the previous test rider, the average mpg readout
said 54mpg. (Pinch of salt) That dropped to 44 mpg by one rider. Did he ride
it just in 1st ??  Doing normal test ride stuff I raised the average up to
47.5 mpg, so reckon for me I could get over 50mpg no problem. No idea if the
gauge is accurate.

Hopefully Yamaha will make a MT-09 with a decent 1/2 fairing/screen. A bit
of extra weight over the front might help the flightines too, although if you
dont want that you could just not accellerate as hard. Maybe a bit of
an adventure style, it sounds like they are going to judging from the riding
position.  Something like that would have been just the thing required for
my last trip around Romania. I was on the pegs a couple of times, and a
Fazer8 isnt designed for that.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Well done Phil, for writing up your impressions, good to read. Sounds like Yamaha did do their homework then. I'm hoping they'll use the triple engine in some other configurations, maybe even a sports tourer with a bigger tank and as you say, perhaps a bit of a fairing; maybe do the engine in different capacities too. By the sound of things, it'd be worth it as long as they keep it that good. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

[slimwilly]

|Watching MOTO GPquali today and the MT09 adds were plentiful,,looks veryu nice

[mirdif64]

Thanks for the write up Phil. Sounds good. I'm hoping to get a test ride on Monday.

[ogri48]

V good write up Phil

[Phil]

V good write up Phil

Thanks. I'm off to Yamaha with all your responses and going to ask for a discount 


Regardng the cheaper price than we have come to expect from Yamaha,  I didn't realise that the Yen has lost value against the £ by 25% in 2 years. Thats good news for the Japanese as their exports will be more atractive and good for us as we getter cheaper Japanese goods.

I only hope that for the half faired version they dont do what Ducati did with their Hyper-Strada touring version of the Hyper-Motard, and just stick a tiny handlebar fairing and panniers on, and say there you go, theres your tourer.

[mr self destruct]

Picked my bike up from the dealer yesterday (just in for a new back tyre). They had an MT-09 in for test rides, the manager told me it's been out all day and everyone who'd rode it had ordered one. Apparently most of the staff were getting their orders in too.

[fazercol]

MT 09!!!
I'll be sticking with  's,
Stick a Fazer sticker on it & i'll consider.
But if i eventually replenish my funds i'll be getting me a nice, cheap, & probably sadly forgotten Fazer 8.
Poor fazer 8

Had my Fazer8 for just over a year now and love it only gripe I have is the size of the tank would have been better with a 20 litre tank.
when I have finished with it (if I do) the wife has already got her eyes on it to repace her fzs600.

[locksmith]

Had a look at my local dealers.
Looks really good in the flesh, so much better than the pictures.
Sat on it and it feels a little more upright than my FZ1 but feels a natural position.
They started it up (in the showroom) and it sounds a bit tame if I'm honest.
It had the comfort seat and pillion seat cover fitted and they looked really good.
Although it had a grey tank it's called racing blue

I want one

[noggythenog]

MT 09!!!
I'll be sticking with  's,
Stick a Fazer sticker on it & i'll consider.
But if i eventually replenish my funds i'll be getting me a nice, cheap, & probably sadly forgotten Fazer 8.
Poor fazer 8

Had my Fazer8 for just over a year now and love it only gripe I have is the size of the tank would have been better with a 20 litre tank.
when I have finished with it (if I do) the wife has already got her eyes on it to repace her fzs600.

What will you get next though.......would it be an mt09???????

[Dead Eye]

I'm beginning to think that my only real issue with the MT-09 is that every other bugger is going to have one as well :P

I kinda like having obscure vehicles as such - the FZS600 is a bit of a step away from that but I know very little about the motorcycling world :P

[Aegis Bearing Mel]

Must admit it does look good, but I'd be focced with the tank range.
I can hit reserve after 80 miles on me FZ1, reserve runs dry around 26 miles too, so with 4 litres less in the tank I'd be stuck in a forecourt a LOT!
I need to refuel at least twice a week on 'Bee as it is whilst commuting, reckon I'd be every day and a half in this wee fella.

Still, through a bigger tank and some more cubes at the engine, I'm definitely sold!

[slimwilly]

http://www.yamaha-motor.eu/uk/accessories/genuine-options/index.aspx?keyword=MT-Series

[fireblake]

It'll be interesting to see what it's like at a constant ton on the motorway. Then the guy in the Astra van getting out of the way and snapping the throttle open to leave him behind?


Mickey

[Yamazer-92]

All this talk of the MT-09 which I think looks like an excellent bike has just led me to the MT-01 and 03 which I had never even heard of. The MT-01 is quite possibly the most badass looking and sounding thing I have ever laid eyes on other than the old V max! If it were my money I think I would get a 2nd hand one of them instead and go and tear myself off some small continent with the torque that thing has. Utter beast! New addition to my dream bike list I think.

[fireblake]

All this talk of the MT-09 which I think looks like an excellent bike has just led me to the MT-01 and 03 which I had never even heard of. The MT-01 is quite possibly the most badass looking and sounding thing I have ever laid eyes on other than the old V max! If it were my money I think I would get a 2nd hand one of them instead and go and tear myself off some small continent with the torque that thing has. Utter beast! New addition to my dream bike list I think.

That's on my bucket list bikes. I need to trawl the dealers and get myself a go on a few bikes that I've always liked but would never buy?


Mickey

[marcusfordus]

I popped on over to CMC Clay Cross to have a look at one yesterday. It very much feels like sitting on my old F800GS, perfect angle on the seat/handlebars/footpegs  for comfort for me. Their demo has done 800 and something miles and the mpg readout is 53.2mpg which is great saying it's been hammered on the throttle as folks take it for a blast.
I'm known locally for getting the max mpg out of bikes (tight arse) so they want me to take it out for a couple of hours to see if I can get it into the 60's (my 800GS was up in the 80's riding how I ride  )

If it does then the 14 litre tank will be enough for 90% of the people out there !. It won't be a popular touring bike even with the comfort seat, rack/topbox and pannier rails and bags they have in the marketing blurb and now on-line too. It's light beyond belief, fully fueled up you can move it about one handed, picking it up off the sidestand. No centre stand which is a downer for me and always on my list of must haves on all my previous bikes.

I'll get back to you on the test ride report as and when.

[Gnasher]

It's ugly as Foc as is:-


ER-6n
Z800
NC700S
Diavel


And worst of all XT660Z Tenere looks like it's hit a wall 


Something has gone very very wrong with front end bike styling of recent years   
[size=78%]  [/size]

[marcusfordus]

Today was the dry day to go bike testing 

I can say it's pretty hard to fault the MT I took out today. It had the little screen on and the touring seat, which might help the comfort a touch. The mode offerings are just a gimmick, cant really see the point of them, even in soft B mode the bike pulled up hills in fifth whereas my 1000 would be down to third on some of the lanes I was on.
Weight feels like half of what my gen 1 is and makes it a delight to move around.

Here's the best bit... these roads are ones I use often so I ride them the same no matter what bike I'm on. My bike would be doing 45-50 mpg on the same day at the same temperature, the MT was doing 68.1mpg, so even with a little 14 litre tank it can break 200 miles to a tank. I took it back to the dealers and they were most happy that their new bike, not fully broken in yet achieved that figure.
The $1000,000 question is "would I buy one " ?

YES, for sure, but you can't help but think this peach of an engine will get used in and even better frame with longer travel suspension before too long, and that would be the bike for me !

Go test ride one, it's a really good bike, honest.

[fazersharp]

I have not seen it in real life ----but it is very nice to see some real pics instead of the arty farty ones that you canot see the bike properly---thanks mate