After years of wondering why there was no Yamaha R9 sportbike, the wait is over—they just announced the new bike this morning. And, it’s not just an MT-09 naked bike with a fairing slapped on. This bike was designed to be a proper sport machine from the ground up.
Let’s start with the motor. The R9 has the same 12-valve three-cylinder CP3 engine as the MT-09, XSR900, etc.; however, Yamaha has updated the ECU to change the tuning, added a larger rad for better cooling, and reduced the size of the rear sprocket for an emphasis on revs over torque. Of course there is an Inertial Measurement Unit governing an electronics package—cornering-sensitive traction control, ABS, slide control and wheelie control all come standard, along with an up/down quickshifter. The bike comes with five ride modes as standard: Street and Rain for the practically-minded, Track and Sport for those looking for more performance, and a Custom ride mode that can be programmed by the user. Throttle response and safety electronics feedback are all tied to these modes.
Claimed output is 117 hp at 10,000 rpm, and 68.8 lb-ft of torque at 7,000 rpm. Those numbers remind us that this is a sportbike built around a tuned-for-street engine.
All stuff that we’ve seen before. What we haven’t seen before is an all-new Deltabox frame, developed from scratch instead of recycling the frame from their 900-series naked bikes. Yamaha says this is the lightest frame they’ve ever offered on a Yamaha supersport bike, and that it has nearly perfect 50-50 weight distribution.
KYB built the suspension, with 43 mm inverted fork that’s adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping. Same for the rear, with a KYB shock in back as well. Front suspension travel is 4.7 inches; rear suspension travel is 4.6 inches.
Front brakes are sourced from Brembo, with four-piston Stylema calipers mated to 320 mm discs. There’s a single 220 mm disc in back.
Add it all up, and you’ve got an interesting new bike that’s built for street riding but also obviously capable of a lot of fun on the track with little modification. Claimed wet weight is 195 kg; expect more details in the coming weeks.