Yamaha MT-09 SP
Yamaha’s MT range, since its incarnation, has exemplified value-for-money motorcycling and the MT-09 is no exception (which is probably why Y amaha have sold more than 5 0,000 of them). The factory-tricked-up SP version that we had on test comes in at £9,199 which is £8 00 dearer than the base model but comes with a sexy Silver Blu C arbon colour scheme, K YB forks and an Ö hlins shocker; which we think has gotta be worth the extra pennies.
D espite its SP (Sport P erformance) suffix, the Y am offered the least sporty riding position of all the bikes on test. The seat felt long and spacious and the low pegs provided plenty of much-needed legroom after being scrunched up on the sportier feeling MV. Although it was the cheapest bike on test, the MT didn’t look any less premium than its rivals; aside, perhaps, from the big numb rubber mounted indicators – well you can’t have everything.
The soundtrack of the MT’s crossplane crank triple (C P 3) engine is distinctive but far from raucous. It’s not until you get rolling that things start to get exciting. 113bhp might sound a little bit tame by today’s standards, but the jewel in the MT’ sC P 3 crown is its 87 Nm of torque. And that torque figure translates into a lovely playful little engine that does all it possibly can to help you hoist the front wheel at any given time.
After having ridden the new 2 018 MT-09 SP at its launch in Spain and been mightily impressed by it, I was surprised to note that when we started really hustling the MT round our test route things didn’t always go as nicely as I would have expected. Fast sweeping bends were sometimes a concern on the MT as the front end had a tendency to feel vague and unsure of itself. It wasn’t a nice feeling and it was made worse the moment you threw some bumps into the mix. It had a
really under-damped feel to the front end, which I’m sure could have been ironed out had we had more time to faf and poke about with the K ayaba front forks.
In the slow stuff the MT wasn’t bad at all. On the really bumpy bends there seemed to be a bit of chatter bouncing its way through the frame, but it always seemed to start at the front, probably another product of the soft set-up.
What was a real pain in the arse on the MT was the brakes. For steady riding, the front and rear stoppers are both acceptable, but as soon as you try and up the ante you’re faced with a worrying amount of inconsistency from the front
brake lever and an equally worrying amount of ABS interference with the rear. When you squeez e the front brake lever on the MT properly (as though you want to do a stoppie or stop quickly, perhaps in an emergency stop situation), one of three things can happen; sometimes the brakes work and the rear wheel lifts off the deck; other times the ABS engages to keep the rear wheel down and the bike slows down reasonably quickly (albeit jerkily); or, what happens far too often, is the ABS chucks its teddy out of the pram and tries to lock the lever all the way out so you can’t put the brakes on unless you squeez e the lever with all your might. Y amaha’s front brake issues are a trait not exclusive to the MT-09 SP though, I have noticed a similar phenomenon on R1s and other bikes in the MT range – it really is something that they need to get sorted out. Especially as they don’t seem to be fans of switchable ABS.
As far as the rest of the 09’s electronics suite goes things are all pretty sensible. Two level traction control is more than enough for a bike like this and it is dead easy to switch from one to the other (or off) with a little switch on the right hand bar (although I wouldn’t recommend bothering with setting 2 , unless you like riding a bike that feels like its running out of fuel every time you open the throttle). Throttle maps, ‘A’, ‘Standard’ and ‘B’ (‘A’ being the most aggressive) are also easy to alter on the fly, this time via a button on the right bar.
With its trick-as-you-like Ö hlins shocker and ‘exclusive’ colour scheme, at £9,199 the MT-09 SP isn’t a ‘budget’ bike but if you’re looking for VFM you could do a lot worse than having one of these puppies parked up in your garage. But if the Y am doesn’t quite have what it takes to whet your whistle and you don’t mind spending a bit more of your hard-earned (without wanting to pay Italian exotica prices) then the next bike in our little test might just be right up your street.
THE JEWEL IN THE MT’S CP3 CROWN IS ITS 87NM OF TORQUE