Well there we go, the pictures here say everything about Yamaha’s MT-10 – end of story and goodbye. But I’m sure you’d feel ripped-off if I ended there and so you jolly well should. So as not to lose anymore of my withering credibility I will endeavour to keep you entertained for a while longer. May I severely suggest that you put on Diana Ross’ famous track in the background as you continue, because it goes with the title nicely? Hopefully you’ll know the Motown tune I’m on about, if not, you’re probably an alien on its annual vacation to earth.
Anyway, enough of that drunken karaoke favourite and onto one of my favourite bikes I’ve ever had the pleasure of straddling instead – the Yamaha MT-10. Yamaha now have a few bikes in their MT range meaning Masters of Torque if you didn’t already know. A bit of a silly name I think but the results are far from silly that’s for sure.
It all began in 2005 with Yamaha’s MT-01 big V-twin, not a great sales success to be kind. Then we had the advent of the MT-09 and MT-07 and then the Tracer version of the 09 and now the flagship 10, all spanning a nice range of bikes for the wild and tame depending on your riding style and/or mental disposition. Obviously the mental disposition of my good friend Dave Eagar, South African stunt expert, is highly questionable after I gave him this to play with. I mean, really mate! If you need him to entertain you at kids’ parties (not), then get in touch with me at 
Not so recommended is acting like a total hooligan like ‘my-mate’ Dave here, unless you desire to keep you license longer than 30 minutes that is. But this is what happens when you gel, which doesn’t take long with the mighty MT-10. Sure you can ride around relatively slowly, reveling in the instant torque and smoothness of this gorgeous sounding in-line four cylinder with its quirky cross-plane crankshaft, derived directly from MotoGP. If so, maybe go for the MT-07/09 option instead. If you, like me, prefer insane power and a wild ride every time you open the throttle, then the MT-10 will fill yer pants with excitement and probably a touch of excrement as well.
As I just mentioned this 1,000cc engine is directly taken from the R1 (MotoGP) replica, except for a few additions, or more to the point the lack of them. 200hp is found inside the R1 whilst the MT-10 has been cropped to a ‘mere’ 160hp in a quest, I’d imagine, to make the bike more user-friendly. Personally I would have only taken away, maybe, 20hp or so. Why not? Still, there’s no denying this is a weapon on wheels, two to be precise and I love the thing, especially the Transformer film-like styling. Each time I got off it you’d expect it to suddenly morph into a mad robot beast thingy and follow you into the bar and get the drinks for you, maybe in the near future that’ll happen with the way technology is evolving. How cool would that be, bike and butler all in one, or maybe I’ve seen too many Sci-fi films for my own good? But that’s how this dramatic futuristic styling grabs you.
The superb R1 is riddled with electronics but not so much with the MT-10, which in my opinion is a good thing. You get three levels of traction control and it can be turned off totally, obviously looking at these images and, three power modes. These are Standard, A and B. Oddly B being the most powerful or aggressive throttle response to be more accurate. Backwards compared to the rest of the MT range when A is the most powerful setting. So, we have Standard with same outright power of A or B, when A gives a bit more and B a bit more than that, very strange. I did prefer the A mode though because the throttle response was the smoothest in that setting. Now to the best part of all, once selected and the key is turned off all the settings you have chosen remain there, thank you Yamaha. Hate having to reset everything every time you ride, aye Mr KTM! Also all these parameters can be changed on the ‘fly’ once the throttle is closed, sweet!
The handling with its high-quality KYB suspension is also sweet. A little too firm on bumpy roads but it can easily be set softer, which I would do. But take the MT-10 to a track-day or four and it’ll be perfect and a lot of fun I’d imagine. Not so sure when you’d use the cruise control though, definitely not around a track, but there is a new MT-10 touring bike coming with screen and panniers that will use that particular function more, I presume.
One noticeable lack of a useful track day tool is a quick-shifter because the MT-10 doesn’t have one but can be bought as an extra. However, not once when I was tearing around the streets of Joburg did I think it needed one as I went through the gears whilst on the back wheel pointing to the moon. So much for needing one of those then and the six-speed gearbox is rather nice to snick through anyway.
So any bad points you now ask? Well none really besides the price. R235,000 is what you’ll need in your wallet to own an MT-10, only 10k less than the brilliant R1 with all of its fancy extra electronics, too close for many? Never mind that’s the price, but let me sum up the Yamaha MT-10 like this.
If you bought an R1, would you ever, ever contemplate fitting a turbocharger to it, er, no? But I can guarantee, by now, that someone, somewhere has already fitted a turbo to an MT-10 because it’s so mental it’ll always demand more unnecessary, to some, additions. Aint no MT high enough, well that’s for sure.
Go to www.yamaha.co.za to locate your nearest dealer and book a test ride.
[Pics by Gareth Davidson]
