2016 Yamaha XSR900 launch review

All sorts of bikes pass under my butt each year — fast ones, slow ones, off road ones and everything in between. Every so often, though, along comes a bike that just speaks to me, something that just so nails its design brief and target market, that I go to bed dreaming of it. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does…

You know what this is all leading to — Yamaha has produced such a quality machine in its new XSR900, that I am truly enamoured. Lucky, then, that bikesales.com.au gets to keep it.

The truth is, had we not been given the bike, I probably would have made off with it following the first time I rode it, anyway.

This wasn’t a result I was expecting looking at the specs. I really like the MT-09 for what it is, so this bike being marketed as a kind of hipster-spec MT-09 led me to think it was all sparkle, lumber jackets and beard.

As much as we hack on Hipsters, however, the fact is the true Hipsters have plenty of depth to them, and this is the case with the XSR. It’s much more than something to just parade your love of craft beer with — I honestly reckon the much-lauded MT-10 will have trouble keeping this bike at bay on a bumpy back road.

While Yamaha started with the MT-09 as a base for this bike, it has maintained its tradition of giving each variant — including the two-wheeled-SUV Tracer — its own soul. Position the XSR in your mind as a more refined, upmarket version of the MT-09 and you’d be getting the right idea.

The heart of the MT-09 is that excellent 847cc triple, but its life in the XSR has started with more user-friendliness than the MT has even now, and engine modes much better suited to real world riding. Each map distinctly changes life on the throttle of the XSR, and I use every one of them, depending on what the road is leading me to.

Engine modes on the XSR are really no more mysterious than the mode button dictating how quickly the fly-by-wire throttles operate the EFI butterflies (with some modest fuel map and ignition changes to suit). “A mode”, for instance, throws them open like a hyperactive kid after a jug of red cordial. You need to be super smooth on the loud tube, as well as 100 percent on top of things to ride around with this mode showing on the dash, because it will show up sloppy throttle work with loud over-revs on take-off and gearchanges, as well as feeling very 'fly-by-wire' rather than a traditional throttle’s feel. Early MT-09 riders will know the feeling… I reserve this mode for early morning scratching and solo rides when I want extra exhilaration.

The good news on the XSR is that the 'STD mode' reins in the whole hyper thing, with smooth throttle response, while retaining that hefty punch off the bottom this engine throws so well. I honestly think this bike would challenge most production-bike comers in the first third of a drag race — it smashes it off the line!

“B Mode”, meanwhile, tames it again, removing the bottom end impatience, but still offering all the horsepower the average rider needs, delivered on a platter of traction and manners. That said, I can feel the delivery change as I move off - slipping the clutch feels snappy, but once the clutch is all the way out, the power dulls — the ECU is not keeping up in this mode.

In the past, an engine was an engine, but these days, the better control of spark and fuel means an engine can be many things, to many people. Engine modes don’t work on every motor, though, simply because their characteristics don’t suit.

The XSR’s engine feels so much bigger than a mid-size 847cc unit, however, and one area I’d love to explore as my 'ownership' of the bike continues, is that of mode meddling. Just a bit more snap off the bottom of standard mode and some more mid-range power would make this thing a back road champion. It kind of already is.

The springs are firmer at each end of the bike compared to the MT-09, but it is still compliant enough on bumpy roads — check out the slo-mo footage in the video to see the wheels doing a decent job of the crappy bumps on the corner the photographer insisted we travel around ad-nauseum…

But what is amazing is the feel at the bars, seat and pegs — this is where you gather the knowledge that everything is going fine as far as grip and traction go, and the feedback is superb on the XSR.

Yamaha goes to great lengths to keep your feet close together on the bike, which helps make it feel smaller, though at only 195kg wet (claimed, I want to test that claim by actually weighing it) it doesn’t need much to feel light. The ride position is on the upright side of “nakedbike”, but this doesn’t detract from feeling what the front axle is doing — it’s often levitating…

The mid-size feel of the bike is such an advantage in the corners, even though the engine feels nothing like a mid-size bike! The natural balance is there out of the box, and you can feel that rear Bridgestone wanting some respite as you drive hard out of a tight turn. If the traction control is on, it gets that respite, annoyingly.

