R9 incoming next year?

[The Spin Doctor]

Horsepower is not nearly so important as torque... and in particular THRUST... that's the torque divided by the gearing, because that's what tells you what you're going to feel when you twist the throttle at any particular road speed. It's all very well talking about 180 hp but when the bike in question is geared for 180 mph at the same time, you're only going to be using all that power in top gear at 180 with a wide-open throttle. Even if you never got out of 1st gear, you'd still only be using all the power and all the revs by the time you hit 100 mph.

The vast majority of our riding on the road is all about part throttle response at much lower revs.

And once you've got to 60 mph, it still only takes around 10 hp to get round a 60 mph corner with your knee on the deck. TEN. Really

[Supermofo]

I've got a 99 R6 as a track bike, for me it was perfect. It handled great, went well as on track you are at high revs all the time and the brakes were good. I suspect at my level the only place I'd be faster on an R1 would be the straight bits. I also noticed that most inter riders on litre bikes were slower than me in corners esp getting on the power initially, this definitely wasn't the case in the fast group, so my suspicion is that most inter riders like me are too scared of high siding themselves into next week on a more powerful bike. So at my level the R6 worked perfectly. Whereas the R1/GSXR thou would have intimidated me more and made it harder work. In the fast group this didn't seem to be a thing which is how it should be, on my 1 day in fast the litre bikes were just faster everywhere cos the riders were better.

I also had a 2003 R6 on the road for 18 months, I enjoyed riding it you just need to remember that the midrange on a bike with a 15k red line isn't 4k rpm. I get why people won't like em but everyone is different. For me other than comfort I found my R6 better than my Firestorm which was an absolute pig to ride under 40mph which was a pain on the commute. I prefer my GSXS to both but then you'd hope so.

Back to the MT09, I liked both the Tracer and XSR. The MT09 I rode not so much but not sure if it was a duff one, just felt like the bike didn't gel as a package. The new one is supposed to be better though. For me something like an R9 would probably work well if the suspension etc isn't crap but as I said my skill level is lower than a some people on here who'd be much better off with a full on muthaphucker bike

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I test rode a 2002 R6 on 2003, I quite liked it, but the 2002 GSXR750 I bought was better in every way and cost less, both of them had under 1500 miles on them.

[Supermofo]

The vast majority of our riding on the road is all about part throttle response at much lower revs.

That's why I didn't like the R6, I distinctly remember riding home and opening the throttle and nothing happening, it just made noise, unless you revved the tits off it. Back then I used it for riding to work and I was sick of it after a few days.

Yeah on track I was rarely below 10k rpm so it worked well.

Worse bike I rode on the road was the first GSXR 600. I had a Fazer 600 at the time and the GSXR was my first ride on a sportsbike and it was crap compared to the Fazers engine, nothing below 10k at all. The R6 was definitely better than the GSXR. I suspect though and LGF confirmed that the 750 was a chunk better

[KungFooBob]

The R6 wasn't gutless compared to all the other 600cc supersport bikes at the time. It had more go everywhere than the competition, the (not a) problem was that above 12k it just went mental, which made the lower revs feel gutless.

[Tricky]

118 bhp was boring 30 years ago.

That's arguable, but anyway, so were some people- some still are...

Seriously though, the pic in the OP is not a bad looker at all ( I'm with Mango on this, the MT09 is quite simply the ugliest bike this side of a Himalayan or 1000 Versys, and that's going some ) but my five bob's worth FWIW is that although the CP3 is a great engine for road bikes, it is a physically big lump for what it is, just too big and heavy IMO and there are far better ( most notably the R6) motors for a middleweight track bike- the 5EB was a cracker of a bike when it came out, is still good now and the current model R6 is brilliant as a trackbike, and well capable of embarrassing 1000s on a track, if that's what's important to you.

If an R9 appears I'll definitely try and get a go on one so I have a view but on the face of it I can't see it being for me.
I like my mandlebars too much these days, and I too suspect that it'll be a bit lardy and just a cosmetic job like the R7 with cheap suspension- fine if you want a grunty road bike with the looks and riding position of a sportsbike , but that's not me and I very much doubt anyone will buy it as a track bike.

[Tricky]

The vast majority of our riding on the road is all about part throttle response at much lower revs.

That's why I didn't like the R6, I distinctly remember riding home and opening the throttle and nothing happening, it just made noise, unless you revved the tits off it. Back then I used it for riding to work and I was sick of it after a few days.

I guess it depends on what you are comparing it too- as Bob says, they the R6s really flew at the top end, but also had a positively bulging midrange (relative term for a 600 ) compared to the GSXR of the era and first gen CBR600RR

[Supermofo]

The vast majority of our riding on the road is all about part throttle response at much lower revs.

