Yamaha is busy developing a flock of MT riders, enticing riders onto their fleet with sharp pricing and bikes that are more invigorating to ride than their spec sheet suggests.
The MT-07 range, MT-09 and Tracer are quality rider’s bikes, seemingly more so given their budget price tags. As for the MT-10 – drool… Now LAMS riders have an entry-level bike to join the party – the perky MT-03.
I say perky because the 321cc parallel twin engine is a weapon of a thing, for what it is, anyway. It loves a rev and it’s enough engine to allow the bike to do real Big Bike things – scratching backroads to a decent level, touring bloody well for what it is, busting out a decent stunt and attacking commute-level traffic are all within the realms of this lively engine.
Unlike most of its competition, it isn’t quite in the “if you back off, downshift” arena, though it won’t fire you out of corners on the claimed 26.6nM of torque either.
But it does bang the tacho needle off the red bit willingly and it makes the bike feel so light (Yamaha claims 168kg ready to ride).
Essentially, for a LAMS bike, it is incredibly easy to ride. Yamaha even supplied a line-up of plastic pink (?) cones for us to pulverize, before we realized we were actually meant to weave between the lot of ‘em – the bike will absolutely walk in anything remotely aimed at dodging witches hats, like, for instance, a licence test…
Sitting in its deep seat, the agile chassis drops to full lock in a u-turn easily and this also helps with passing licence tests, as well as just getting home from work. It really is a weapon in tight going.
For the $5699 rec retail (incl GST) price, you get ABS, grab rails for those carrying pillions, good Michelin Pilot Street rubber and a bike that really looks sexy. The Racing Red and Midnight Black bikes look pretty cool, but the Race Blue version is my pick. Partly because it makes it look a more serious bike, but also because it helps make the connection between the rest of the range.
Given that price tag, it’s hard to fault a bike that can ferry full-sized adults through traffic, up and down Sydney’s Royal National Park twisties and along open freeway so well – with us all giggling like L-platers. I’d like to see adjustable levers – crucial for hands new to riding – and bigger riders will find it soft, though it’s roomy enough. Keep an eye out for the full test in AMCN soon.
