Ah man, the MT-01 brings back the nostalgia rush of the old Buell V-twin bikes. Horsepower is really cool, and before I bought my first high-horsepower bike, I was obsessed with it. I got my KTM 1290 SDR, and I love it. But then something unexpected happened: I found myself gravitating back towards my old Harley EVO80 Softail. And I learned an important lesson: sometimes, riding a slow bike, rowing through the gears, feeling the mechanical aspect of the motor...it's worth something more than the sum of its parts. Secondly, I learned that top speed means almost nothing to me. Yeah, it's cool to have a bike that will do 180mph, but to me, _torque_ is where it's at. For the average rider, torque, rather than top speed, is what makes a bike fun. We're not usually screaming along at 150mph in 6th gear. It just makes so much more sense to have immediate gobs of torque, that let you have a ton of fun while staying (reasonably) close to the speed limit, while still having enough stones for the occasional midnight rip on the interstate.
After doing PM service on M8 powered tourers for close to a year and a half and test riding after each PM . . . I grew VERY fond of their lazy nature. The simple joy of going thru the gears and riding the TQ wave made me forget l was manhandling a 900# EG Ultra Classic.
As a proud Canadian owner of an MT-01 since 2008 , i have a few things to add: 1- I just subscribed . I really like what you are doing here. 2- This bike came out in a time period when you had your sportsbikes, cruisers and dirtbikes. People cold not understand what this was. It was ahead of it's time, a premium naked bike before the revival of the naked bike category. 3- I think this is one of the most rewarding bikes to ride at "real world" speeds. The sound, the torque, the rumble, the confort, the way it handles. It's a unique experience. An early reviewer described it as the equivalent of riding an angry bear, and that's a great analogy. 4- You should by it if can. Theses are super rare here in Canada and owners are holding on to them. Every buddy of mine who has ridden it wants to buy it from me. But i am never going to sell it as long as i can still ride. 5-I agree that a lot of great bikes are simply more than the sum of their parts. You just have to be open to trying something different.
Spite, fella. This video hit the nail on the head with the accuracy of a lazer sighted hammer! You have just reached a gen x level of thought. Don't buy stuff to impress others, only buy stuff that impresses YOU! Who gives a stuff what others say you should be buying. That's why after years of riding 100bhp+ sports bikes and big bore adv bikes, the bike I settled on for my "forever bike" is a 50 odd horsepower Triumph Street Twin and I absolutely love it! Who gives a damn what others think. Also massive congratulations on the success of the channel and now I am giving the MT01 a look as a second bike. Just because I like it.
I think that the motorcycle companies tend to play it safe because nobody wants to put out "the next Edsel". With how competitive the market is (almost to the point of being cutthroat) it almost feels like each brand is one model away from ruin.
The problem to me right now, is that any new cool stuff is gonna cost an arm and a leg, being relegated to riders that have too much money. No one does cool stuff for normal folks.
The problem started around the end of the 80's when in house financing started in the motorcycle dealerships..I bought a bn 1985 Honda CR500 in cash for $2500 with my just above min wage summer job savings..by 92 a 250 MXer was around 4400 plus plus plus and they blamed it on the yen/ dollar relationship..but it was the financing and folks willing to throw their $$ away..now a new KTM 450 in Ontario Canada is 13000 plus,plus,plus..for a friggin dirt bike.What kid is buying that without signing a deal with the devil?..none
Havin fun ridin from mile one was top of the sheet for the MT01. The main fella overseeing the creation process of the bike stated just that. He wanted a bike that’s fun to ride right from the moment you pull it from your garage. All your R1s and R6s and the likes are great craic once yer after reachin lovely twistin country roads. But horsin along Tokyo traffic for an hour before you reach these roads can be a pain. Not so with the MT01. It‘s perfect craic just thumpin along traffic, hoppin from signal light to signal light with just a few pounding beats of that monstrosity of an anachronistic air cooled lazy lump of metal just throwin shiteloads of newton meters of torque at ya. Great yoke. Love mine to bits.
I really enjoy your content because you aren't a slave to speed and appreciate the entire two wheel experience. Thanks for getting it end sharing it with us.
I think this phenomenon is more widespread than just motorcycles or vehicles. It has become more and more common to run your life like a business in all aspects of it, effectively choking out passion and wonder.
3:14 We're in a similar scenario in the tech industry right now. Over the past 15 years or so, total socket TDP, core count and clock speed have been the ultimate marketing points for all the big maufacturers, emphasizing how many gigashits per terafart something can do, and for a time, that's what was considered progress. Now that we're finally approaching the point of diminishing returns, slowly but surely the market could flip on its head and start stressing objective qualities like power efficiency, higher workload capability per core, more throughput per clock, etc. The Motorcycle industry started to see this back in the late 00's just prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, where chassis tech was nearly at its peak, and engine power production following closely behind it. Just something interesting to think about.
Speaking on the side of this. I recently rode my buddy's CB1300SF SP in Japan and I wished it was sold in the US. There are certain things that spec sheets are overlooking the entire experience. Yeah sure despite it being a 1300cc 4-cyl it only makes around 105hp but it has over 80lb-ft of torque. And the engine revs low at around 8200rpm. Despite the underwhelming specs that most American riders would see the experience of having a truck of a bike engine lugging at 4th gear that can still overtake a moving truck at over 100kph. I miss the UJM style bikes like this in its class like the XJR1300, ZRX1200, and the GSX1400 these Muscle UJM's as the press calls them.
I'm buying a bike. Horsepower isn't even really on the radar(as long as it's over 50 I need highway sppeds) unless I'm looking for a sport bike. When it comes to anything else it's comfort, sound, vibrations, features, and smell. Ah smell. People are like what? sometimes I like the smell of gas. Having your bike decated brings me back. Like on my scrambler it was two prim and proper until I decated it. The sound, the vibrations a little different and now it has a little bit of a smell. That little hole in the ozone is mine and I love it. The bike has a little bit of character now.
Power per dollar is something but I like to think the power to weight ratio is more important. Doesn't matter if your cruiser makes 110hp when it weighs 900lbs.
you don't get it,,, I've had the fastest 2t's when young, pwned the fastest production bike of the time ZZR1100. Now only ride cruisers, yes I'm an old bugger. BHP is fine for going stupid. When I bought the ZZR I was actually riding a Yamaha FJ1200. Was the Zed faster? heck yes, did it handle and brake better? YES. Was it really usable at 'real world speeds'? NO! The Zed was like an old 2T, it 'cammed in' at 6000rpm, and then took off like a missile. Top gear? That 'power' came in at 100mph. The FJ? down on power, but shedloads of torque, that bike would pull literally from tickover in top gear. Overtake on the Zed? had to drop a gear, the FJ? Just wind on the throttle. THAT's what the MT-01 was about, roll on power, not 200mph+
I was ticked when the Tuning Forks didn’t bring that bike to the US. I loved my Star Warrior, but wanted several more inches in height for lean angle, an extra gear, and just a little more rev range. The next bike was an FZ-09, which I also miss, but I’d have been all over the MT-01, and still might never have given it up.
The last time I had my Triumph Bobber serviced, they gave me a Suzuki Boulevard as a loaner. It was an absolute sh1tshow of a motorcycle. It's hard to imagine they sold that dumpster fire here in the USA but they missed the MT-01. The people at the top making these decisions are clearly not motorcycle riders. Great video, thanks!
The MT-01 is one of the best bikes I've ever owned, never should have sold it. Even in Canada I think they sold under 300 of these in 6 or 7 years. One dealer told me that back in the day the only way they could sell it, was to have people try it, then it was the easiest of sales, potential customer would return with a smile and sign the papers. Every demo ride resulted in a sale. I can only imagine if Yamaha redesigned the MT-01, with proper marketing I think it could be a hit, and more so in the US, where Harleys sell at ridiculous prices for what they are.
I get your video game analogy. In gaming people obsess about graphics. When it comes to a motorcycle people obsess about horsepower. A fun video game doesn't need amazing graphics. A fun motorcycle doesn't need the maximum amount of horsepower possible.
The MT-01 is in a league of it's own. No bike can be compared with it, some however come close though... Aprillia Tuono maybe..., a Buell XB1200 maybe, Suzuki SV 1000 maybe.... or even the Morini 1200 Veloce, you know that kind of bike...and yet... the MT-01 with his filthy 1700Cc Warrior engine.... really is king of the Rock... not in Horsepower, but as the Master of Torque !
@@Pyrrho_ Really..? So within all of your wisdom you are comparing a 2005 Yamaha MT-01 with a much younger BMW R1250 from what 2018..? And yet you still are surprised that the Beamer comes with more torque from a smaller engine? I have a surprise for you; this is called progress in time... And yet you still do not seem to understand the real issue here... but that's OK. By all means stick to a BMW and ride happy and leave the Yamaha MT-01 to those who actually can appreciate the magic this bike brings. Next time, be a hero and compare bikes from at least the same era, it makes your contribution to this discussion a lot more relevant and maybe even valuable.
