LONG LAST
AT
W
e are amid a sportbiking
renaissance with the supersport
class firing like never before,
and we can now welcome the newest
player to the game in the Yamaha
YZF-R9.
There has been hardly a machine
more talked about, more argued over
ever since news broke in 2021 that
Yamaha was going to make a three-
cylinder sportbike based on the MT-09
back. Admittedly, it's taken a little longer
to come to market than they'd hoped,
but that's good news for us because the
tuning-fork company wanted to make
sure they got this thing absolutely spot
on before letting the public loose on it.
The R9 taps into the mindset of
less aggression and more comfort
that is slowly permeating through the
sportbiking world. In much the same
guise as the Ducati Panigale V2 S, the
R9 is trying to give riders a greater
degree of comfort that allows them to
ride faster for longer via a more relaxed
riding position, more space between
your knee bend and less weight on your
wrists.
P110
RIDE REVIEW I 2025 YAMAHA YZF-R9
The dawn of a new age is here and the R9 is just as good as we hoped.
YAMAHA HAS— AT LONG LAST —FINALLY DELIVERED
THE MOST ANTICIPATED SPORTBIKE IN RECENT
MEMORY. WE WENT TO SONOMA IN THE POURING
RAIN TO GIVE THE NEW YZF-R9 A SPIN.
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK I PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSEPH AGUSTIN
