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| Photos by Greg Smith @ ikapture |
While Europe has had the pleasure for what feels like months, the wait is finally over and Yamaha’s naked MT litre bike hero - the MT-10 has made its way to godzone.
I jumped on a plane to the Sunshine Coast with Yamaha New Zealand to not only try out the MT-10, but also sample it’s smaller capacity stablemates on the roads surrounding the proposed Sunshine Coast Tourist Trophy course.
Yamaha Australia’s national communications manager, Sean Goldhawk, said the now complete MT range is “a step up strategy, we want to get them young and keep them for life.”
It’s definitely a move in the right direction as the naked segment is easily the most accessible for new riders. Thanks to the easy to get on with ergonomics a full range of naked bikes definitely makes sense considering we all get the urge to upgrade to bigger and better bikes after a time.
The MT-10 is the pinnacle of the Yamaha’s MT range and is derived from Yamaha’s cutting edge flagship bike, the YZF-R1, itself the crowning achievement of the their supersport range. However, there is much more to the MT-10 than simply being a naked R1.
While the MT-10 shares many components with the R1, including its deltabox frame and R1 derived Kayaba (KYB) suspenders, much has changed in the transformation from class-leading superbike to hyper-naked.
The engine of the MT-10 has been developed directly from the R1 unit. Internally the 998cc crossplane crank 4-cylinder has changed by a factor of 40%. The airbox has been increased from 10 litres to 12, compression has been dropped from 13:1 to 12:1 thanks to a new set of pistons, and the crank has been swapped out for a unit that increases inertia to help boost torque, and much more. Basically, all the changes to the engine are all about achieving that monster torque the MT range is named for.
The result is instead of producing the 112.4 Nm at 11,500 rpm of the superbike, the naked MT-10 makes peak torque 111 Nm at 9,000rpm. Outright power has also changed, dropping from the unusable (legally) on the street peak power of 147.1kW to a much more streetable, but still rather insane 118kW.
It’s a sweet unit coupled with three rider modes, A mode, standard, and B mode. There was a little confusion over which was in fact the sharper mode, A or B. What I found myself using mostly however was the standard mode which cut through the confusion and helped keep throttle modulation nice and steady.
In keeping with the street theme of the MT-10, the complex cutting edge MotoGP derived electronics of the R1 have been swapped for more conventional systems. It still comes equipped with switchable three stage traction control and ABS as standard, but thanks to the addition of an electronically controlled throttle the MT-10 gains something the R1 will likely never have, cruise control.
The layout for all the controls is simple and intuitive. On the left hand switchblock you control all the usual stuff, with the addition of an easy to use toggle switch for the traction control and the controls for the cruise control.
On the right hand just below the starter is the power mode switch that was easy enough to thumb through A, standard and B modes at will.
While the R1 has all the latest tech, it commands a higher price point of $27,499 plus on roads. The MT-10 on the other hand cuts the price down to an even more attainable $19,999, so you’ll get change from $20k.
The MT-10 is available in three colours, Race Blu with matching wheels, Tech Black, and the very cool contrasting battleship grey and fluro yellow Night Fluo.
Styling-wise the MT-10 resembles the R1 in its stance, but when you look closer there are plenty of visual changes apart from the removal of a fairing.
Up front the twin LED headlight arrangement is maintained from R1, but now the ‘face’ of the bike resembles a samurai’s battle mask instead of that of MotoGP machine.
The subframe has been changed out for a bigger unit with the capacity to accommodate a pillion passenger, although your pillion will need some pretty short legs in order to come along for a ride as the rear pegs are mounted rather high. Children will likely be the only ones comfortable to join in on rides with the standard pillion arrangement.
With the option to either start out the day on the MT-10 or one of the other bikes in the Australasian MT range, I decided to work my way up to the MT-10.