@@Pyrrho_ actually WRONG, the MT-01 was/is 110ft lbs. I have had Beemer GS100RG from new, three Moto Guzzi's. Various cruisers and put 80k on an MT-01. Your post actually reflects exactly what went wrong when the 01 was released. Sport bike testers got on it and slated the hell out of it, runs out of revs yada yada. They rode it like a 4 pot. Just to put it into perspective for you, redline on an 01, 5,5k, on your Beemer? 7500, short stroke vs long stroke (4.5inches from memory). Max torque literally at 2750rpm. It was designed to torque surf, not rev the nuts off it. I currently own both a HD and a Guzzi, so yep I love my lumpy 'ole V twins. BMW's were fantastic bikes, but like the new Triumphs, the modern boxer has become so over technicalised, it doesn't resemble the riding experience of my old R100 boxer. Go back to 2005 when the 01 was released, and read up the torque on the then current GS/boxers.
I swear, this bike is so underrated, it's a crime! I used to be one of those "spec sheet warriors" while the MT-01 came out and this bike didn't make sense. It was only a couple of years after it got discontinued that I got a chance to see one and finally get to ride it... That's when the MT-01 seemed like a revelation. If you ever get a chance, ride one! Even if it's not your kind of bike, I can guarantee that it won't disappoint! There's just something about that enormous engine crammed into a bike that seems to be made for a much smaller one. Think of it like a cross between a Buell and Triumph Rocket
What gets my giblets going on a new bike? Lightweight, reliable, cheap enough to not be stressed, cheap insurance, fast enough to escape cage monkeys 🙈 , something I can beat up and rev out and last forever, easy diy maintenance. The two i own are Suzuki S40 and Ninja 400. Perfect bikes that fit that list.
the car industry was no different in horse power wars …porsche cut the heart out of its best product when they replaced the air cooled engine just to make more horsepower to keep up with ferrari , lamborghini etc…and people are paying more for those air cooled cars that are much newer, faster, liquid cooled , and also not nearly as fun to drive … man i love that mt-01…besides low fuel capacity and mileage, everything else about this bike hits the buttons like none others for me…
Suzuki made sport bike out of their intruder 800 back in the day, which basically is an MTO1 with 800cc and of course Suzuki build quality instead and also with me to lot earlier... VX800
Becoming a mature rider is when you realise that chasing more horsepower is dumb, and it's better to look for torque. Anything beyond ~100 horsepower is overkill, you're filling your cup with more than you can ever drink and maxing out the speed limit in the first half of your transmission, I had a 1000cc bike that could exceed every legal speed in 2nd gear, and that was with a 130 hp SV1000. When you have enough power the only performance metric worth prioritising is Torque. The MT-01 has just less than 100hp, which is perfectly fine, it still has almost double the highway speed limit as top speed, but it has such massive torque to pull your arms off with excitement. Some of my other dream bikes are the Valkyrie and Triumph Rocket which also prioritise torque rather than trying to push percentage points around 200hp like most litre bikes which all end up the same.
I love what you said about naming bikes. We need more bikes with names. The Tiger sounds like a great experience in sound and agility. The Ninja evokes great reflexes and a quietly aggressive attitude. I ride a Goldwing. Stop thinking about that one. I ride the Gen 1 naked wing. A 1000cc beauty of a bike that started a wonderful conversation between the riders and Honda who made adjustments to the bike and introduced innovations in design and comfort based on what the riders were telling them. Unfortunately, the conversation has changed. The loudest feedback that motorcycle companies are getting now is, "We want horsepower! We want speed!"
What you have conveyed to us is exactly true, and is why I ride a Triumph Scrambler XC 1200 as my daily driver. Friends were skeptical of me and said " but it only has 88 HP" LOL
*EDIT:* Thought this was gonna be purely a HP vs torque thing. Surprised it wasn't. To answer the end question, the most "giblet tingling" I get is in the 50-125mph range. If my top speed was only 150, I wouldn't care as long as it could do that 50-125 as fast as possible while still being relatively managable. I'm also lazy by nature, so I want something effortless. Effortless to maintain, effortless to ride, all of it. I want to be going 5-6/10ths and have guys playing catch up at 8/10ths. The only bike that could even come conceptually close to that is Gurney's Alligator. Too bad he didn't want to mass produce it and American riders would've been too much of a bunch of goobers to accept the unconventional design. Give me an AAR Alligator with a cross-plane parallel twin or triple 1100-1300cc engine(looking for 90-110 lb-ft of torque with about 130-150HP tops), relatively long-stroke(75mm or 80mm), but still tuned up like a sport-naked rather than being fully lazy. Add Robert Horn's virtual hub center steering and I'd be content. For style points, give it a single-sided swingarm, and replace the dual discs up front with a single, possibly vented, perimeter disc like a Buell. The only assists I want are fully customizable ABS and cruise control. It probably won't need wheelie control given the ridiculously low CG and relatively long wheelbase (around 60-64"), and I don't really want traction control screwing with me either. Anyway, I'm also gonna leave my original comment here below for continuity sake or w/e: Regardless of the vehicle, 4-6 pounds of vehicle+driver weight with full fluids per 1 horsepower is the ideal range. Once you're in that range, more power is just for bragging rights as it starts to make the vehicle less managable. To the point, if you have lower revs and more torque while within that range, (again to an extent, this time it's being able to maintain traction) you'll have a more fun experience AND the engine should last longer. Also, once you get past 10-12 pounds per horsepower, things start to feel much less impressive, and anything more than 15 pounds per horsepower is downright pedestrian. Above 8 pounds per, you really need to have similar torque to HP figures in order to compensate acceleration feel.
Very true, my bike is a 125cc so it's top speed is only 90mph (still higher than any speed limit in the country) and it's a touch over 14hp. But it's 130kg and I can use absolutely all of its power and torque every time I ride it. Id say that's far more fun than having something that can do 180mph where you only ever use 40% of what it has to give because the only places that you could do 180 on the roads are covered in speed cameras.
@@fools_opinions Horsepower per pound, not kilogram. And it's per pound of bike and rider combined. Assuming you're 70-80kg, your bike would need at least 40-50hp to meet my minimum specs, but more than about 110 would be too fast with 75-90 probably being the sweet spot. That's WITHOUT the bike changing in weight to support the new power level. Though, something I just calculated up... A 600cc supersport has the right power-to-weight ratio, but the low torque makes it not as fun. You mentioned 90mph being about as fast as you need to go, well... Put a stunt-bike sprocket on a 600cc and that'll compensate for the low torque, while usually limiting your top speed to the 120-140 range simply by having the gearing be too short. It would be a ROCKET within that range, though. Give it a bolt-on swingarm stretch in the short position and it's perfect.
I think a big reason as to why names on motorcycles went away is because companies are allowed to sit on trade marks they are no longer using. Honda owns the name Interceptor in North America. We are stuck with INT650....
I 100% understand this. A Triumph T120 has been screaming my name for a bit now. It won't win any races, and it won't mean anything to people who don't ride. It's just the idea that I can ride it to work, or I could pack up and take a cross-country trip on the same bike with no issue. It's the definition of freedom on two wheel to me.
Handling, Fun Factor and looks, HP is actually at the bottom of my list which is probably why I love my R7 so much. I do have a Ducati Monster 1200 anniversary with full exhaust and remap probably pushing 155-160hp but I usually run around in urban mod which detunes to around 100hp.🤘😎🏍🎸
Totally understood bro', which is why I never buy a new bike... and well they usually lose a significant amount of their value rolling off the floor, but the opportunity for good test rides and reviews just isn't there yet either. I have ridden plenty of big twins, among other machines, and have owned literally dozens of bikes and I can say one thing for sure, the Ol' Tingle of the Giblets is something that has always gotten old really quick for me, and subsequently the reason I don't currently own any single or twin cylinder road bikes. Now, off-road or even dual-sport is something else for the power-to-weight ratio and narrow engine profile, etc. I really prefer my V-4 or Flat-6 road machines, and when I ride alongside my V-twin buddies there is an obvious difference in a number of parameters, where they like drawing attention with the noise, etc... It never fails to surprise them when I hit the switch to open the baffles on my custom turbo Valkyrie, then I'm Suddenly Gone!
I wish manufacturers would make SP models or upgrades to their smaller displacement bikes. I would've spent a good bit extra for my Yamaha XSR700 to have an up and down quickshifter with cruise control. I wanted the XSR900 but the only one i could find was almost 7 hours away from a private seller so it was just out of reach for me.
I have a Guzzi V9, which was the perfect first (own) bike choice. Classic look, 200kg light, flat torque band, not much power, comfortable and Guzzi Character(tm). I commute on it, I do joyrides on it, I drive it in winter (when the ground isn't freezing). Which covers such a wide array of stuff that I need to go to extremes to get anything where my V9 isn't already good at. (Also, I don't like the riding position of supersports.) So all that's left are extreme acceleration beasts, overpowered dual sports, bikes with sidecars (for icy winter driving) and unicorns like the MT01. Horsepower often comes with the territory of acceleration.
