The Naked Bike Riders Secretly Love The Most
These days, we have a naked bike for just about every occasion, purse, or purpose. With such a wide selection of great motorcycles at our disposal, it will come as no surprise that pretty much everyone will have their own personal preference and their own idea of what the ideal naked bike might look like. What makes these bikes so popular is the simple fact that they are effectively the modern standard motorcycle, and are extremely practical thanks to their more neutral, comfort-oriented ergonomics. Between all that variety lie several hard-to-fault machines that everyone likes and would want to swing a leg over. We’re talking about one such popular kid hailing from Japan.
Here’s How We Ended Up With The Modern Naked Bike
By the 80s, sport bikes were pretty much taking over the industry. By this time, standard motorcycles (largely made up of UJMs) were old news, and seemed out of touch with other more modern-looking, fully faired sport bikes on the market. It was only in the 90s that we saw a shift away from the more traditional standard motorcycle designs, and for this we have Ducati to thank. The Monster, which came out in 1994, was essentially a sport bike with its fairings removed.
This gave rise to the term “naked sport bike,” an altogether more interesting name for the segment. While not every naked bike has genuine sporting pretensions, the name rather obviously stuck. Today, naked bikes are simply the new standard motorcycles, but there is nothing standard about the bike in question. It is, by all accounts, a motorcycle that lives up to this segment’s roots.
The Yamaha MT-09 SP Is An Easy Bike To Love
MSRP: $12,699
The simple formula of removing fairings proved pretty difficult for the Japanese manufacturers in particular. With all of their high-performance models featuring highly strung inline-four engines, torque, an essential element for an effective street bike, was pretty hard to come by. It was for this reason that Yamaha set out to develop an all-new engine. It is this unconventional engine that makes the MT-09 so special. The SP model adds uprated suspension, which makes the bike even more fun to ride.
A Purpose-Built Triple-Cylinder Engine Brings The Best Of Both Worlds
Power: 117 Horsepower
The main reason why Yamaha decided that the CP3 engine should be a triple was that, from an engineering perspective, this configuration offered the best balance between low-end grunt and top-end performance. The upshot of this is a meaty midrange, and that is precisely what a street bike needs. In the real world, speed limits and bad roads come into play and don’t allow you to reach the topmost echelons of your tachometer.
A More Balanced Approach To Performance
When compared to some of the latest superbikes, 117 horsepower is no longer considered all that much. Out on track, this might ring true, but on a canyon road, or in an urban setting, it is more than enough. The bike itself is also relatively light, and with a claimed fuel economy of 48 MPG, it is light enough on fuel to justify using it every day. Unfortunately, achieving that claimed fuel economy will require you to ride with the kind of restraint we don’t actually think is possible on a bike like this.
Uprated Suspension Components Help Elevate The MT-09
Just like all the other CP3-based bikes, it has a twin-spar aluminum chassis, which helps keep the weight down to 428 pounds. The almost $2k premium this demands over the base model is almost exclusively down to its uprated suspension. Up front, you get fully adjustable KYB forks, and at the rear sits a fully adjustable Öhlins rear shock. It also gets Brembo brakes up front, and all these premium components help transform the MT-09 SP into one of the very best motorcycles currently on the market.
Along with its featherweight chassis that promises dynamic performance, you also get all the modern tech we have come to expect from motorcycles in this price range. It has cornering ABS, lean-sensitive traction control, ride modes, cruise control, a quickshifter, and a big TFT dash with smartphone connectivity. Pretty much every base is covered in terms of comfort, performance, and everyday practicality, but it has one major flaw.
The Design Isn’t Its Strong Suit, Though
Objectively speaking, the MT-09 SP is a fantastic motorcycle that makes most of its competition look pretty average by comparison. For the money, we can scarcely think of a better option. It just isn’t pretty. Now, while design may be a deeply subjective topic, there are very few people out there who would dare make an argument that the MT-09 SP is a good-looking motorcycle.
Yamaha made the decision to lean pretty hard into this whole “Transformer” design language for all the naked bikes in the lineup, and it is not an accident that all the press shots are done in the dark. In the cold light of day, none of these “bold” designs hold up very well. Which is a shame, because no matter how great a bike is, it is pretty hard to justify spending this kind of money on a motorcycle you don’t want to look at.
If you are able to at least tolerate the way it looks, then this entire point is moot. But, for the rest of us, there are actually a few readily available solutions within the Yamaha family. For those after something even more sporty, the R9 sport bike is also an option, but its more aggressive ergonomics won’t be for everyone. The XSR900 doesn’t have the same uprated suspension, but its neo-retro design is far more palatable.
The other option, which we feel might be even better, will be arriving pretty soon. The XSR900 GP has been confirmed for the US market, and it adds a bikini fairing to that neo-retro design that just works. It is hard to believe the two motorcycles are so closely related. Suffice to say, you have options when it comes to the CP3 platform. But if you want that uprated suspension, you are either going to need to learn to love how the SP looks or turn to the aftermarket for some form of aftermarket solution.
Source: Yamaha Motorsports
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