It's been ten long years since Yamaha debuted the MT-09 (FZ-09), a super-accessible, affordable hooligan bike with an 847 cc triple motor full of concentrated fun exactly where street riders need it. Now, there's finally a fully-faired R9 sportsbike. Don't get me wrong; superbikes like the fabled YZF-R1 absolutely .
If you've got functioning adrenal glands, and you enjoy giving them a good empty-out, you should definitely have "pinning the throttle all the way to the redline, in the gear of your choice, on a 200-plus horsepower superbike" high on your bucket list. There's nothing quite like it in civilian life. Unfortunately, the way superbikes are geared, there's also precious few places you can do it without risking an appearance on local television news, whereupon a beige army of concerned homeowners will unleash a torrent of unpleasant tutting and clucking noises, and a legal apparatus will conspire to remove both your funds and your privileges.
Which is why , despite its many flaws: the oddball looks, the bargain-basement suspension, the wooden brakes, and a bizarre riding position reminiscent of those weird ergonomic chairs that sat you on your shins for 15 minutes before you rolled them into the corner and relegated them to clotheshorse duties. The MT's lightweight, compact triple engine only made 115-odd horsepower (86 kW) , but it was geared to redline well below highway speed in first, so one felt encouraged to celebrate every one of those ponies with extravagant wh.