Spite, Why are you having so much fun on that bike? It's a torque monster, that's why. Yamaha designed that engine at a time when Harley stopped making the Evo. engine which was 4 1/4" stroke and started building the twin-cam engine that was de-stroked to 4" (for more rpm's). Yamaha came out with the 1602cc Road Star engine with nearly 4 1/2" stroke, metric size conversion was exactly 4.448 thousand's, or .052 short of 4 1/2" stroke. At 60 mph. my '01 Roadster (which I bought new and still own) turns 2,250 rpms. It's a low stressed engine, from the factory it's redlined at 4,250 rpms. It's not balanced, if so not much, solid mounted engine..but here's a big issue..the crankshaft weighs 45 lbs. So, it runs pretty smooth for a long stroke engine. That engine pulls like a John Deer tractor. AND it's the best sounding Japanese V-twin. Why? Honda and Suzuki have a 90 degree firing order Kawasaki? I don't know? Yamaha firing order is 48 degrees vs Harley 45 degrees. If you can't buy the blue bike you are testing.. find, borrow or buy an early carburetor Yamaha Road Star..just for grins. They are great road bike and will run 100K+ miles easy.
There is some truth to that..the biggest issue i have seen is a lot dealership sales people have no clue about anything in the show room. . Can't answer basic questions but try everything in the book to sell it to you
The fact that it was sold in Canada, but not in the States is probably related to the USA being too big a market. In Canada I imagine the number of MT-01s imported could be counted in the dozens, rather than the hundreds that would've been necessary for the US. Dozens of unsold bikes is a lower risk than hundreds.
I'm old and enjoy riding slow, taking in the landscape. I very seldom exceed 60-65 mph. HP is absolutely a non issue for me, but I like to have descent torque and a fairly light weight bike with low seat height since I am short with an injured leg. I am totally fine with my 800 cc/50 hp bike, it takes me wherever I want to go at speeds I enjoy. If someone else want to splutter down the highway in second gear on a Kawasaki Z H2, more power to them, but I would hate the experience, even if it has more than four times the hp of my current bike...
Just back to biking and a want more. More bikes-more power-but mostly more days just enjoying being out on a bike. I am always dreaming of 5 different new bikes, but learning to just enjoy and be in the moment is important. So, I think I get whatcha talking bout.
As a pc gamer I disagree, I do care about fps but also specs and battery life etc. Will I have enough space? Will I have enough ram? Will the cpu overheat in 10 minutes after giving amazing fps but then dropping to a quarter of that due to heat throttling?
Spite ur demo policy point is 100% facts. My harley dealer took me on a predetermined loop while the royal enfield dealer let me and my buddy take 2 bikes and go where we wanted as long as we wanted. Needless to say we both own scram 411s and not a Pan-America.
Everyone rides for different reasons and in different ways, and appreciates things differently. Torque to weight ratio is what impresses me. I speed and enjoy street racing so I want HP as well. I'm a nerd so I want all the farkles and tech like variable valve timing, 6-axis IMUs, navigation on the TFT that pairs with my phone to log my rides, etc... whereas air cooling and pushrods are things I avoid. I admire efficiency and modernity over "classic". Calling me names because I don't appreciate what you think I should is what's dumb.
Another great video, this was a nice surprise on my lunch break. I completely agree, people should do all the comprehensive research they can before making a decision and not be drawn into the newest, shiny thing! Yes, motorcycle manufacturers need to come up with proper, engaging names, to excite potential customers and not confuse them with a myriad of numerical titles.
Great video Spite. Love the rant. 100% agree that judging a motorcycle by weight and HP is the wrong approach. And damn you, you have me looking at Moto Guzzis!
Spite, I need a video on Dualsports. I'd go KLX300 but I saw your SM video disappointed in the SM variant.... so what's the "This is my ONE and done Dualsport" that's not $10k+ used? DRZ400? WR450F?
Speaking of layers like an onion and bikes with cool names, one of the main reasons why I bought my Yamaha Virago was because what the name means - a female warrior. Makes sense when you see the voluptuous curves wrapped around the warrior heart (torque filled V twin). When you mentioned layers of an onion my mind immediately went to to the Shrek films and how Fiona is more than meets the eye of being able to hold her own while looking like a princess! xD hahaha Thanks to owning a Virago then thinking of getting a Suzuki SV650 for my first full license motorcycle, I looked into what Yamaha had to offer and while there wasn't anything interesting in their parallel twin models aside from the sound - there was the gem your riding and I immediately fell in love! It contains exactly what I'm searching for in motorcycles and riding, aiming to get one for my forever garage collection to go along side my current "scrambler" Corolla hatchback build.
I have my MT01 next year , exactly April 2025 for 20 years, only 22000 kms. best experience, also compared to my Honda VFR 1200, which is amazing swell. Best is the torque and indeed I love your TH-cam movie explaining how special and different this amazing bike is. I will never sell the bike, keep it until my last moment. Cheers Robbert
I look for a bike that feels light, has a flat seat, retro style, tubeless tires with radials available, and something that hopefully has an under 32 inch seat height. I would argue that weird cult bikes from the big 4 still are being made like the last of its kind CB650R, the Honda Rally CRF, Kawi W800. Also bikes like the Kawi 650 and 900 engines are about providing a balanced experience that is what some people seek. I know they certainly arent powerful enough nor raucous enough for you nor the the spec sheet warriors. It is also helpful to apply the context of v-twin naked bikes from the big 4 selling in Europe. Honda Hawk NT650, Suzuki VX800, Yamaha Bulldog all did their thing so Yamaha saw a business case there. As you said Spite, we dont get bikes like this because we dont buy the normal stuff.
I do think spec sheet worriers are doing it wrong but i don't think they are that big of a group amongst us motorcycle riders, and most of them come around when buying their second bike especially after they have driven some other bikes. if we only looked at horsepower and weight retro motorcycles like the Triumph Bonneville and the Royal Enfields would never have become a thing (Maybe the Z900RS would be the exception), looks and feels are a importuned part of a motorcycle for many of us, having something that you want to drive not because it drives well but because it has something special that's what many of us look for tho i do think it's something experience drivers appreciate more.
I came to motorcycles as a lifelong car enthusiast who hates the direction the automotive industry is going. They were all about horsepower and acceleration too, and then they got rid of everything exciting about cars in pursuit of that (also environmental regulations, but that's a different topic). It makes you seem childish and uninformed when your just using metrics such as HP and 0-60 as a basis for your motor vehicle purchasing decisions. I still haven't purchased my first motorcycle (it's December and I'm in Canada 🙄). But i am looking at purchasing a Kawasaki W800 as my first bike next year. Not because it has the most horsepower, the most acceleration or it's the lightest weight. But because it has a bevel drive for the cam, a 360° crank that sounds fantastic when revved, and because of the overall fit and finish. Horsepower and speed are way down my list of considerations. Bottom line, just be thankful you can still purchase motorcycles like this new. If you want a manual, air cooled car with mechanical simplicity and an engaging sound and driving experience, you're looking at vehicles that are over 40 years old..
Biggest issue with MT01 is tank size. I would get less than 100miles per tank with mine (on a good day!) And even though they haven't been sold here since 2012, and some low mileage bikes are on the market for more than they cost new.
Having ridden to death a number of small capacity bikes I will say that it's important for me. The more horsepower, the less abuse on the engine, and a longer useful life for the bikes engine. An MT07 nor a MT03 isn't going to last as many k's driven at the same speeds as an mt09 or a mt10.
In the case of the MT 01, I'd wager the biggest reason they didn't sell them here is because most of the target market would have rejected it based entirely off of a picture of it, before a single number was read. It was that big v twin. sport bike and naked riders would see the v twin and reject it because "it must be slow" and then the guys who ride big v twins would reject it because "hur dur, "
I will never understand why Harley's cost so much money i have never had a twin i liked and most HDs are twins and apparently they were designed to be a water pump
All my experience riding and wrenching has been with my dad's 1990 electra glide so I just want a comfortable, reliable bike that's easy to work on, has a ton of torque and a gas gauge.
Man so many dealerships now don't let you do free form test rides, or even test rides at all. At best you get a small circuit ridden in a group at the speed limit with only moderate acceleration on a pre scheduled demo day. I did a test ride on a KTM 1390 Super Adventure R and hated it. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if I was able to get on it at all, but nope. So you don't get a chance to actually try bikes. You get a spec sheet and a price, and buy that way.
I'll have to respectfully disagree with much of what is being said here. For instance, consider certain bikes that were a lot more popular some years ago, which were the inline-4, 600(ish)cc naked bikes. Some of them made pretty crazy power for the displacement and purpose such as the Honda CB600F and the Yamaha FZ6, around 100hp. Such bikes seem to all have been replaced by bikes which make less hp, have fewer cylinders, but offer a more usable torque curve (Hornet 750, GSX8S, MT-07). I believe a prototypical "spreadsheet warrior" would favor an inline-4 600cc with 100hp over an 80hp twin.
