Fireblade Refugee
New member
Thanks to your very own Triple Trouble I been taking a close look at the MT09, which had never really captured my attention before.
He told me it's a bike that likes to wheelie in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. While I'm not one for hoisting the front wheel on purpose, this kind of behaviour in a bike tells me alot about what it's like to ride. I like light bikes with powerful motors, which is why all but one of my bikes since the late 80s have been sports bikes. All the more upright bikes I've tried with sportsbike motors have either been horrible to ride or too heavy and soft.
After an hour's test ride I can now state the MT09 is a two wheeled box of frogs, has an absolute peach of an engine and therefore ticks a load of boxes for me. Fantastic fun to be had for not alot of money and if there's any justice in this world it'll be a great success for Yamaha.
Some specific observations: the bike I tried was standard, and had the original, standard mapping. The salesman told me to start in standard mode and try A mode out on the open road. So I started in A mode and found it a bit snatchy at low speed but nothing too bad. Once the revs pick up I found it fuelled perfectly well, and the fuelling would only be an issue for me at town speeds. That being said, if / when I do buy I'll put an can / system on it and get it properly mapped.
As a long time sportsbike rider I found the brakes and handling good enough for most of the road riding I do, although it's entirely possible to make things a little vague at either end when mixing any combination of lean angle, bumps and brakes / throttle.
My only unknown at this point is pillion comfort, can anyone comment on how comfy / not it is ?
Oh, and anyone interested in a 2003 954 Fireblade?
He told me it's a bike that likes to wheelie in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. While I'm not one for hoisting the front wheel on purpose, this kind of behaviour in a bike tells me alot about what it's like to ride. I like light bikes with powerful motors, which is why all but one of my bikes since the late 80s have been sports bikes. All the more upright bikes I've tried with sportsbike motors have either been horrible to ride or too heavy and soft.
After an hour's test ride I can now state the MT09 is a two wheeled box of frogs, has an absolute peach of an engine and therefore ticks a load of boxes for me. Fantastic fun to be had for not alot of money and if there's any justice in this world it'll be a great success for Yamaha.
Some specific observations: the bike I tried was standard, and had the original, standard mapping. The salesman told me to start in standard mode and try A mode out on the open road. So I started in A mode and found it a bit snatchy at low speed but nothing too bad. Once the revs pick up I found it fuelled perfectly well, and the fuelling would only be an issue for me at town speeds. That being said, if / when I do buy I'll put an can / system on it and get it properly mapped.
As a long time sportsbike rider I found the brakes and handling good enough for most of the road riding I do, although it's entirely possible to make things a little vague at either end when mixing any combination of lean angle, bumps and brakes / throttle.
My only unknown at this point is pillion comfort, can anyone comment on how comfy / not it is ?
Oh, and anyone interested in a 2003 954 Fireblade?