First Ride Review – 2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending the press launch for the Yamaha MT-09 and I came away quite impressed with the updates – which included a philsophical change to make the rider’s triangle more aggressive. Well, Yamaha has just released the up-spec SP variant and I think the performance bump you get for the $1,700 premium is so damn good that it’s all but rendered the base model pointless…read along and see if you agree!

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First Ride Review – 2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP
Photos by David Schelske.

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What’s Old

I want to save you some time here so I’m not going to rehash all the details about the base MT-09. Instead, I’m going to ask you to either read my review or let me summarize the three best parts:

1. The legendary CP3 inline triple engine got bumped up to 890cc, resulting in a new output of roughly 115 horsepower and 67 lb-ft of torque with a claimed 48 mpg. This was paired with a new transmission and Yamaha’s third generation quickshifter, which is one of the best in the business.

2. The technology package of the MT-09 is something you’d expect on a more expensive bike: a TFT dash with free built-in GPS navigation, full LED lighting, the aforementioned fancy quickshifter, a USB-C port, six-axis IMU, wheelie control, ABS, lean-angle sensitive traction control, slide control, back slip regulator, rear lift control, multiple ride modes, and cruise control as standard. All of this makes it very easy to live with on a day-to-day basis.

3. The most significant update was the riding position, which completely changes the riding experience and makes the MT-09 simultaneously comfier and much more engaging to ride. You get a dash of forward lean (not as aggressive as the XSR900) with a sportier riding position that gets more of your weight over the front wheel, making it easier to get around corners. Even better: steering angle has increased from 28° to 32°, which decreases the turning radius. Those changes, in conjunction with chassis tuning involving thicker engine mount brackets and a revised headstock bracket as well as a stiffer fork and a retuned shock all combine to make this the best-handling MT-09 yet.

So the MT-09 is good – but what makes the SP unique?

What’s New

To answer that question, Yamaha sent me to Tennessee to try out the new SP on some of the best roads in the US – the Cherahola Skyway, Moonshiner 28, and the Tail of the Dragon. I know plenty of you have ridden the Tail of the Dragon before but it was my first time and all I can say is that it has 318 corners in 11 miles. That averages out to a corner every 180 feet(!) and thanks to a fresh repave it may currently be the best motorcycling road in the United States.

Here’s a 90 second look at this incredible road:

Normally at a press launch we’ve got to cover a few miles in the city or on a freeway to get to the good stuff. Well this time we stayed at the Fontana Village so our journey to the twisties took all of a couple of minutes and that’s pretty much all the time I needed to realize this bike was going to be fantastic.

One thing to note – putting a SP in your garage will require a $1,700 bump from a MSRP standpoint…and that’s a bargain compared to what you get:

1. Better suspension: the KYB fork and Ohlins shock are a dramatic upgrade and I think they’re worth the price premium for the SP by themselves. Heck, if you were to source the suspension yourself and install it for free you’d still end up spending more than $1,700 to do so (I’d estimate about $2,200).

The fork is fully adjustable (preload, rebound, plus high and low compression damping) and it has Diamond-Like Carbon coating on the inner tubes for reduced stiction. It’s stiffer than the base model plus there’s a wider variety of adjustment – the standard had 11 clicks of rebound while the SP units have 26 clicks. The shock offers adjustments for compression and rebound plus a remote preload adjuster.

I’ve had a base model MT-09 at home for a few weeks so it was relatively easy to do a comparison in my head: the SP is much better when it comes to resisting changes in pitch, especially at higher speeds. It’s better at small bump absorption, both when you’re straight up or leaned over a bit. It’s basically better in every way, though I wouldn’t disagree with someone if they said that it’s a little harsh on bigger bumps. Still, there’s a large range of adjustment so you can tune the ride quality for your personal preference. On the almost-perfect pavement of the Dragon, I just put in a two clicks of preload on the shock and I was very happy with the result.

2. Better brakes: Brembo Stylema front calipers. Despite my above adulation, the biggest upgrade while on the road is actually the Brembo Stylema calipers. Braking performance was one of my few complaints about the base model – I summed it up by saying, “a bike this fast should have stronger brakes.” Well, now it does!