I ounno, to me feels a little like copium. Like you're on a bike, so odds of you having a bad time is pretty low. Be it a 125 or a 1250. I went from an MT-03 to an FZ1, and am arguably having the same amount of fun. So if that's the case why not get the bigger bike? What are you getting out of the MT-01 that you wouldn't out of a XSR900 fresh off the showroom floor?
I've had one from new. great motorcycle. Early on I heard that the MT-01 was not sold in the USA because there was a patent problem, something to do with the design of the rear suspension.
Once again Spite, you have nailed it. First off, bang per buck. Best fun I’ve ever had on a motorcycle was a 1970s Montessa 247 trials bike with about half a horsepower in it and I could ride the thing up cliffs, fell off a lot, but can you have more fun with your clothes on? it cost me £50 (UK), which at that time was the equivalent of about $100. Second numbers versus names. Honda hornet, Ducati Monster, Triumph Street Triple (my own bike, and for me far more rideable than its big brother admittedly because I’m 5 foot 10 and lightly built). but my point is, it’s far easier for a name to become evocative than a number, I hate to come across like some pre-Raphaelite poet, but there’s more romance in a name, and you can’t tell me that motorcycling isn’t romantic.
The Suzuki VX 800 was a V twin with shaft drive. IT did not sell here in the states. I do not know why. But I LOVED that Bike. I just could not afford one at the time it was out. Was it a good Bike ? I wonder. I guess I will never know.
Back in the day when home computers where in their infancy people were blindly buying the latest PC. There was a much better product on the market that was so ignored the company went out of business and they shouldn't have. It was a successor to the Commodore 64, the Amiga. It wasn't the greatest when it came to work type stuff such as word processors, spread sheets etc. But it was absolutely the best when it came to graphics, audio gaming and what a home user should have looked for. The owner of an Amiga shop once told me "Americans are great consumers but terrible shoppers." Enough said. I see you got the Moto Guzzi thing! Addicting, you will have another before you know it. I have two in the garage. I had an Audace but my old body couldn't handle it at slow speeds any more so I replaced it with a Bonneville as MG didn't a middle weight naked. But they just came out with the V100 Mandello so it now sits in the garage with my V7lll when it's not out on the road. They both have their separate duties so it is not a tough decision as to which I will ride.
Spot on Spite 💯 love my 74hp XSR700, 90hp CB1100RS and 145hp Vmax Gen1, all fun bikes in their own way, stopped chasing headline numbers after I sold my Rocket 3R 😎
Hey man. great video as always. I have a 2014 Honda Transalp 700, and if I were to look at the specsheet alone, maybe I wouldn't have bought it. It is a pretty heavy bike and has 60 hp. Right. BUT, I have crossed three countries, deserts, mountain ranges, jungles and all sorts of places and terrains on my girl, and it's the most fun bike I've ever had. And oh boy, does she have the power and the capabilities to do so! Also, I travel heavy - and I mean heavy. Me, plus my bike and luggage, clock easily at 850 lbs (I have actually weighted that)! To clarify, I do a lot of moto camping. And on the highway, I can overtake cars and trucks easily like you wouldn't believe. As Brian jhonson would say, "She's a fast machine".
my bike needs 3 things to tickle my giblets. in no order pretty....I have to like to look at it comfortable... I need to be able to run that tank from full to empty without a "butt and back" break power... im not concerned with the number but it needs to get me onto a highway without any drama. and to suddenly jump up to 100 to get around or away from anything in my way I personally have no desire to run around in triple digits as my regular speed
The 01 has nothing to do with the VTR. Concept, engine, market target.... The 01 is like a cruiser where you can be a little more aggressive, but being aware everytime of it's limitations like weight and high CoG, It' a gentle giant, far from the VMax madness.
I think it feels that way but in reality it really isn't, here in Australia anyway. Horsepower numbers used to sell magazines, now get clicks & always get people into the showrooms, but most of them don't ride out on the fastest thing on 2 wheels. Maybe back in the 70's they did, and there were certainly some periods in the 80's that saw spikes. Particularly around halo bikes like the Katana, GSXR-750 & Kawasaki GPZ900R. But overall motorcycle sales were as diverse as the bikes on sale. Even moreso today. I might occasionally see a high horsepower bike, but Duke 390's are everywhere. And I've gone weeks without seeing a bike on the road with more power than my Ninja 650. Maybe Australians are more sensible than our American brethren, but if we are seduced into the showroom by the halo bike we tend to ride out on something less ostentatious.
I have to agree with what you're trying to say. To me, the HP wars have ruined motorcycles. It seems like tech packages have replaced bikes that just make you want to get on them and ride. I salute Moto-Guzzi and Royal Enfield. My list of great bikes that were sales failures, by brand. Yamaha: MT-01, XV920R, 1000GTS. All Buells. Missing from this list: Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, Triumph and Harley. They all make good bikes but, for me, only Yamaha and Buell made great Motorcycles. I traded my Harley for a Triumph.
To quote Mr Regular Car Reviews (Hayabusa video) "The [North American] Bro is conditioned from the juvenile stage to reach for 'the better' when it presents itself to the contrasting 'the lesser'".
Man, he was firing with that review. Not just for the call outs about people who buy a hayabusa just for the power, but also to exonerate the bike from the owner and to explain that it really is a good bike, despite the most vocal owners only wielding its power and top speed like a crowbar to the knees of every other bike. His line at the end - "The bike doesn't care. It just asks 'The road's calling....what are we gonna do about it?' " was perfect.
Giblets: 1. Keep the Int650 2. Aquire a camping bike I can burn up hwy getting to the camp dite. 3. Grab a Cub or other small CC for grocery shopping and urban hopping. Economics says, "Keep dreaming". 😊😂❤
It's interesting how the ZX4RR is clearly a niche passion project of a bike intended for fun, but all the comments just ask how fast it is and tell others to get a 600 instead lol
I have no reason to own a motorcycle that goes 186 mph. These days an MT-03 will suit me well. Very comfortable seat, gets great MPG and will run with traffic on highways if that's you thing.
Man you are so right on the point of, get out and ride instead of being a spec sheet warrior. Like my KTM 1290 SA-R, yeah it’s heavy, but even on the trails it feels surprisingly light and the excess power, well it sure is fun.
I'm the opposite, I don't want faster or more power, not interested in racing, just casual sight seeing and riding at or around the speed limit. Reviews are almost useless to me as most are about the specs and how many HPs I won't be using. I'm perfectly happy on a Royal Enfield with extra money in my pocket
Hi spite the real problem with bike reviews is nobody reviews bikes as they find them. All you get is how the bike should be and not what your paying for🇬🇧👍🏿
Huge shout out to Quad Lock for supporting the channel! Check out everything they have to offer! bit.ly/3LBxJ0p
Ah man, the MT-01 brings back the nostalgia rush of the old Buell V-twin bikes. Horsepower is really cool, and before I bought my first high-horsepower bike, I was obsessed with it. I got my KTM 1290 SDR, and I love it. But then something unexpected happened: I found myself gravitating back towards my old Harley EVO80 Softail.
And I learned an important lesson: sometimes, riding a slow bike, rowing through the gears, feeling the mechanical aspect of the motor...it's worth something more than the sum of its parts. Secondly, I learned that top speed means almost nothing to me. Yeah, it's cool to have a bike that will do 180mph, but to me, _torque_ is where it's at. For the average rider, torque, rather than top speed, is what makes a bike fun. We're not usually screaming along at 150mph in 6th gear. It just makes so much more sense to have immediate gobs of torque, that let you have a ton of fun while staying (reasonably) close to the speed limit, while still having enough stones for the occasional midnight rip on the interstate.
After doing PM service on M8 powered tourers for close to a year and a half and test riding after each PM . . . I grew VERY fond of their lazy nature.
The simple joy of going thru the gears and riding the TQ wave made me forget l was manhandling a 900# EG Ultra Classic.
If it’s about torque Mrs Orange must not have deceived you ✌️
Replace that 80" engine with a 120" like I did in my '91 FXR, and you'll be singing a different tune
Similar over here brother, I love my SDR but would swap it tomorrow for a Triumph Rocket III R
@@ninja12lawbreaker That's next on the list for me for sure!
As a proud Canadian owner of an MT-01 since 2008 , i have a few things to add:
1- I just subscribed . I really like what you are doing here.
2- This bike came out in a time period when you had your sportsbikes, cruisers and dirtbikes. People cold not understand what this was. It was ahead of it's time, a premium naked bike before the revival of the naked bike category.
3- I think this is one of the most rewarding bikes to ride at "real world" speeds. The sound, the torque, the rumble, the confort, the way it handles. It's a unique experience. An early reviewer described it as the equivalent of riding an angry bear, and that's a great analogy.
4- You should by it if can. Theses are super rare here in Canada and owners are holding on to them. Every buddy of mine who has ridden it wants to buy it from me. But i am never going to sell it as long as i can still ride.
