Alright, chooms, Yamaha has just revealed the perfect bike to help you outrun Arasaka. The redesigned 2024 Yamaha MT-09 is the perfect set of preem wheels for the edgerunner who wants to leave the corpos in the dust and make sure their gig goes off without a hitch. So, lemme fill you in on all the deets that make this new ride so preem.
Alright, that’s enough of that; if I keep that up, I might go cyberpsycho (there I go again), but I couldn’t help myself after watching Yamaha’s hilariously edgy reveal trailer for the newest MT-09. Previous reveals for MT series bikes have definitely had a bit of cyberpunk flavor to them with the whole “Dark Side of Japan” marketing campaign, but with the most recent video for the MT-09, Yamaha has decided to dive head first into the theme, and I’m here for it. Seriously, though, it looks like it got ripped right out of Cyberpunk 2077.
Just look at this:
Big in Japan
Enough about Yamaha’s choice in marketing; it’s time to dig into what makes this update so cool.
Ten years after the MT-09 first broke cover in the United States (although it was called the FZ-09 at the time), Yamaha has given the bike an extensive redesign following the design language of its “Dark Side of Japan” campaign, which emulates the motorcycle subculture present in the Land of the Rising Sun.
One of my biggest gripes with the previous MT-09 was the weirdly placed headlight that sat far above where it should and really threw off the side profile of the bike. The 2024 MT-09 has finally sorted that out by placing the front cowl’s bodywork all under the projector housing. Yamaha also added two small LED marker lights to the face that give it angry eyes reminiscent of the 2020 model. Overall, the bike looks better in general than its predecessor. While the looks are certain to still be divisive, that’s a defining factor of the MT series bikes by this point.
One of my biggest takeaways from the new design is that the tail and subframe are very supersport-esque for an MT series bike. These models are normally known for their long and flat seats, that is, unless they have a direct supersport counterpart like the MT-03 or MT-07. To me, this suggests that the MT-09 might be a prologue to the long-anticipated Yamaha R9.
Chippin’ In
The new 2024 MT-09 comes with a suite of upgrades that take an already well-appointed bike even further into the future. New Yamaha Ride Control settings allow riders to fine-tune the bike with three preset ride modes––Sport, Street, and Rain––or use two fully custom modes that the rider can set up to their liking. Another new feature is the Back Slip Regulator, which helps keep the rear wheel from locking up under engine braking. All this can be controlled through the bike’s new five-inch TFT dash.
Much like the new MT-10, the MT-09 now has Yamaha’s Acoustic Amplifier Grilles, which look like little speakers on top of the gas tank and pump engine noise at you from the air box to help you hear that sweet triple soundtrack. Also, like the new MT-10, the MT-09 has been upgraded with a Brembo radial master cylinder to help improve braking feel. Other enhancements include refined chassis and suspension tuning. Adjustable cruise control, previously reserved for the SP variant, has been added to the base MT-09. The new bike commands an MSRP of $10,599, which is $800 more than the 2023 model, but the upgrades are well worth the price increase.
Nocturne Op55N1
The new 2024 Yamaha MT-09 is still the naked bike that somehow rides like a mix of a supersport and supermoto that we have all come to know and love, just with fresh new bodywork and cutting-edge tech. Its handling makes it arguably one of the (if not the) most fun bikes for street riding on the market. With the whole new suite of upgrades that Yamaha has given it, the MT-09 should be even more dominant in the middleweight naked bike market than it already was, so don’t be a gonk and bust out those Eddies choom, cause these wheels could even handle the streets of Night City.
