Conclusion
Right. First off let’s get the confessions out of the way – the MT we tested wasn’t quite standard. This one had an exhaust and Y-piece, a quickshifter and stickier tyres fitted to it. It’s my longterm bike, and I adore it. Yet even with these skill enhancing additions there’s no way it could match the Aprilia on track.
It wasn’t miles off by any means, but where you could increase that gap on the Tuono with a little extra effort, you hit a brick wall on the Yamaha and only significant tinkering from stock will give it any more pace. Since then I’ve had the suspension done, and it’d have given the Tuono a harder time with those new settings. Out of the crate, in that environment, it’s a solid step behind, sadly.
It’s in the effort needed, too, which gives the game away. To get near the Aprilia, you have to put in 20 or 30 per cent extra graft, but still only to reach about 75 per cent of the Aprilia’s capability. It’s really, really good fun doing that, but the gap remains there nonetheless. And to be honest, If this was the cheaper Tuono RR that we were testing I’m convinced that gap would still be in evidence. Not quite as large, but such is the steadfast poise built into the Tuono platform whether wearing flashy gold suspension – or not.
The Aprilia is an astonishing thing, one that literally makes you whoop and holler after a ride on track; you feel fully charged and near bursting with excitement. It was always a big ask for the MT to equal or better it, and one would argue that with the price difference this should have been the obvious outcome.
Well, yes, but we’ve been surprised before and on the road (where the pair will live most of the time), I’d argue a case that it is ever so slightly a better machine. It’s certainly more comfortable and mildly easier to live with, and has helpful gadgets such as cruise-control and an official heated grip accessory option – and also plenty of potential luggage and touring permutations, too.
Basically, the MT is a one unbelievably wonderful bargain at its price point. The amount of bike you’re getting, what it’s capable of and, even more importantly, how it makes you feel, means the MT is the sensation of the year. I ride
one every day and laugh rather a lot; it makes me smile, it thrills and enthrals in equal measure. I know it’s not as good as a Tuono, but then nothing else is either, so it doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter that it’s not won this test.
Is the Aprilia worth the extra money? Yes, of course it is, but only if you can afford it. Does the Aprilia being better overall suddenly make the Yamaha not our favourite bike of 2016? No chance, nothing can make us dislike the MT-10, that’s an impossibility, it’s our New Bike of the Year for very good and often hilarious reasons.
Would an MT-10 owner miss the Aprilia’s extra skills the larger investment would secure? Here’s the rub, that’d be very unlikely, because they’d be too busy pissing their pants with laughter, or savouring the V4-wannabee crossplane motor’s delicious thrust, or enjoying a dozen other brilliant things this bike is capable of.
They’d be far too busy enjoying life to even worry about it, so while it doesn’t win this test, per se, that makes the MT-10 a winner in its own right. Don’t believe us? Go try one, you’ll thank us forever…