5-I agree that a lot of great bikes are simply more than the sum of their parts. You just have to be open to trying something different.
it's like the Ducati Monster of Yamaha... yet more reliable 😊
A lot more than a Monster...in weight and torque....@@papercut1987
Well said, concur.
Harambe proved that we can't have nice things.
🪦 R.I.P. big guy😢
Raise your dongers!
Dicks still out for Harambe.
Couldn’t even chill in his own damn enclosure
Spite, fella. This video hit the nail on the head with the accuracy of a lazer sighted hammer! You have just reached a gen x level of thought. Don't buy stuff to impress others, only buy stuff that impresses YOU! Who gives a stuff what others say you should be buying. That's why after years of riding 100bhp+ sports bikes and big bore adv bikes, the bike I settled on for my "forever bike" is a 50 odd horsepower Triumph Street Twin and I absolutely love it! Who gives a damn what others think. Also massive congratulations on the success of the channel and now I am giving the MT01 a look as a second bike. Just because I like it.
I think that the motorcycle companies tend to play it safe because nobody wants to put out "the next Edsel". With how competitive the market is (almost to the point of being cutthroat) it almost feels like each brand is one model away from ruin.
This motorcycle is straight up LUST for me... wanted it back in the day, still want it now.
The problem to me right now, is that any new cool stuff is gonna cost an arm and a leg, being relegated to riders that have too much money. No one does cool stuff for normal folks.
The problem started around the end of the 80's when in house financing started in the motorcycle dealerships..I bought a bn 1985 Honda CR500 in cash for $2500 with my just above min wage summer job savings..by 92 a 250 MXer was around 4400 plus plus plus and they blamed it on the yen/ dollar relationship..but it was the financing and folks willing to throw their $$ away..now a new KTM 450 in Ontario Canada is 13000 plus,plus,plus..for a friggin dirt bike.What kid is buying that without signing a deal with the devil?..none
Havin fun ridin from mile one was top of the sheet for the MT01. The main fella overseeing the creation process of the bike stated just that. He wanted a bike that’s fun to ride right from the moment you pull it from your garage.
All your R1s and R6s and the likes are great craic once yer after reachin lovely twistin country roads.
But horsin along Tokyo traffic for an hour before you reach these roads can be a pain.
Not so with the MT01. It‘s perfect craic just thumpin along traffic, hoppin from signal light to signal light with just a few pounding beats of that monstrosity of an anachronistic air cooled lazy lump of metal just throwin shiteloads of newton meters of torque at ya.
Great yoke. Love mine to bits.
I really enjoy your content because you aren't a slave to speed and appreciate the entire two wheel experience. Thanks for getting it end sharing it with us.
I think this phenomenon is more widespread than just motorcycles or vehicles. It has become more and more common to run your life like a business in all aspects of it, effectively choking out passion and wonder.
3:14 We're in a similar scenario in the tech industry right now. Over the past 15 years or so, total socket TDP, core count and clock speed have been the ultimate marketing points for all the big maufacturers, emphasizing how many gigashits per terafart something can do, and for a time, that's what was considered progress. Now that we're finally approaching the point of diminishing returns, slowly but surely the market could flip on its head and start stressing objective qualities like power efficiency, higher workload capability per core, more throughput per clock, etc.
The Motorcycle industry started to see this back in the late 00's just prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, where chassis tech was nearly at its peak, and engine power production following closely behind it.
Just something interesting to think about.
"Gigashits per terafart"
dammit I have to clean my keyboard....
Speaking on the side of this. I recently rode my buddy's CB1300SF SP in Japan and I wished it was sold in the US. There are certain things that spec sheets are overlooking the entire experience. Yeah sure despite it being a 1300cc 4-cyl it only makes around 105hp but it has over 80lb-ft of torque. And the engine revs low at around 8200rpm. Despite the underwhelming specs that most American riders would see the experience of having a truck of a bike engine lugging at 4th gear that can still overtake a moving truck at over 100kph. I miss the UJM style bikes like this in its class like the XJR1300, ZRX1200, and the GSX1400 these Muscle UJM's as the press calls them.
I agree, specs dont make the ride fun, and they dont really tell you much about how the ride will be. Excellent video!
If only dealers were more willing to give test rides. Especially the Japanese dealers.
I'm buying a bike. Horsepower isn't even really on the radar(as long as it's over 50 I need highway sppeds) unless I'm looking for a sport bike. When it comes to anything else it's comfort, sound, vibrations, features, and smell. Ah smell. People are like what? sometimes I like the smell of gas. Having your bike decated brings me back. Like on my scrambler it was two prim and proper until I decated it. The sound, the vibrations a little different and now it has a little bit of a smell. That little hole in the ozone is mine and I love it. The bike has a little bit of character now.
Ironically the main issue is that most people spends more time watching videos about X or Y motorcycles that go a test them
Power per dollar is something but I like to think the power to weight ratio is more important. Doesn't matter if your cruiser makes 110hp when it weighs 900lbs.
you're literally the exact kind of person spite is talking about in this video...
you don't get it,,, I've had the fastest 2t's when young, pwned the fastest production bike of the time ZZR1100. Now only ride cruisers, yes I'm an old bugger. BHP is fine for going stupid. When I bought the ZZR I was actually riding a Yamaha FJ1200. Was the Zed faster? heck yes, did it handle and brake better? YES. Was it really usable at 'real world speeds'? NO! The Zed was like an old 2T, it 'cammed in' at 6000rpm, and then took off like a missile. Top gear? That 'power' came in at 100mph. The FJ? down on power, but shedloads of torque, that bike would pull literally from tickover in top gear. Overtake on the Zed? had to drop a gear, the FJ? Just wind on the throttle. THAT's what the MT-01 was about, roll on power, not 200mph+
I was ticked when the Tuning Forks didn’t bring that bike to the US. I loved my Star Warrior, but wanted several more inches in height for lean angle, an extra gear, and just a little more rev range. The next bike was an FZ-09, which I also miss, but I’d have been all over the MT-01, and still might never have given it up.
The last time I had my Triumph Bobber serviced, they gave me a Suzuki Boulevard as a loaner. It was an absolute sh1tshow of a motorcycle. It's hard to imagine they sold that dumpster fire here in the USA but they missed the MT-01. The people at the top making these decisions are clearly not motorcycle riders. Great video, thanks!
Big air-cooled V twin in a spirited looking chassis? Yamaha may have been emulating Buell at that time.
Definately inspired by Buell which was making similar bikes since the 90s. Difference is Buells were much lighter with smaller cc.
@@fredriksalmen5159 Yes Buell bikes actually were nimble and flickable and had ok power
@@TheOverisel I have a X1, love to ride that bike, amazingly fun! Had a bad engine failure in 2022 though, slowly rebuilding it.
Another problem is these motorcycle companies fill thier board of directors with people that dont actually ride motorcycles. Thats a problem imo.
The MT-01 is one of the best bikes I've ever owned, never should have sold it. Even in Canada I think they sold under 300 of these in 6 or 7 years. One dealer told me that back in the day the only way they could sell it, was to have people try it, then it was the easiest of sales, potential customer would return with a smile and sign the papers. Every demo ride resulted in a sale. I can only imagine if Yamaha redesigned the MT-01, with proper marketing I think it could be a hit, and more so in the US, where Harleys sell at ridiculous prices for what they are.
I get your video game analogy. In gaming people obsess about graphics. When it comes to a motorcycle people obsess about horsepower. A fun video game doesn't need amazing graphics. A fun motorcycle doesn't need the maximum amount of horsepower possible.
The MT-01 is in a league of it's own. No bike can be compared with it, some however come close though... Aprillia Tuono maybe..., a Buell XB1200 maybe, Suzuki SV 1000 maybe.... or even the Morini 1200 Veloce, you know that kind of bike...and yet... the MT-01 with his filthy 1700Cc Warrior engine.... really is king of the Rock... not in Horsepower, but as the Master of Torque !
Master? Lower torque than a BMW R1250 yet with 33% more displacement. Maybe master of inefficency?
@@Pyrrho_ Really..? So within all of your wisdom you are comparing a 2005 Yamaha MT-01 with a much younger BMW R1250 from what 2018..? And yet you still are surprised that the Beamer comes with more torque from a smaller engine? I have a surprise for you; this is called progress in time... And yet you still do not seem to understand the real issue here... but that's OK. By all means stick to a BMW and ride happy and leave the Yamaha MT-01 to those who actually can appreciate the magic this bike brings. Next time, be a hero and compare bikes from at least the same era, it makes your contribution to this discussion a lot more relevant and maybe even valuable.
