Rumors about Yamaha creating a sportbike based on the massively popular MT-09 platform have been circulating for quite a few years now. Ever since the tuning fork company axed the YZF-R6, there’s been a gaping hole in the company’s supersport lineup. Yes, the Yamaha R7 now serves as the brand’s middleweight sportbike offering, but it’s nowhere near the level of performance the YZF-R6 brought to the table.
That being said, a YZF-R9 seems like the perfect solution to this. Nevertheless, apart from the application of a few patents trademarking the name, Yamaha has not released any official statements about the production of a new sportbike based on the MT-09 platform – until now. At the recently concluded Goodwood Festival of Speed, Team Blue turned heads with what it called the XSR900 DB40 prototype. Built atop the brand’s flagship neo-retro machine, the XSR900, the DB40 prototype differentiated itself in many ways.