The new brakes are a win on multiple fronts: they look cooler, they weigh 13% less (including the mounting bolts), they offer improved heat dissipation via larger pad openings, and most importantly they have more bite (four 30mm pistons versus the two 30mm and two 27mm pistons of the ADVICS on the base bike). They are matched with the Brembo radial master cylinder from the base model and I was quite pleased with the strength and feel all day. Further emphasizing the cost benefits of the SP upgrade, ordering a set of these calipers from the aftermarket would be about $900, ignoring the installation costs.

3. Electronics: dedicated Track riding modes. Yamaha is seeing MT-09 consumers are heading to the local circuit so they’ve bestowed the SP with customizable “Track” riding modes where you can turn off the rear ABS, adjust the amount of engine braking, and have a dedicated display with a lap timer and statistics on max accel/decel, lean angle, speed, etc. On the street a lap timer may not make sense but it’s still definitely fun to be able to look at your “high scores” after a spirited run. Oh – and there’s no realistic way you could add these features to the base bike if you were so inclined.

I never touched the ABS settings for the rear wheel, but I did swap between the engine braking settings and am glad to report that there’s a noticeable difference between the two options – the “new” option for the SP offers less engine braking to keep more momentum going into a corner. As mentioned in the “What’s Old” section above, the R1-derived electronics package is quite impressive and I appreciate that it’s both highly customizable and intuitive. I also like that I can independently turn off wheelie control while maintaining traction control, slide control, and other safety nets so that I could add “dam” to the places I’ve done a wheelie:

In addition, there’s a keyless ignition that Yamaha calls a “Smart Key System.” If you ever lose your key, there’s a backup four digit code you can use to get home. In theory the system is a convenience but I actually found it annoying because it will start beeping if you walk away with the key when the bike is still on. I don’t know how often that would happen in the real world but during our day of riding with constant stops for photos/videos, there were bikes beeping all over the place. The way I see it, no one’s buying a bike specifically because it has keyless ignition but I figure this is going to expand through the rest of Yamaha’s lineup pretty soon.

4. Cosmetics: R1M-inspired livery. Beyond the performance upgrades, there’s also some cosmetic changes that are specific to the SP – a “Liquid Metal/Raven” paint job and polished aluminum swingarm.

To be frank, the styling is basically the only weak spot for me on this bike but styling is subjective so I’ll just leave it at that. I do like the general up-spec vibe of the SP thanks to the anodizing on the fork and the little glints of Swedish goldin the rear but the face just doesn’t do it for me – it’s like a Ducati Streetfighter front end with a rectangular third eye.

I have to emphasize that the styling actually is my biggest complaint. The beep from the keyless system can be annoying and I still think the new turn signal setup that was introduced for the base model (which carries over here) is silly…but that’s pretty much it. The MT-09 SP is a damn good bike.

Conclusion

To be clear, the base model is a fine motorcycle and most people would be more than happy with it. But the SP is like a MT-09 that was raised by a R1M, and if you’re a faster rider (or I guess if you just like blingy components), then the SP is definitely the way to go. In general, it’s hard to argue with a formula that takes a good bike and makes it even better. The only issue in said formula is if the upgrades are worth the increase in MSRP – in this case, $1,700.

I vehemently say yes. In fact, the upgrades are so good for the money that I don’t think it makes sense to buy the base bike. On one hand that seems like a bold claim, but duplicating the upgrades yourself (ignoring the impossible-to-replicate electronic modifications) would cost a lot more and isn’t much of a difference if you’re financing.

For what it’s worth, riders with some miles underneath them seem to agree. Yamaha shared an interesting fact at the launch of the base model a few months ago: the average MT-09 ($10,599) buyer has nine years of riding experience, while the average buyer who splurges for the up-spec MT-09 SP with all the goodies ($12,299) has fifteen years of experience. Obviously there’s a general correlation between age and discretionary income but I’d also like to think that people who ride more see the worth of what the SP has to offer.

The 2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP is currently available in Liquid Metal/Raven at your local Yamaha dealer for $12,299. I’ll concede that I made some corny references to what SP could stand for with this bike, and I’ll end with one last one: to me, the Yamaha MT-09 SP represents Serious Progress. Yamaha is offering a tremendous upgrade to the base bike in categories that matter: suspension, braking, and technology for roughly 14% more. I’d take that deal with any bike I’ve ever bought in the past.

Check out the 2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP!

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