@@Pyrrho_ actually WRONG, the MT-01 was/is 110ft lbs. I have had Beemer GS100RG from new, three Moto Guzzi's. Various cruisers and put 80k on an MT-01. Your post actually reflects exactly what went wrong when the 01 was released. Sport bike testers got on it and slated the hell out of it, runs out of revs yada yada. They rode it like a 4 pot. Just to put it into perspective for you, redline on an 01, 5,5k, on your Beemer? 7500, short stroke vs long stroke (4.5inches from memory). Max torque literally at 2750rpm. It was designed to torque surf, not rev the nuts off it. I currently own both a HD and a Guzzi, so yep I love my lumpy 'ole V twins. BMW's were fantastic bikes, but like the new Triumphs, the modern boxer has become so over technicalised, it doesn't resemble the riding experience of my old R100 boxer. Go back to 2005 when the 01 was released, and read up the torque on the then current GS/boxers.
All Yamaha had to do was run a marketing campaign that said "like a Sportster, but for men."
I have been watching your channel grow and improve for a while and this is my favorite video of yours so far. You are on the money for sure.
I swear, this bike is so underrated, it's a crime!
I used to be one of those "spec sheet warriors" while the MT-01 came out and this bike didn't make sense. It was only a couple of years after it got discontinued that I got a chance to see one and finally get to ride it... That's when the MT-01 seemed like a revelation.
If you ever get a chance, ride one! Even if it's not your kind of bike, I can guarantee that it won't disappoint! There's just something about that enormous engine crammed into a bike that seems to be made for a much smaller one.
Think of it like a cross between a Buell and Triumph Rocket
The last thing I am going to worry about on a motorcycle is the tech package. Call me old skool.
What gets my giblets going on a new bike? Lightweight, reliable, cheap enough to not be stressed, cheap insurance, fast enough to escape cage monkeys 🙈 , something I can beat up and rev out and last forever, easy diy maintenance. The two i own are Suzuki S40 and Ninja 400. Perfect bikes that fit that list.
the car industry was no different in horse power wars …porsche cut the heart out of its best product when they replaced the air cooled engine just to make more horsepower
to keep up with ferrari , lamborghini etc…and people are paying more for those air cooled cars that are much newer, faster, liquid cooled , and also not nearly as fun to drive …
man i love that mt-01…besides low fuel capacity and mileage, everything else about this bike hits the buttons like none others for me…
Suzuki made sport bike out of their intruder 800 back in the day, which basically is an MTO1 with 800cc and of course Suzuki build quality instead and also with me to lot earlier... VX800
I loved that bike. One recently popped up on local marketplace with low miles and a guy beat me to it and bought it .
Becoming a mature rider is when you realise that chasing more horsepower is dumb, and it's better to look for torque.
Anything beyond ~100 horsepower is overkill, you're filling your cup with more than you can ever drink and maxing out the speed limit in the first half of your transmission, I had a 1000cc bike that could exceed every legal speed in 2nd gear, and that was with a 130 hp SV1000.
When you have enough power the only performance metric worth prioritising is Torque.
The MT-01 has just less than 100hp, which is perfectly fine, it still has almost double the highway speed limit as top speed, but it has such massive torque to pull your arms off with excitement.
Some of my other dream bikes are the Valkyrie and Triumph Rocket which also prioritise torque rather than trying to push percentage points around 200hp like most litre bikes which all end up the same.
I love what you said about naming bikes. We need more bikes with names. The Tiger sounds like a great experience in sound and agility. The Ninja evokes great reflexes and a quietly aggressive attitude.
I ride a Goldwing. Stop thinking about that one. I ride the Gen 1 naked wing. A 1000cc beauty of a bike that started a wonderful conversation between the riders and Honda who made adjustments to the bike and introduced innovations in design and comfort based on what the riders were telling them.
Unfortunately, the conversation has changed. The loudest feedback that motorcycle companies are getting now is, "We want horsepower! We want speed!"
What you have conveyed to us is exactly true, and is why I ride a Triumph Scrambler XC 1200 as my daily driver. Friends were skeptical of me and said " but it only has 88 HP" LOL
*EDIT:* Thought this was gonna be purely a HP vs torque thing. Surprised it wasn't. To answer the end question, the most "giblet tingling" I get is in the 50-125mph range. If my top speed was only 150, I wouldn't care as long as it could do that 50-125 as fast as possible while still being relatively managable. I'm also lazy by nature, so I want something effortless. Effortless to maintain, effortless to ride, all of it.
I want to be going 5-6/10ths and have guys playing catch up at 8/10ths. The only bike that could even come conceptually close to that is Gurney's Alligator. Too bad he didn't want to mass produce it and American riders would've been too much of a bunch of goobers to accept the unconventional design. Give me an AAR Alligator with a cross-plane parallel twin or triple 1100-1300cc engine(looking for 90-110 lb-ft of torque with about 130-150HP tops), relatively long-stroke(75mm or 80mm), but still tuned up like a sport-naked rather than being fully lazy.
Add Robert Horn's virtual hub center steering and I'd be content. For style points, give it a single-sided swingarm, and replace the dual discs up front with a single, possibly vented, perimeter disc like a Buell. The only assists I want are fully customizable ABS and cruise control. It probably won't need wheelie control given the ridiculously low CG and relatively long wheelbase (around 60-64"), and I don't really want traction control screwing with me either.
Anyway, I'm also gonna leave my original comment here below for continuity sake or w/e:
Regardless of the vehicle, 4-6 pounds of vehicle+driver weight with full fluids per 1 horsepower is the ideal range. Once you're in that range, more power is just for bragging rights as it starts to make the vehicle less managable. To the point, if you have lower revs and more torque while within that range, (again to an extent, this time it's being able to maintain traction) you'll have a more fun experience AND the engine should last longer. Also, once you get past 10-12 pounds per horsepower, things start to feel much less impressive, and anything more than 15 pounds per horsepower is downright pedestrian. Above 8 pounds per, you really need to have similar torque to HP figures in order to compensate acceleration feel.
Very true, my bike is a 125cc so it's top speed is only 90mph (still higher than any speed limit in the country) and it's a touch over 14hp. But it's 130kg and I can use absolutely all of its power and torque every time I ride it. Id say that's far more fun than having something that can do 180mph where you only ever use 40% of what it has to give because the only places that you could do 180 on the roads are covered in speed cameras.
@@fools_opinions Horsepower per pound, not kilogram. And it's per pound of bike and rider combined. Assuming you're 70-80kg, your bike would need at least 40-50hp to meet my minimum specs, but more than about 110 would be too fast with 75-90 probably being the sweet spot. That's WITHOUT the bike changing in weight to support the new power level.
Though, something I just calculated up... A 600cc supersport has the right power-to-weight ratio, but the low torque makes it not as fun. You mentioned 90mph being about as fast as you need to go, well... Put a stunt-bike sprocket on a 600cc and that'll compensate for the low torque, while usually limiting your top speed to the 120-140 range simply by having the gearing be too short. It would be a ROCKET within that range, though. Give it a bolt-on swingarm stretch in the short position and it's perfect.
I think a big reason as to why names on motorcycles went away is because companies are allowed to sit on trade marks they are no longer using. Honda owns the name Interceptor in North America. We are stuck with INT650....
As a VFR Owner, this is appropriate.
Yamaha MT01 is a very cool bike, but I still think your MG Grizo is the best.
Could this have been too close to the VMax to keep it in the lineup?
Dealerships in my area don't even offer test rides. So frustrating.
I 100% understand this. A Triumph T120 has been screaming my name for a bit now. It won't win any races, and it won't mean anything to people who don't ride. It's just the idea that I can ride it to work, or I could pack up and take a cross-country trip on the same bike with no issue. It's the definition of freedom on two wheel to me.
Handling, Fun Factor and looks, HP is actually at the bottom of my list which is probably why I love my R7 so much. I do have a Ducati Monster 1200 anniversary with full exhaust and remap probably pushing 155-160hp but I usually run around in urban mod which detunes to around 100hp.🤘😎🏍🎸
Totally understood bro', which is why I never buy a new bike... and well they usually lose a significant amount of their value rolling off the floor, but the opportunity for good test rides and reviews just isn't there yet either. I have ridden plenty of big twins, among other machines, and have owned literally dozens of bikes and I can say one thing for sure, the Ol' Tingle of the Giblets is something that has always gotten old really quick for me, and subsequently the reason I don't currently own any single or twin cylinder road bikes. Now, off-road or even dual-sport is something else for the power-to-weight ratio and narrow engine profile, etc. I really prefer my V-4 or Flat-6 road machines, and when I ride alongside my V-twin buddies there is an obvious difference in a number of parameters, where they like drawing attention with the noise, etc... It never fails to surprise them when I hit the switch to open the baffles on my custom turbo Valkyrie, then I'm Suddenly Gone!
I wish manufacturers would make SP models or upgrades to their smaller displacement bikes. I would've spent a good bit extra for my Yamaha XSR700 to have an up and down quickshifter with cruise control. I wanted the XSR900 but the only one i could find was almost 7 hours away from a private seller so it was just out of reach for me.
I have a Guzzi V9, which was the perfect first (own) bike choice. Classic look, 200kg light, flat torque band, not much power, comfortable and Guzzi Character(tm). I commute on it, I do joyrides on it, I drive it in winter (when the ground isn't freezing).
