Yamaha’s Niken has caused quite a stir since it appeared on the market earlier this year. A leaning three-wheeler, with a performance motor, for grown-ups, for real?
The Niken has the like-it-or-hate-it stance of something out of The Martian, combined with the tried and true mechanicals of one of the brand’s long-time favourites, the MT-09. Under the skin, they are cousins, provided that somewhere along the line one of the ‘uncles’ was actually an alien.
The Niken and MT-09 share what is more or less the same engine. The Niken has revised fuelling and electronics along with a heavier flywheel but otherwise, they are as close as you could get. So, the two machines represent a rare – very rare – opportunity to measure what two wheels versus three is like if everything else was fairly constant.
One thing that its polarising appearance has done is to make the Niken the subject of great scrutiny. Why is it like that? What are the advantages? Why is it so big? And how does it actually perform up against the regulation two-wheeled version?
There’s only one way to find out…
Yamaha Australia had both bikes ready to roll, we could get our mitts on all the telemetry bells and whistles we needed, and I didn’t need a second invitation to ride both beasts. Job done. Well, nearly done.
Does anyone have a spare racetrack we can borrow?
Pheasant Wood circuit offers tight and open corners with heavy positive banking and some off-camber turns to boot, it also has a fantastic surface and would have to be one of the best small circuits in Australia.
The plan was simple, compare the Niken to the MT-09 under controlled conditions and
assess the key areas such as acceleration, braking, corner speed and most importantly, the
feeling of both machines on track. The measurable points of the test would be recorded via a VBOX data logger attached to the handlebars with lap and sector times recorded by the circuit’s own timing loop. Check out the full story in the latest issue of AMCN, on sale today.
Words Gareth Jones
Pics Tim Munro
Vid AMCN