That's why I didn't like the R6, I distinctly remember riding home and opening the throttle and nothing happening, it just made noise, unless you revved the tits off it. Back then I used it for riding to work and I was sick of it after a few days.

I guess it depends on what you are comparing it too- as Bob says, they the R6s really flew at the top end, but also had a positively bulging midrange (relative term for a 600 ) compared to the GSXR of the era and first gen CBR600RR

That reminds me I rode the first CBR600 RR at the Ron Haslem school and the R6 definitely had more mid range than that as well as the GSXR. The R6 felt a fair bit quicker than both for me anyway. Of that generation of 600s I'd put it R6, ZX6 (good engine on that), CBR, GSXR

[Yorick]

I bought a new CBR600 in 1990. Was OK to ride. Later versions just became rev machines.
The CBR600s we rode at the Haslam school were just full throttle or brake.

[The Spin Doctor]

Incidentally, this is from my Elevenses webcast (every Wed / Sun at 11am on FB and YT)

"A document filed online confirms the Yamaha R9 is getting closer to production.

Last year the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer filed the YZF-R9 and R9 trademarks for future use, but it's been revealed that the company patented the an YZF-R9 logo of the upcoming model in Australia.

It follows the same design as logos used for the current Yamaha R25, R7 and R1.

With the recent Yamaha R7 which is powered by the same 689cc CP2 engine found in the MT-07, the R9 is almost certain to get the same CP3 890cc engine found on the Yamaha MT-09 and Tracer 9 GT.

The triple motor generates 117.3hp and 93Nm which should deliver much the same performance as the discontinued R6.

That means the R9 could fill an important niche in the sportsbike market, and this is of particular note since Yamaha is fighting to recover from the 2020 COVID shut down, with annual sales that year the lowest of the last 15.

Although there was a double digit recovery in 2021, final results were still below expectations, with global performance the second worst of the last decade and a half.

And even in 2022 Yamaha's recovery is marginal, with global registrations in the first seven months of the year up just +3.4% on 2021. "

That was broadcast on Nov 2

[The Spin Doctor]

the MT09 is quite simply the ugliest bike this side of a Himalayan or 1000 Versys, and that's going some )

Don't forget the Harley Pan America.



It's a close call.

[Skub]

Don't forget the Harley Pan America.
It's a close call.

I'd call it a knock out for the HD.

[Tricky]

Don't forget the Harley Pan America.
It's a close call.

I'd call it a knock out for the HD.

I'd forgotten about that one (thankfully), but yup agree- the HD has got to be the winner in the ugliest bike currently for sale stakes

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I owned a 94 FZR600R when I test rode the R6, so I've ridden them back to back, the FZR is a nice road bike, but the R6 is a lot better, it has a better engine, better suspension and just handled better, riding position isn't much different, the only thing that let it down was the rear shock, but the real answer to the question "A litre bike is a bit too much for me, what should I buy?" is buy a GSXR750, they really are superb, more power everywhere than a 600, not a handful like a 1000.

[mangocrazy]

I owned a 94 FZR600R when I test rode the R6, so I've ridden them back to back, the FZR is a nice road bike, but the R6 is a lot better, it has a better engine, better suspension and just handled better, riding position isn't much different, the only thing that let it down was the rear shock, but the real answer to the question "A litre bike is a bit too much for me, what should I buy?" is buy a GSXR750, they really are superb, more power everywhere than a 600, not a handful like a 1000.

It'll have to be a second-hand one then. Suzuki stopped making them in 2018.

[KungFooBob]

I owned a 94 FZR600R when I test rode the R6, so I've ridden them back to back, the FZR is a nice road bike, but the R6 is a lot better, it has a better engine, better suspension and just handled better, riding position isn't much different, the only thing that let it down was the rear shock, but the real answer to the question "A litre bike is a bit too much for me, what should I buy?" is buy a GSXR750, they really are superb, more power everywhere than a 600, not a handful like a 1000.

It'll have to be a second-hand one then. Suzuki stopped making them in 2018.

<Pedant mode>

Stopped importing them.

They still make them for some markets, including the US.

</>

[mangocrazy]

Nice one - didn't know that. The USA 2022 model looks bloody excellent.

USA_GSXR750.JPG (147.47 KiB) Viewed 248 times

[Bigjawa]

That was shite. So why not improve it?

Because Mr Yamaha knows that they'll sell bucketloads of them.

The R6 was shit to ride.

Your opinion. but once again, they sold them by the container load so obvioulsy Mr Yamaha knows something about business.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Nice one - didn't know that. The USA 2022 model looks bloody excellent.


USA_GSXR750.JPG

It's a shame we don't get it, but it won't pass Euro emissions, even the tame GSXS can't get through the latest emissions rules, I don't think I could live with the riding position now.

[Yorick]

Nice one - didn't know that. The USA 2022 model looks bloody excellent.


USA_GSXR750.JPG

Coolio.