Seems like an obvious title, right? But when did you last hear of a mass-produced, liquid-cooled triple coming from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, er, never? Now that’s got you thinking, hasn’t it, and I bet you’re all fiddling around with that ‘sticky’ screen on your phone, right now, to hopefully disagree with me? Well, don’t waste your airtime because I’m as correct as a Nobel Prize mathematician medal holder but, unfortunately ten times, or possibly more, as dense.
But the winner of such an enviable medal might be a dedicated Yamaha motorcycle expert as well and after picking his/her teeth with their slide rule they could now be shouting, like many others, what about the Yamaha XS750/850 triples made between 1976-1981 then? Well go and shove your quadratic equation right up your perfect circle theory, because they were air-cooled. Now where’s my Nobel Prize or, in my case, possibly a Nob Prize?
Anyway, enough of clever folk and more about the MT-09. The reason for this piece is to find out if the MT-09 is as good, or better, than its two main competitors. Which are? Yes, you’ve guessed correctly and won a plastic duck, the Triumph triples and MV Agusta triples. Both European and most certainly not made in Japan.
To attack the Euro-fighters Yamaha made a completely new engine displacing 847cc utilising their Crossplane philosophy, which I still don’t really understand because it differs between their engines, but the motor does sound juicy, especially with this very loud full Arrow system hanging around. It also has a long-stroke design, with a bore of 78mm x 59mm, which makes the engine more torquey rather than top-endy, if you know what I mean? Yamaha claim 115hp @ 10,000rpm and 88Nm @ 8,500rpm – not too bad at all for its relatively small engine capacity. It also has a D-Mode system where you can swap between three power modes; Standard, A and B, with A being the most powerful. I always chose the A mode to ‘keep it real’, why not?
The primary Japanese designer, Shun Miyazawa, definitely had his eye on the Triumph Street Triple when the MT-09 became a reality because he calls the Triumph a ‘steetfighter’ while his MT-09, according to him, is a ‘roadster motard’. Sounds like the same thing to me, and some people have described the MT-09 as a love child between a V-Max and a Transformer robot, which I kind of like and prefer. There’s no denying that the MT-09 is a cool looking machine in anyone’s eyes. Not too sure about this ‘KTM’ orange though, seems like there should have been more of it around the rear end to balance things out, and why not make a pure Yamaha blue/white version, like their MX bikes enjoy? Perhaps Shun had too much sun after consuming a bottle of Sake with his son, who knows?
Mr. Shun did focus on keeping the MT-09 as light as possible, so much so that it weighs less than their R6, which is impressive; 191kg, with the 14-litre tank full to the brim and everything else full (or 179kg dry), is commendable for any 900 road bike. And with 115hp and this weight the MT-09 is a wheelie beast of note. First gear will have your headlight pointing towards the Orion Belt at a mere twist of the throttle and a quick flick of the clutch in second will have the offset digital clocks in your face for as long as you want, as you head towards the rising, or setting sun – sweeeet.
If you’re not a wheelie fan and prefer top speed then you’ll be pleased to know that the MT-09 will easily swing past 230km/h, but it does become a bit ‘loose’ on the front end at high speeds and I’ve also read that from overseas reports as well, so it’s not me developing Parkinson’s disease, so there. The Triumphs on the other hand seem to be more stable and the 800 MVs are also a bit ‘twitchy’ at high speeds, but how often do you go there with this sort of naked stance motorbike?
While I’m on the subject of the ‘others’ I bet you’re wondering if I believe they’re better and if so why? Let me first say that I believe that the Japanese still make the best quality motorbikes and I’ll defend that with a smile and a bitch-slap. The Euro bikes are certainly well sorted machines but somehow lack the finesse and attention to detail that the Japanese excel with. The controls of the MT-09 are lighter and easier to use and therefore make the ride less physical, if that makes sense. Don’t get me wrong the Triumph range is superb on all counts and the MV is without doubt the best looking in the ‘fook me that’s gorgeous’ zone, and the fastest, but can be a bit temperamental. It’s a hard choice though because each one has its own merits that make it better than the other but, in the end, it’s your choice and your cash. So basically I’ve concluded nothing, sorry.
However the R114,995 (with ABS) MT-09 is without doubt a fine motorcycle but it has one big problem that comes from the same stable, Yamaha’s brilliant MT-07 parallel twin. I fell in love with that little monkey from the day I rode it and although I spent a fun-filled week with the MT-09 I would still prefer to play with the MT-07, which is also Made in Japan, so there.
