Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

Well as stated before, I'm looking the change RC8 down to something a little more manageable in the lanes. A 'B Road blaster' so to speak.

First two bikes on the list were the Yamaha MT-07 and 09.

There is a large motorbike dealer in Poitiers which we sussed out, which seems to be dealers for Yamaha, KTM, BMW, Victory and Kawasaki as well as probably a few others.

Nice dealer, very different attitude to most UK dealers, didn't talk to us until asked and once asked I was on an MT-09 in 10 mins of getting there. Sadly, the MT-07 they had as a demo had been sold, but I did have a sit etc. I'm in the UK next month so will try an 07 then.

Anyway, the MT-09.....

I had it for an hour, I could have had it all day had I wanted to, very flexible dealer, however I only needed about 10 minutes to find its achilles heal and confirm it.

The engine is brilliant. An ideal mix of torque and power in a nice sized triple engine. Pulls hard and revs well. Sounds good too, even with the standard exhaust. It has 3 power maps, which I played with. A is a racey map, STD is standard and B is soggy.

All of the above praise is ruined by the fuelling. How the mighty Yamaha can get the engine mapping so very wrong is beyond me, but it's quite telling that the dealer started the bike for me and set the map to B to smooth it out a little.

Once on the road, even in B mode you could tell (especially on roundabouts) that the fuelling was poor, even in B mode. Switch it to one of the other modes and it's all over the place. Come off or on the throttle without the upmost of care and it throws you forward or backward. This plays into the other problem, the front is far too soft. It feels like the front is going to wash out it dives far too much, maybe adjustment would sort this but I have my doubts.

You can ride around some of these problems. I'm used to difficult fuelling with the RC8, but I'd go as far as to say it's worse.

Seating position is an odd one too - the straight bars mean you can counter steer into a corner really easily, but the seat is too wide so it makes it difficult to move your arse and legs across to corner and stick your leg out etc. you have to ride almost bolt upright at the back of the seat or trapped against the very wide tank and bolt upright. It's very odd and not just because I'm mainly a sports biker. I've ridden other nakeds and they are much better seated or bar positioned. They were very high too.

Overall a bit of fun for about an hour and I did give it some stick, however for me very disappointing. It is easy to power wheelie though

As I've said, I'll try the MT07 as I'm told the fuelling is way better.

Here are a few pics.

I thought the fueling on the tracer was good. I had heard that the first 09s were a bad on fueling so I'm wondering if it's an older model or if it's hindered by the French power requirements?

The dealer did say Yamaha France have a better map they can use. He didn't say why they hadn't applied it to the demo bike.

I'd be surprised if it's specifically a french mapping problem as the power isn't much higher than the limits, but it did cross my mind.

I'm tempted to try the MT09 in the as UK too, just to prove my point, but it is academic as I wouldn't buy one due to the seating position and seat. I need to be able to lean!

How did you find it in corners?

Poor into them and good out once your on the power. The front didn't give as much feel as I would like, but I think some of that is the seating position, it seems to want you to sit in the tank and put more weight on the front perhaps. I don't think I fitted on it very well. Strange as the pegs were fairly low and my long legs fitted well. It turned very quickly on the bars which I liked but I couldn't hang off at all, which I hated.

The duke 690 is still my benchmark. Bar power it walked all over it (for me anyway).

Oh while I'm on - the horn is right next to the right hand indicator. I kept hitting it and pissing people off . Terrible switchgear placement.

Sounds a load of crap,no excuse for poor fueling this day and age

The Tracer seemed top heavy and wanted to flop into corners. It didn't inspire confidence.

Shame as i really like the look of them

The MT-07 is supposed to be the better bike and a lot more of a fun ride.

Have you though of trying one of these, Cookie?

It was by far the best looking bike in the BMW Showroom when i went in last week.

I know what you mean, but it does look heavy....

I hated the mt09 when I took it for a test ride, like you hated the fuelling but also disliked the riding position, I found the pegs were too low and bats too high, felt like a supermoto

Cavetroll87 wrote:I hated the mt09 when I took it for a test ride, like you hated the fuelling but also disliked the riding position, I found the pegs were too low and bats too high, felt like a supermoto

glad it's not just me then!

I have had a few px Enquires which concern this bike, very very low mileage, I.e. Pre first service.... Value makes them fall off their chair

As for the R Nine T I have one you can have now, great fun to ride, old school boxer engine, so much out there to customise it as well, BMW stuff and the likes of Roland Sands,.

I have taken it home a few times now, engaging bike, but I would not have it as my only bike if I did lots of miles, it would be the bike I use for the weekend runs, trips to the local for a pub lunch, cake a do tea run. Just my opinion, I still need my hood and madness fix, this is too chilled and cool for that

Ps it's not heavy, low down balance if you get my meaning, really easy to ride.

R nine T is not for me I think. Need something less retro. Nice bike, but not for me! Interesting people are trying to trade them in early.

I get the impression that the journalists got a little duped into believing how good the MT09 really was.

The initial write-ups were very good but they did mention one or two issues, notably the suspension. Fixing cheap suspension is never going to be easy.

This is a shame to hear. You wouldn't of thought a big company like Yamaha would make mistakes. Or are they mistakes to people who ride sports bikes or in general? How good are the sales for these things anyone know? Surely someone must like these!! Although don't think I have actually seen any on road!

I followed one yesterday for a few miles before he overtook on solids white lines around a load of traffic.i must say it looked really nice and also sounded quite good

They do look good but even if the fuelling and suspension was good enough the ergonomics are awful. Really disappointing as i wanted to like it tbh. With such a good engine too.

They do look good I like the look even though it's not my type of bike, but if it really is that bad to ride then I woudlnt be wasting my money on it!