I started the day becoming reacquainted with an old friend, Driven’s Bike of the Year in 2014, the MT-07. Not a heck of a lot has changed with the MT-07 since it’s debut, apart from it now being available as both a LAMS spec machine with the Australasian only 655cc parallel twin engine, and now as the MT-07HO, HO standing for high output so you get the global spec engine with its full 689cc capacity and corresponding jump in power.
Next I jumped on the MT-09, a bike which I hadn’t previously had a chance to ride in it’s purest form. Riding the MT-09 in its naked form is quite different to the Tracer version. While riding it aggressively to keep up with the pack I revelled in the sound of the triple’s intake. It was so soulful and raucous I’d even be tempted to put it ahead of the MT-10 in terms of sound.
Where the ‘09 fell flat for me was in the suspension department. While it was nothing major my issue was that my 100 kilo weight and the standard adjustment didn’t play well together. I’d personally like to play with the adjustment next time to tune it for more stability in transition from corner to corner. An easy fix really.
When I finally made my way up to the MT-10, it felt like the leader of the pack it’s meant to be.
Swinging a leg over the seat of the wide 17-litre fuel tank and twin air intake combo gives the MT-10 a wide, solid presence from the cockpit. Looking up from the tank is a colour LCD display. There’s no analog tachometer here like other bikes in the Hyper Naked segment, just a fresh colour display with integrated digital tachometer along with a big speed readout - a much needed feature considering the speeds this bike is capable of achieving. There is of course the usual set of idiot lights as well as the obligatory gear position indicator.
Twisting the throttle on an abandoned section of former highway resulted in power wheelies in both first and second gears, while much more talented than me riders were pulling sustained wheelies up the road at will.
Yamaha says the MT-10 is the shortest bike - in terms of wheelbase - in its class at 1400mm wheel to wheel. This translates to some incredibly nimble handling. Combined with the large 190/55 rear section tyre, wide handlebars, and that R1 derived KYB suspension the MT-10 is a force to be reckoned with in the streets.
Lunch provided an opportunity for some necessary repairs after the harsh roads of the potential TT course punctured a couple of unprotected radiators on the MT-10 bikes. The stylised MT-10 radiator guard is an optional accessory. All patched up, we saddled up for the ride deeper into the hills.
Setting the gearbox in 3rd gear the MT-10 was in its sweet spot for ultimate backroad fun. Twisting the throttle resulted in the thick band of torque the CP4 engine is tuned for whilst shifting up to fourth for longer straights kept the engine on the boil. While off the showroom floor the 6-speed gearbox doesn’t have a quickshifter, one is also available as an optional accessory. Yamaha NZ yet to confirm the price for our market, but going by the indicated Australian price it will be an investment worth ticking the box for.
Pulling on the lightweight 5-spoke cast alloy wheels are dual 320mm front discs mated to radially mounted 4-pot calipers and the aforementioned ABS system. Personally I found the front a bit abrupt for the road when I initially tapped on the front brake lever, but it’s something you either get used to or you could swap the pads to something with a little less initial bite.
After our final photoshoot it was brought to our attention that if we didn’t shake a leg, we’d miss our flight back to New Zealand. With the powerful MT-10s all needed by the Aussie journos to finish their shoots we had our pick of the remainder of the range for our bolt back to the hotel to collect our gear. With odd numbers of the MT-07 and MT-09, the five members of the Kiwi contingent saddled up on the four MT-03s and solitary MT-09 Tracer.
To say that this was the highlight of the launch isn’t an overstatement. To me, the amount of fun we had riding the wheels off the little 321cc MT-03s through the Australian back country proved the strength of the MT theme. It showed that it doesn’t matter which bike in the range you choose to ride, there is a sensational amount of fun waiting to be unleashed in every single one of them.
YAMAHA MT-10
Price: $19,999
Engine: 998cc inline 4-cylinder
Power: 118kW / 111Nm
Pros: Excellent price point, fun factor, YZF heritage
Cons: Pillion ergos are cramped
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