Which covers such a wide array of stuff that I need to go to extremes to get anything where my V9 isn't already good at. (Also, I don't like the riding position of supersports.)
So all that's left are extreme acceleration beasts, overpowered dual sports, bikes with sidecars (for icy winter driving) and unicorns like the MT01. Horsepower often comes with the territory of acceleration.
Spite, Why are you having so much fun on that bike? It's a torque monster, that's why. Yamaha designed that engine at a time when Harley stopped making the Evo. engine which was 4 1/4" stroke and started building the twin-cam engine that was de-stroked to 4" (for more rpm's). Yamaha came out with the 1602cc Road Star engine with nearly 4 1/2" stroke, metric size conversion was exactly 4.448 thousand's, or .052 short of 4 1/2" stroke. At 60 mph. my '01 Roadster (which I bought new and still own) turns 2,250 rpms. It's a low stressed engine, from the factory it's redlined at 4,250 rpms. It's not balanced, if so not much, solid mounted engine..but here's a big issue..the crankshaft weighs 45 lbs. So, it runs pretty smooth for a long stroke engine. That engine pulls like a John Deer tractor. AND it's the best sounding Japanese V-twin. Why? Honda and Suzuki have a 90 degree firing order Kawasaki? I don't know? Yamaha firing order is 48 degrees vs Harley 45 degrees. If you can't buy the blue bike you are testing.. find, borrow or buy an early carburetor Yamaha Road Star..just for grins. They are great road bike and will run 100K+ miles easy.
If test rides were still available it would be easier to sell bikes like that. Most people only have the Spec sheet to go by when buying.
There is some truth to that..the biggest issue i have seen is a lot dealership sales people have no clue about anything in the show room. . Can't answer basic questions but try everything in the book to sell it to you
The fact that it was sold in Canada, but not in the States is probably related to the USA being too big a market. In Canada I imagine the number of MT-01s imported could be counted in the dozens, rather than the hundreds that would've been necessary for the US. Dozens of unsold bikes is a lower risk than hundreds.
I'm old and enjoy riding slow, taking in the landscape. I very seldom exceed 60-65 mph. HP is absolutely a non issue for me, but I like to have descent torque and a fairly light weight bike with low seat height since I am short with an injured leg. I am totally fine with my 800 cc/50 hp bike, it takes me wherever I want to go at speeds I enjoy. If someone else want to splutter down the highway in second gear on a Kawasaki Z H2, more power to them, but I would hate the experience, even if it has more than four times the hp of my current bike...
Just back to biking and a want more. More bikes-more power-but mostly more days just enjoying being out on a bike. I am always dreaming of 5 different new bikes, but learning to just enjoy and be in the moment is important. So, I think I get whatcha talking bout.
As a pc gamer I disagree, I do care about fps but also specs and battery life etc. Will I have enough space? Will I have enough ram? Will the cpu overheat in 10 minutes after giving amazing fps but then dropping to a quarter of that due to heat throttling?
Spite ur demo policy point is 100% facts. My harley dealer took me on a predetermined loop while the royal enfield dealer let me and my buddy take 2 bikes and go where we wanted as long as we wanted. Needless to say we both own scram 411s and not a Pan-America.
Everyone rides for different reasons and in different ways, and appreciates things differently. Torque to weight ratio is what impresses me. I speed and enjoy street racing so I want HP as well. I'm a nerd so I want all the farkles and tech like variable valve timing, 6-axis IMUs, navigation on the TFT that pairs with my phone to log my rides, etc... whereas air cooling and pushrods are things I avoid. I admire efficiency and modernity over "classic".
Calling me names because I don't appreciate what you think I should is what's dumb.
Another great video, this was a nice surprise on my lunch break. I completely agree, people should do all the comprehensive research they can before making a decision and not be drawn into the newest, shiny thing!
Yes, motorcycle manufacturers need to come up with proper, engaging names, to excite potential customers and not confuse them with a myriad of numerical titles.
Great video Spite. Love the rant. 100% agree that judging a motorcycle by weight and HP is the wrong approach. And damn you, you have me looking at Moto Guzzis!
Spite, I need a video on Dualsports.
I'd go KLX300 but I saw your SM video disappointed in the SM variant.... so what's the "This is my ONE and done Dualsport" that's not $10k+ used?
DRZ400? WR450F?
DR 650 & Honda XR650L. Though the Honda is really tall.
Thanks, Spite.@@TheBlueDogMan
Speaking of layers like an onion and bikes with cool names, one of the main reasons why I bought my Yamaha Virago was because what the name means - a female warrior. Makes sense when you see the voluptuous curves wrapped around the warrior heart (torque filled V twin). When you mentioned layers of an onion my mind immediately went to to the Shrek films and how Fiona is more than meets the eye of being able to hold her own while looking like a princess! xD hahaha
Thanks to owning a Virago then thinking of getting a Suzuki SV650 for my first full license motorcycle, I looked into what Yamaha had to offer and while there wasn't anything interesting in their parallel twin models aside from the sound - there was the gem your riding and I immediately fell in love!
It contains exactly what I'm searching for in motorcycles and riding, aiming to get one for my forever garage collection to go along side my current "scrambler" Corolla hatchback build.
I have my MT01 next year , exactly April 2025 for 20 years, only 22000 kms. best experience, also compared to my Honda VFR 1200, which is amazing swell. Best is the torque and indeed I love your TH-cam movie explaining how special and different this amazing bike is. I will never sell the bike, keep it until my last moment. Cheers Robbert
I look for a bike that feels light, has a flat seat, retro style, tubeless tires with radials available, and something that hopefully has an under 32 inch seat height.
I would argue that weird cult bikes from the big 4 still are being made like the last of its kind CB650R, the Honda Rally CRF, Kawi W800.
Also bikes like the Kawi 650 and 900 engines are about providing a balanced experience that is what some people seek. I know they certainly arent powerful enough nor raucous enough for you nor the the spec sheet warriors.
It is also helpful to apply the context of v-twin naked bikes from the big 4 selling in Europe. Honda Hawk NT650, Suzuki VX800, Yamaha Bulldog all did their thing so Yamaha saw a business case there.
As you said Spite, we dont get bikes like this because we dont buy the normal stuff.
You don't have these in the US? We have them in Canada. We also have fully faired SV650 and 1000 by the boat load on the used market.
I do think spec sheet worriers are doing it wrong but i don't think they are that big of a group amongst us motorcycle riders, and most of them come around when buying their second bike especially after they have driven some other bikes. if we only looked at horsepower and weight retro motorcycles like the Triumph Bonneville and the Royal Enfields would never have become a thing (Maybe the Z900RS would be the exception), looks and feels are a importuned part of a motorcycle for many of us, having something that you want to drive not because it drives well but because it has something special that's what many of us look for tho i do think it's something experience drivers appreciate more.
I came to motorcycles as a lifelong car enthusiast who hates the direction the automotive industry is going. They were all about horsepower and acceleration too, and then they got rid of everything exciting about cars in pursuit of that (also environmental regulations, but that's a different topic).
It makes you seem childish and uninformed when your just using metrics such as HP and 0-60 as a basis for your motor vehicle purchasing decisions.
I still haven't purchased my first motorcycle (it's December and I'm in Canada 🙄). But i am looking at purchasing a Kawasaki W800 as my first bike next year. Not because it has the most horsepower, the most acceleration or it's the lightest weight. But because it has a bevel drive for the cam, a 360° crank that sounds fantastic when revved, and because of the overall fit and finish. Horsepower and speed are way down my list of considerations.
Bottom line, just be thankful you can still purchase motorcycles like this new. If you want a manual, air cooled car with mechanical simplicity and an engaging sound and driving experience, you're looking at vehicles that are over 40 years old..
Biggest issue with MT01 is tank size. I would get less than 100miles per tank with mine (on a good day!) And even though they haven't been sold here since 2012, and some low mileage bikes are on the market for more than they cost new.
😂 yeh that tank is a bit pathetic.
Having ridden to death a number of small capacity bikes I will say that it's important for me. The more horsepower, the less abuse on the engine, and a longer useful life for the bikes engine. An MT07 nor a MT03 isn't going to last as many k's driven at the same speeds as an mt09 or a mt10.
Partly the same discussion as the Griso. Griso beats the MT-01 though, on just about every aspect.
In the case of the MT 01, I'd wager the biggest reason they didn't sell them here is because most of the target market would have rejected it based entirely off of a picture of it, before a single number was read. It was that big v twin. sport bike and naked riders would see the v twin and reject it because "it must be slow" and then the guys who ride big v twins would reject it because "hur dur, "
I will never understand why Harley's cost so much money i have never had a twin i liked and most HDs are twins and apparently they were designed to be a water pump
We like to joke that our bikes are powered by ancient tractor engines. 😅
All my experience riding and wrenching has been with my dad's 1990 electra glide so I just want a comfortable, reliable bike that's easy to work on, has a ton of torque and a gas gauge.
