Fluke
Member
The story of a new bike usually starts with an old one and I used to be the proud and happy owner of the fantastic FZ1 Fazer. The power plant was tweaked so it had great power as well as the great handling that comes as standard. I do a lot of city riding so I'd always been a little frustrated by the lack of bottom end power, the engine always wanted to be spinning a bit before she really got going.
Then, as often happens, she was written off. Just before I went to buy another one, I asked my mechanics if they could think of a bike I might prefer and the unanimous verdict came back, 'test drive an MT09'.
I did and what blew me away was the ridiculous bottom end power delivery. I was sold and went off to buy one. The review nearly starts here because it has to be said that the bike is definitely flawed and it seems pretty much everyone on the MT09 forum agrees, however, before you write this bike off, the problems are easily fixed and the result is the most mind splatteringly stupendous hooligan tool I have ever had the pleasure of having the living shit scared out me by. It is utterly ridiculous that there isn't a law against owning one of these but let's get back to the standard offering to start with; a very cheap and very exciting runabout that Yamaha originally listed on their website as a tourer, (it now has its own heading, MT.) The idea was, make it cheap and sell a shed load, however the fuel map and suspension let the bike down hence the smaller MT07 was bike of the year but the MT09 was a bit of a disappointment.
Let me elaborate, the problems are the snatchy throttle and soft suspension. There are three power modes and 'A' mode is just too twitchy at low revs so coming out of a tight corner was never fun, it always felt like the back end was going to light up and slide out. Couple that with way too soft suspension and the coming out of corners was simply unpleasant; as the power was unleashed, the rear would wallow around vaguely and you had no idea where you were heading. I took my (slim) wife on the back and it would bottom out on bumps while a friend took his MT on the motorway with a female friend and the whole tail piece got sucked into the back wheel. Oops!
So moving on, the first step was to swap the exhaust for some Two brothers Carbon and get the ECU flash mapped. This smoothed out the throttle as well as adding a few extra horses while shedding some weight. The rear shock can be swapped for the unit from the 2008 Kawa ZX10R. No really, it just goes straight in and is lovely and firm as you would expect, as well as being wonderfully adjustable. Finally, a set of Ohlins springs up front and the transformation is complete. Believe it or not, all those parts and the labour cost about eight hundred quid. Ordinarily, you wouldn't expect to spent that sort of money on a new bike just to make it work but every penny was well spent.
Finally your patience has been rewarded as I can now tell you about the MT09 as it was intended. Fire up the engine and the carbon barks into life. The quick spinning triple heralds it's intentions and gives a hint of the urgency that's coming. Swing your leg over and the riding position says supermoto; the bars are wide so elbows out, your nuts meaningfully close to the headstock, tap into first of the light gearbox and as soon as the clutch lever drops, it's away! Hold on or fall off acceleration from the lowest revs, ultra quick steering and no weight to think of make this the getaway vehicle of choice for the discerning bank robber. Where Yamaha have done an excellent job though, is that if you want to cruise gently down the motorway, (and I did say, 'if') then it's very relaxed, steady and quite effortless.
Want a sensible, cheap commuter that gets you from A to B without any drama but turns into a howling banshee on the weekends that would not be out of place on a trackday? Then look no further. But be careful, she bites!
Then, as often happens, she was written off. Just before I went to buy another one, I asked my mechanics if they could think of a bike I might prefer and the unanimous verdict came back, 'test drive an MT09'.
I did and what blew me away was the ridiculous bottom end power delivery. I was sold and went off to buy one. The review nearly starts here because it has to be said that the bike is definitely flawed and it seems pretty much everyone on the MT09 forum agrees, however, before you write this bike off, the problems are easily fixed and the result is the most mind splatteringly stupendous hooligan tool I have ever had the pleasure of having the living shit scared out me by. It is utterly ridiculous that there isn't a law against owning one of these but let's get back to the standard offering to start with; a very cheap and very exciting runabout that Yamaha originally listed on their website as a tourer, (it now has its own heading, MT.) The idea was, make it cheap and sell a shed load, however the fuel map and suspension let the bike down hence the smaller MT07 was bike of the year but the MT09 was a bit of a disappointment.
Let me elaborate, the problems are the snatchy throttle and soft suspension. There are three power modes and 'A' mode is just too twitchy at low revs so coming out of a tight corner was never fun, it always felt like the back end was going to light up and slide out. Couple that with way too soft suspension and the coming out of corners was simply unpleasant; as the power was unleashed, the rear would wallow around vaguely and you had no idea where you were heading. I took my (slim) wife on the back and it would bottom out on bumps while a friend took his MT on the motorway with a female friend and the whole tail piece got sucked into the back wheel. Oops!
So moving on, the first step was to swap the exhaust for some Two brothers Carbon and get the ECU flash mapped. This smoothed out the throttle as well as adding a few extra horses while shedding some weight. The rear shock can be swapped for the unit from the 2008 Kawa ZX10R. No really, it just goes straight in and is lovely and firm as you would expect, as well as being wonderfully adjustable. Finally, a set of Ohlins springs up front and the transformation is complete. Believe it or not, all those parts and the labour cost about eight hundred quid. Ordinarily, you wouldn't expect to spent that sort of money on a new bike just to make it work but every penny was well spent.
Finally your patience has been rewarded as I can now tell you about the MT09 as it was intended. Fire up the engine and the carbon barks into life. The quick spinning triple heralds it's intentions and gives a hint of the urgency that's coming. Swing your leg over and the riding position says supermoto; the bars are wide so elbows out, your nuts meaningfully close to the headstock, tap into first of the light gearbox and as soon as the clutch lever drops, it's away! Hold on or fall off acceleration from the lowest revs, ultra quick steering and no weight to think of make this the getaway vehicle of choice for the discerning bank robber. Where Yamaha have done an excellent job though, is that if you want to cruise gently down the motorway, (and I did say, 'if') then it's very relaxed, steady and quite effortless.
Want a sensible, cheap commuter that gets you from A to B without any drama but turns into a howling banshee on the weekends that would not be out of place on a trackday? Then look no further. But be careful, she bites!