Yamaha MT-10

If you want a sporty naked bike these days, you’ve got something of a bewildering array of tackle to sort through. All the major manufacturers have a large capacity naked sport bike in the stable, and most of them – save for the higher handlebar – are as uncompromisingly focused as their superbike brethren.

 

And that’s fine, if you like that sort of thing, but it does rather leave the door open for a slightly softer idea of sporting nakedness. It’s a door that the likes of Aprilia’s hardcore Tuono or Ducati’s rock hard Streetfighter have no intention of entering, but there’s nothing to fear on the other side – KTM’s Super Duke R has proved that you can throw in a few creature comforts and still retain all the sportiness any mere mortal could hope to handle.

 

While the orange ‘Beast’ has been stealing all the headlines in this segment for the past couple of years, another superb entry into the class has arrived with no fanfare, but can claim more illustrious racing heritage than even the KTM.

 

Yamaha’s MT-10 is, on a basic level, simply a naked R1. In theory that should mean this naked sport bike would be in the mould of its equally frenetic competitors, but it’s not. It’s still fast, it still handles the track and it will of course wheelie for forever, and then a bit more – all essentials in the must-have list of attributes for sporty nakedness.

 

But, the seat is not the usual sporting joke and actually contains some padding, the handlebar feels higher and wider than usual and the mini-fly screen affair at the front does a half-decent (this is a naked bike, remember, so any protection is a bonus) job of deflecting some wind blast. I spent several long days with the MT-10 and didn’t subsequently need spinal surgery, or a neck brace.

 

Practicalities such as mounting points for luggage and a passable pillion seat mean that this is one naked bike that you could legitimately use for a bit of touring.

 

But, I know you’re wondering – is it now too nice? What about the sports side of the equation, has it gone a bit soft?  

 

Hardly. There’s still 160bhp of power to play with, and that’s plenty. Plenty enough to show a full-on superbike from just a few years ago a clean pair of heels. Admittedly almost 40bhp has been shed from the R1, but none of the spine-tingling howl from the V-four-sounding four-cylinder engine has been lost in the process (it’s actually an in-line four with an odd firing order). There aren’t many bikes in the world that sound as good as this, and when you’re tearing down your favorite stretch of road sounding like Valentino Rossi on his MotoGP M1 you’ll appreciate having spent the extra money.

 

And that’s the one aspect of the MT-10 that isn’t quite so competitive – price. In South Africa the new price is as the top end of what you might expect. Sales haven’t been huge and so there aren’t many second-hand examples around. The low availability and relatively high new purchase price mean you’ll have to act quickly if you do see one on the market.