The traction defaults to 'on' every time you start up, and turning it off needs the bike to be stationary. On a bike this torquey, it doesn’t take many bumps on an uphill corner to have the bike slowing in your hands, as the rear wheel scrabbles for grip. The front wheel skims the road effortlessly, too, sending the TC into 'save the rider!' mode, which isn’t needed in this circumstance. I turn it off when the day is dry.

The bike is so tractable, the TC is a good back up for wet days or long, touring style days (which this bike can totally do). I’ll be looking for a way to make it switchable on the move, which I would argue is safer than having to choose on or off at the start of a ride. If I change my mind, I’d have to stop and change — which I won’t do, because I hate stopping once I start.

As mid-sized Hipster transport, though the XSR is a formidable package that oozes "ride me!”. Some more note from that triple engine, some mild fiddling with the small bump suspension valving and you’d have a bike punching so far above its weight class, MT-10 riders might be tempted to 'downsize'…

Yet another area it excels is on the anchors. The affect the radial-mounted four-piston calipers have on that 195kg wet weight just have to be felt to be believed. It hauls up so quickly, so precisely and with the excellent Bosch 9 anti-lock braking system such an impressively behaved safety net (you can’t turn this off as standard), it feels like it will out-brake bikes twice its price.

A true test for those brakes will be on the racetrack, but as they are, the feel and power are simply top notch, aided by a bike that does 'feel' better than many more expensive machines.

The awesome brakes make the slipper clutch a worthy addition, though the throttle response and solid-enough feeling gear changes mean matching the revs on the downshift are a cinch, so I don’t bother it much. Again, a racetrack will let me feel that better.

Despite being a naked bike, it’s such an easy bike to ride, and so comfortable (even without a screen) I have racked up 300km half-days without wishing I was on something else - far from it. Once the XSR gets into its triple-beated hum, it’s hard to stop riding it bloody everywhere. I have trouble getting out of the seat, short ride or long.

Living with it so far (three weeks) has been a joy. Fuel economy is only ok, thanks mainly to how I am riding it (5.9lt/100km), but it’s so easy to ride and enjoy, I have ridden rain, hail or shine and it’s loved it as much as I have.

It’s not a perfect bike — the dash is too bright at night, the TC switchability annoys me, the suspension could be more compliant and the Mode switch is hard to get to in winter gloves — but these complaints pale in reference to the asking price.

$12,999 (plus on-road costs) for a bike this bloody good is a bargain. There simply isn’t anything else that hits so many bullseyes for the money.

This being the case, what are my plans? I want to keep it standard a while longer, with some small updates concentrating on certain aspects of the bike coming soon to bikesales.com.au and our social media platforms. Then it’s time to pipe it, find some luggage that suits (not too hipster…), change out the tyres, which have had a hard life already and then try and find some electrical solutions to my traction control woes. Perhaps then I’ll try to up the looks department — though you can’t see a bike when you are actually riding it…

I know the above seems gushy, and perhaps you are thinking “he just likes it ‘cos he wants to keep it for a while”. That’s a fair assumption, but a wrong one. This was going to be the Bikesales long termer long before I rode it, I am genuinely surprised a bike at this price point and in the mid-size category does to me what it does. Ride one for yourself and tell me I am wrong.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for what the bike and I get up to under the hashtag #bikesalesxsr900. This is going to be fun (it already has been!)…

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six speed
Final drive: Chain
Clutch: Wet, multiplate

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame: Steel diamond
Front suspension: Telescopic  forks with adjustable preload and rebound, 137mm travel
Rear suspension: Monoshock with adjustable preload and rebound, 130mm travel
Front brakes: 298mm discs with twin-piston calipers, ABS
Rear brake: 245mm disc with single-piston caliper, ABS
Tyres: Front 120/70-17, rear 180/55-17

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: 25 degrees
Trail: 104mm
Claimed kerb weight: 195kg
Seat height: 830mm
Ground clearance: 130mm
Wheelbase: 14540mm
Fuel capacity: 14 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $12,999 plus on-road costs
Test bike supplied by: Yamaha Motor Australia, yamaha-motor.com.au
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres