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2024 · Naked Bike · Buyer's Guide
Triple That Corners On Rails
The MT-09 is built around Yamaha's 889cc inline-three, and that motor is the whole point. It makes 119 hp and 69 lb-ft, but the number that matters is how early the torque arrives: strong pull from low in the range, with useful, interesting power everywhere instead of only at the top. Yamaha positions it in the premium middleweight naked class, sitting above the MT-07 and below the MT-10, and sharing its platform with the XSR900 GP. A 5-inch color TFT with navigation and phone connectivity finally brings the cockpit up to date.
On the road it rewards a rider who likes to commit. Eager turn-in, a settled chassis, and a fork that actually communicates make it the kind of bike you keep wanting to push harder. It commutes without fuss and holds its own on a circuit, and the reliability plus deep aftermarket support age well. The honest caveat is that the suspension and brakes are tuned for the street, so serious track days expose their ceiling. There is also an open TPS recall tied to stalling that any buyer should confirm has been addressed.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 119 hp (88 kW) @ 10,000 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 69 lb-ft (93 Nm) @ 7,000 rpm |
| Displacement | 889 cc |
| Engine | Inline-three |
| Bore × stroke | 78 × 62 mm |
| Compression | 11.5:1 |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Fuel system | Fuel injection |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Final drive | Chain |
| Frame | Aluminum twin-spar |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front brake | 298 mm |
| Rear brake | 245 mm |
| Front tire | 120/70 ZR17 |
| Rear tire | 180/55 ZR17 |
| Wheelbase | 56.3 in (1430 mm) |
| Seat height | 32.5 in (825 mm) |
| Wet weight | 425 lb (193 kg) |
| Fuel capacity | 3.7 gal (14 L) |
| Fuel economy | 47 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Connectivity
Drivetrain
Lighting
Safety
Swing a leg over and the 32.5-inch seat sets a stance that's been sorted out of the older bikes: balanced, a touch sportier, natural enough to stay comfortable across a long day. Pick up the pace and the MT-09 flicks side to side like the direction change is a non-event, the wide bar doing the work for you. On track the rubber footpeg feelers kiss down to warn you before ground clearance runs out, a tactile heads-up right when you want it, and the quickshifter and blipper hit clean in both directions every time. Two things nag once the miles stack up. The saddle doesn't sit right against your inner thighs, so you find yourself shifting around looking for an angle, and the dash menus don't flow the way your thumb expects until muscle memory eventually takes over.
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
What I keep noticing is how little this bike asks of me to swap direction. Thread it through a run of tight corners and the wide bar carries the load, which frees me up to think about nothing but where I want the front to go. Even at low speed it's already willing, the front wanting to tuck into the turn before I've really asked, and once I commit it sits on the line without argument. The biggest step over the previous generation is feedback. I can feel what the front tire is doing through the fork, and that lets me lean on a corner I can't yet see all the way through; anyone coming off an earlier one will clock it inside a few bends. Push hard into a long, fast bend and the chassis settles and stays put, with no fidgeting at the front under load. My only real reservation shows up away from the road: on a serious track day the suspension reaches the end of its adjustment, somewhere a road rider will simply never go.
Here's the part that keeps pulling me back: none of its town-friendly ease costs it a thing when the road opens up. The same engine that makes it painless in traffic is the one that drives hard on a circuit, so the everyday side and the quick side aren't a trade-off against each other. Pair the willing way it turns with how planted it stays once it's there, and you get a machine that quietly talks you into riding it harder, then into heading back out for more.
The triple is the heart of this bike, and what wins me over is how cleanly it doles out drive. Crack the throttle open in the middle of a corner and the torque arrives right where I want it, in the measure I want, with no hunting to bring it back. Lean into the engine braking on a hard entry and the back end stays settled instead of going vague or skittish, so the rear never leaves me guessing. The character runs across a wide band: genuine pull down low, real muscle through the middle, and it keeps pulling up top, so the drive stays interesting everywhere rather than waiting for the last few thousand rpm. That low-end means I can hold a gear high through a twisty road and let the motor cover for me when I'm lazy with shifts. The bidirectional shifter never misses in either direction, and the auto-blipper lands every downshift on its own.
