Yamaha XSR900

Take one modern MT-09, add 1970s styling and marvel at how well the result genuinely works

AKING A CASE for the new Yamaha being the pick of this trio is easy. Its engine makes the most immediate impression, with the greatest sense of acceleration and slickest gearbox. The chassis is lightest, with the most compliant ride at sub-60mph speeds. It’s got riding modes where you can actually tell something has changed and two-level traction control, one of which knows when the 900 is lifting its nose under acceleration and allows controlled wheelies. Levers and switches are light, and the white-on-black dash is stuffed with easy-to-fathom data. The XSR is dotted with details too, from chunky cast headlight brackets to the embossed seat logo and neat rear mudguard. ‘Tank shape, colour and riding position are right,’ beams Hugo. ‘Yamaha have got the seventies superbike thing working well.’ Best of all, the Yamaha is £5004 cheaper than the BMW. That’s a lot of petrol, tyres, accessories and riding gear. Or enough saved for a brand-new Honda CRF250L trailie as well, with plenty left to fund long days pootling around the Peak District feeling suitably smug. This isn’t just a desperate ploy to make a fancy-dress MT-09 look good against swankier competition. The XSR may be a semi-supernaked MT repackaged for a new crowd but the above claims are true. The 847cc triple sounds somewhere between Triumph’s grinding, wailing 675cc and the bassy 1050. It snaps forward almost before your brain’s signal reaches your right wrist. Revs soar with the relentless eagerness of a short stroke, low-friction unit packed with light internals, rather than the more measured delivery of the longer-stroke Triumph. With the widest rev range and shortest gearing the XSR feels frantic and rev-happy after the British twin, but there’s plenty of flexibility – whispering past the local school in top gear isn’t an issue, and on fast, open roads there’s rich roll-on thrust in high ratios. Throttle response is immediate, but with less snatch than the original MT-09 thanks to calmer maps (also now on the MT). It’s got the same riding modes too, shuffled from the right switchgear, and flicking from ‘std’ to ‘A’ reveals that explosive reaction is still available if you want it. Pop into ‘B’ and things get softer, to suit personal taste as much as wet weather use.

MThough noticeably tallest with a 830mm seat, the Yam is slim in the middle (its frame goes inside the swingarm at the pivot, not outside) so dropping a foot is easy. Just 195kg wet is 27 kilos lighter than the BMW (and far less than the Triumph which is so portly they only claim a 203kg dry weight, not a full-of-fluid figure), and the 900 feels nimble and responsive as soon as the clutch is out. The upright riding position is supermoto-ish, but not so much that it feels odd, and being over the front gives a great sense of control. MT-09S suffered slightly mismatched suspension, with a tall stiff-ish front and super-supple rear, but the XSR (as this year’s MT) has a beefed-up back end. It’s more level, feels more normal, and is more composed when exploiting sharp geometry, low weight and the triple’s catapult-like response. ‘When I take my brain out for a mad half hour the 900 is the choice,’ reckons Langy. Predictably this smoke-blowing is leading to a ‘but’. Here it is: despite all this goodness, the Yamaha can’t operate at the level of the BMW and Triumph. I expected the Yamaha to have the best ride quality, and round town or wafting between villages it’s good. However it’s crashy over bumpier surfaces at speed, as if there’s too much preload and not enough damping. Rattling through tight, lumpy corners where the ninet offers steadfast composure, the XSR’S steering leverage, low weight, rampant engine and Ok-to-a-point shock can give a twitching, skittish ride. Exciting, involving, yes. But it can be unnerving and tiring too. Then there’s the image and legitimacy. Lc-like tank shape and colour scheme are great, the painted headlight bowl a fine touch. However there are angles where the high-rise XSR looks too Mad Max. There’s a crappy shield trying and failing to hide ugly wires to the clocks. Eyesore parts are tacked on the frame. Cunningly hidden components? No. Nor will you find polished cases, cooling fins with machined edges or components to make you go ‘ooh’. It hasn’t the bigger bike’s charm, or anything authentic café racer. So let’s stop looking at the XSR as a bike to out-class the Triumph or pinch BMW sales after all. Instead, let’s see where this classier, better-looking version of the MT-09 really sits. Cheaper, faster, more comfortable, smoother, better suspended and more finely equipped than Ducati’s best-selling Scrambler, you say? Deal.

‘It feels frantic and rev-happy, yet there’s plenty of flexibility’