HAIL, THE FUTURE!
Yamaha’s naked R1 v Ducati’s Sixty2 Scrambler 400
Both gearing up to battle for your cash in 2016
Yamaha finally launched the replacement for the FZS1000 last month with this, the MT-10.
Essentially, this is a 2015 YZF-R1S that’s been stripped down, slotted into an upright chassis and given loads of tech.
That motor from the R1 is key to the bike’s sales success and, as with the R1, the MT-10 gets the 998cc inline four-cylinder crossplane crank unit. Power has yet to be confirmed by Yamaha but expect this bike to be putting out around 150 to 160bhp in order to be competitive with other offerings in the big naked market.
Built to a lesser spec than the R1 (in fact, this bike is much closer to the engine spec of the America-only YZF-R1S than our R1 or R1-M) the big MT gets steel instead of titanium connecting rods and retains the donor bike’s crossplane crankshaft and 79mm x 50.9mm bore and stroke.
Compression is 12.0:1 and Yamaha says that this bike gets more road-friendly low-to-mid-range power than is available with the faired superbike.
The new bike also gets ride-by-wire throttle control and has various power modes with the now-standard traction control. An assist/slipper clutch and cruise control are also on the standard list for the MT-10.
The bike’s twin-spar cast-aluminium frame derived from the R1 gets 43mm inverted forks bolted to it and at the back is an aluminium swingarm and link-actuated shock, all fully adjustable.
ABS brakes with radial-mount four piston calipers are the same as on the R1S and the tyres, supersport spec, are 120/70-17 on the front and 190/55-17 on the back.