No sugarcoating these: they're built for the road and they're honest about it. The cornering ABS works away quietly in the background, and there's nothing to fault in everyday modulation at a normal pace. Ask for a really aggressive entry, the deep trail-braking a circuit demands, and the stopping power flattens off where a sharper setup would keep biting. Plenty for the way these miles actually get covered, just never a high point on this bike.
Yamaha clearly went to work on where this bike sits me. Older MT-09s held me bolt upright, which felt odd coming off anything sporty, and this generation lands on a more even stance that reads a touch keener without wearing me out across a full day; riders I put on it logged long hours and raised no complaints. The two-position setup genuinely matters. Shift the bars and pegs to the more aggressive of the two and it folds me into a real forward crouch, not a token nod at sportiness. Two things still grate. The seat doesn't get on with my inner thighs, and because the fault is its shape rather than its height, an hour in I'm forever rearranging myself looking for an angle that holds. The other is the dashboard. Every switch does its job correctly, but the menus follow no order my thumb expects, so I end up memorizing where things live instead of finding them.
There isn't much hardware to weigh here, but what's fitted earns its place. The color TFT comes with phone pairing and built-in turn-by-turn navigation, so I get route guidance on the dash straight from the factory without bolting on a standalone GPS or fighting an app to put directions in front of me before I set off.
The verdicts in this section aren't mine. They come from years of sifting the comments under our MT-09 clips, following the forum back-and-forth, swapping notes with owners in the paddock, and reading the messages riders send straight to my inbox. Line all of it up for this generation and one shape appears: the praise lands harder and more often than the criticism, and most of the criticism is the predictable kind.
The triple gets the loudest, steadiest praise. Riders describe a motor with genuine character, torque that's there and usable from low in the rev range, and a top end it's glad to chase, and most name it the reason they bought in. The chassis follows close behind, with owners calling it quick to turn and easy to place whether they're picking through traffic or stringing together back roads. The front brakes draw their own round of credit as the clearest step up over the previous bike. A theme that surfaces again and again is how much arrives fitted as standard: cornering ABS, the IMU rider aids, four ride modes, the quickshifter and cruise control, all in the price, and riders weigh that haul against rivals charging premium money for less. The larger 5-inch screen with phone pairing and navigation gets nods for closing an old gap, and over the long run owners point to strong resale and Yamaha's deep dealer coverage as things that keep ownership simple.
The gripes run familiar for the format, and riders raise them without much heat. With no screen up front, they say holding a steady highway pace above 80 mph (130 km/h) wears on you after a while, the trade-off you accept for a bare front end. The stock seat draws repeated criticism for turning hard past the 100-mile (150 km) mark, which owners feel clips any real touring ambition. Several flag a snatchy on-off response in Sport mode at small throttle openings in town, and most add that Street mode largely irons it out. The small tank closes the list, giving a usable 140 to 150 miles (220 to 240 km) between stops on longer days.
Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) recall: potential engine stalling
Improper ECU programming causes excessive TPS brush sliding, generating abrasion particles that accumulate on contacts, leading to unstable idling, engine stalling, and potential crash risk. Affected models recalled for ECU reflash and TPS replacement.
Where this Yamaha MT-09 pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Wet weight
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the MT-09 is actually built for.
Your Angeles Crest weekends are what this MT-09 does best: eager turn-in, a chassis planted through fast sweepers, and a triple pulling hard out of every corner. Only real track-day pace exposes the suspension's ceiling.
Made for Angeles Crest Highway · Coronado Trail / US 191 · Highway 1 / Big Sur
Skyline and Alice's runs suit it perfectly. It flicks corner to corner with no effort, threads city traffic without drama, and the color TFT with navigation and phone connectivity fits your tech-forward streak.
Made for Bay Area Ridge Roads · San Francisco / Bay Area · Skyline Boulevard / Alice's Restaurant
Built for the Dragon and Cherohala kind of riding, where skill beats speed. The improved front-end feedback lets you trust a late apex, and the footpeg feelers warn you before you run out of lean.
Made for Back of the Dragon · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
The Yamaha MT-09 also comes in these variants, models and special editions. Each has its own page covering only what differs from the standard MT-09 — equipment, electronics, specs and used price.
