Alright, I’ll admit it, I have a huge Yamaha bias. Every single bike in my garage sports the Tuning Fork badge, and no, I’m not sponsored though I wish I was (Yamaha, please call me).
But personal favoritism aside, it’s hard to argue that Yamaha isn’t leading the charge when it comes to innovation and technology among the Big Four Japanese manufacturers. And nothing proves that point more than their latest middleweight sportbike: the R9.
This bike is, hands down, the most novel sportbike we’ve seen in recent memory. It’s built atop the tried-and-tested MT-09 platform, borrowing that glorious 890cc CP3 three-cylinder engine, but it’s also something completely new. This isn’t just an MT-09 in a fairing, it’s an entirely reworked sportbike, developed with racing in mind.
