BRUCE’S TRIPLES ON TRACK
YAMAHA MT-09 SP
Yamaha’s CP3 motor never gets old, and it sure as hell didn’t disappoint around Cadwell Park. It’s a brute out of bends and mullered its rivals in the nought-to-sixty stakes. Its top end performance wasn’t too shabby, packing enough ponies to keep up with 600s in their slipstream. On that note, the Yamaha was prettymuch faultless. Well, if you overlook the snatchy throttle. That seems to be a common trait in the MT family, which doesn’t cataclysmically catch you out, but gives you an unwelcomed kick up the arse each time you get on the gas.
There are three throttle maps to pick from, and I found the STD (middle ground) position the most obliging on track; A was too sharp and B was too docile. I also found the traction control bloody frustrating. Like most systems, it kicked in too early, which wasn’t good news for the wallowing Yammy. The SP comes kitted with adjustable Öhlins suspension, but even this couldn’t save the bike from feeling top heavy and unstable on track. It had this weird feel to it, like the bike was bending in the middle as you cracked on the throttle out of bends. I wasn’t a fan, and the intervening TC only made things worse, so I pulled in and turned it off. One thing that couldn’t be binned off was the ABS, which had me bricking it on too many occasions. You’re cracking on by the time you reach the 200-board at the end of the back straight, where I’d typically expect my bike to start slowing as I squeezed on the front brake lever.
But the MT had different plans; the lever would go solid, start pulsing even, and scare me silly with thoughts of not stopping. But then it would. The system was never consistent, and I found the only solution was to tease the brakes into the equation, giving the bike’s weight plenty of time to transfer to the long-travel forks.
Another problem with the bike was its ground clearance, as the pegs would deck out and unsettle the Yamaha further. As far as fast cornering goes, it was the worst of the three options. But it made up for it with its wheelie-ability. This thing needs no encouragement, and nor did I.