Appreciate the thumbnail not being fortnine...really grinds my gears when people use other people for click bait.
I ride a Honda 750x dct and I love it, no one in 150 miles from has one 58hp 50 fpt great bike.
Man so many dealerships now don't let you do free form test rides, or even test rides at all. At best you get a small circuit ridden in a group at the speed limit with only moderate acceleration on a pre scheduled demo day. I did a test ride on a KTM 1390 Super Adventure R and hated it. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if I was able to get on it at all, but nope. So you don't get a chance to actually try bikes. You get a spec sheet and a price, and buy that way.
I'll have to respectfully disagree with much of what is being said here. For instance, consider certain bikes that were a lot more popular some years ago, which were the inline-4, 600(ish)cc naked bikes. Some of them made pretty crazy power for the displacement and purpose such as the Honda CB600F and the Yamaha FZ6, around 100hp. Such bikes seem to all have been replaced by bikes which make less hp, have fewer cylinders, but offer a more usable torque curve (Hornet 750, GSX8S, MT-07). I believe a prototypical "spreadsheet warrior" would favor an inline-4 600cc with 100hp over an 80hp twin.
I ounno, to me feels a little like copium. Like you're on a bike, so odds of you having a bad time is pretty low. Be it a 125 or a 1250. I went from an MT-03 to an FZ1, and am arguably having the same amount of fun. So if that's the case why not get the bigger bike? What are you getting out of the MT-01 that you wouldn't out of a XSR900 fresh off the showroom floor?
I've had one from new. great motorcycle. Early on I heard that the MT-01 was not sold in the USA because there was a patent problem, something to do with the design of the rear suspension.
Once again Spite, you have nailed it. First off, bang per buck. Best fun I’ve ever had on a motorcycle was a 1970s Montessa 247 trials bike with about half a horsepower in it and I could ride the thing up cliffs, fell off a lot, but can you have more fun with your clothes on? it cost me £50 (UK), which at that time was the equivalent of about $100. Second numbers versus names. Honda hornet, Ducati Monster, Triumph Street Triple (my own bike, and for me far more rideable than its big brother admittedly because I’m 5 foot 10 and lightly built). but my point is, it’s far easier for a name to become evocative than a number, I hate to come across like some pre-Raphaelite poet, but there’s more romance in a name, and you can’t tell me that motorcycling isn’t romantic.
The Suzuki VX 800 was a V twin with shaft drive. IT did not sell here in the states. I do not know why. But I LOVED that Bike. I just could not afford one at the time it was out. Was it a good Bike ? I wonder. I guess I will never know.
Back in the day when home computers where in their infancy people were blindly buying the latest PC. There was a much better product on the market that was so ignored the company went out of business and they shouldn't have. It was a successor to the Commodore 64, the Amiga. It wasn't the greatest when it came to work type stuff such as word processors, spread sheets etc. But it was absolutely the best when it came to graphics, audio gaming and what a home user should have looked for. The owner of an Amiga shop once told me "Americans are great consumers but terrible shoppers." Enough said.
I see you got the Moto Guzzi thing! Addicting, you will have another before you know it. I have two in the garage. I had an Audace but my old body couldn't handle it at slow speeds any more so I replaced it with a Bonneville as MG didn't a middle weight naked. But they just came out with the V100 Mandello so it now sits in the garage with my V7lll when it's not out on the road. They both have their separate duties so it is not a tough decision as to which I will ride.
another amiga x guzzi fan! props!
Love the little tip-of-the hat to Dethklok, there. 😂
I have a minimum HP requirement, anything over 60 is ok. A bigger factor to me is comfort, suspension, ergonomics.
I bought a MT-01 new in 2007 in the UK. Still got it I'll never sell it, it's an awesome bike. Why yamaha never sold it in the USA was a big mistake.
Spot on Spite 💯 love my 74hp XSR700, 90hp CB1100RS and 145hp Vmax Gen1, all fun bikes in their own way, stopped chasing headline numbers after I sold my Rocket 3R 😎
Hey man. great video as always. I have a 2014 Honda Transalp 700, and if I were to look at the specsheet alone, maybe I wouldn't have bought it. It is a pretty heavy bike and has 60 hp. Right. BUT, I have crossed three countries, deserts, mountain ranges, jungles and all sorts of places and terrains on my girl, and it's the most fun bike I've ever had. And oh boy, does she have the power and the capabilities to do so! Also, I travel heavy - and I mean heavy. Me, plus my bike and luggage, clock easily at 850 lbs (I have actually weighted that)! To clarify, I do a lot of moto camping. And on the highway, I can overtake cars and trucks easily like you wouldn't believe. As Brian jhonson would say, "She's a fast machine".
my bike needs 3 things to tickle my giblets. in no order
pretty....I have to like to look at it
comfortable... I need to be able to run that tank from full to empty without a "butt and back" break
power... im not concerned with the number but it needs to get me onto a highway without any drama. and to suddenly jump up to 100 to get around or away from anything in my way
I personally have no desire to run around in triple digits as my regular speed
I'm not over familiar with the 01, but it really reminds me of antoher machine in the same sort of boat; the VTR/Superhawk
The 01 has nothing to do with the VTR. Concept, engine, market target.... The 01 is like a cruiser where you can be a little more aggressive, but being aware everytime of it's limitations like weight and high CoG, It' a gentle giant, far from the VMax madness.
I think it feels that way but in reality it really isn't, here in Australia anyway. Horsepower numbers used to sell magazines, now get clicks & always get people into the showrooms, but most of them don't ride out on the fastest thing on 2 wheels. Maybe back in the 70's they did, and there were certainly some periods in the 80's that saw spikes. Particularly around halo bikes like the Katana, GSXR-750 & Kawasaki GPZ900R. But overall motorcycle sales were as diverse as the bikes on sale. Even moreso today. I might occasionally see a high horsepower bike, but Duke 390's are everywhere. And I've gone weeks without seeing a bike on the road with more power than my Ninja 650. Maybe Australians are more sensible than our American brethren, but if we are seduced into the showroom by the halo bike we tend to ride out on something less ostentatious.
I have to agree with what you're trying to say. To me, the HP wars have ruined motorcycles. It seems like tech packages have replaced bikes that just make you want to get on them and ride. I salute Moto-Guzzi and Royal Enfield.
My list of great bikes that were sales failures, by brand. Yamaha: MT-01, XV920R, 1000GTS. All Buells.
Missing from this list: Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, Triumph and Harley.
They all make good bikes but, for me, only Yamaha and Buell made great Motorcycles.
I traded my Harley for a Triumph.
Few bikes have half as much character as the MT-01. It’s just the best ride anyone can have.
Random, but whats your mic setup when using the gopro?
I'm using a DJI Osmo Action 4 and a sony lav mic. I forget which one
@@spitescorner does the action 4 have a mic jack or did you need a conversion?
I want as many giggles as possible under the speed limit +10%. If my bike wasn't fun until it went over 100mph, what's the point?
To quote Mr Regular Car Reviews (Hayabusa video) "The [North American] Bro is conditioned from the juvenile stage to reach for 'the better' when it presents itself to the contrasting 'the lesser'".
Man, he was firing with that review. Not just for the call outs about people who buy a hayabusa just for the power, but also to exonerate the bike from the owner and to explain that it really is a good bike, despite the most vocal owners only wielding its power and top speed like a crowbar to the knees of every other bike. His line at the end - "The bike doesn't care. It just asks 'The road's calling....what are we gonna do about it?' " was perfect.
Giblets:
1. Keep the Int650
2. Aquire a camping bike I can burn up hwy getting to the camp dite.
3. Grab a Cub or other small CC for grocery shopping and urban hopping.
Economics says, "Keep dreaming". 😊😂❤
It's interesting how the ZX4RR is clearly a niche passion project of a bike intended for fun, but all the comments just ask how fast it is and tell others to get a 600 instead lol
I have no reason to own a motorcycle that goes 186 mph. These days an MT-03 will suit me well. Very comfortable seat, gets great MPG and will run with traffic on highways if that's you thing.
Man you are so right on the point of, get out and ride instead of being a spec sheet warrior. Like my KTM 1290 SA-R, yeah it’s heavy, but even on the trails it feels surprisingly light and the excess power, well it sure is fun.
That brake fluid reservoir wobbling like it's about to fall off the bike.
I'm the opposite, I don't want faster or more power, not interested in racing, just casual sight seeing and riding at or around the speed limit. Reviews are almost useless to me as most are about the specs and how many HPs I won't be using. I'm perfectly happy on a Royal Enfield with extra money in my pocket
On the flipside of this..... I want a Warrior cruiser frame with a 900cc triple out of the MT09.....
"Spend time on a motorcycle to not be a giant nerd" says the giant nerd on a motorcycle to an audience of giant nerds with motorcycles.
Hi spite the real problem with bike reviews is nobody reviews bikes as they find them. All you get is how the bike should be and not what your paying for🇬🇧👍🏿
I absolutely love the metalocalypse riffs. It definitely fits the aesthetic