First of Yamaha's now more sporty MT range is a rare delight.

[@RalfHourtz]

After 110 tkm on 2 Mt01 it still brings a smile on my 61 year old face .

[@jamesmuller4232]

I have one and describe it as a Harley that stops and turns. I love it. Thanks for the review.

[@1990-t1j]

Well put. I agree.

[@YiannosG]

I have one and the reason I bought it was the reason being mentioned on the video. That by the time other bikes get over 5K revs, you've already extracted all the enjoyability and usability from the MT-01. Without the unwieldiness of a full cruiser. It has the handling of a superbike, amazing brakes and suspension, and is very comfortable, for small to medium roads around town and twisty roads. Can't do long trips, not meant for it. I remember I researched thrice to get another bike, and my own "research algorithm" took me back to this one. Now I know to never sell it. I bet its that uniqueness that confused people and did not know what to make for it, and for that reason probably Yamaha stopped making it. But it should. They should evolve it, put more electronics on it and unleash it. Triumph Rocket III sounds like it might be the only thing similar to it in feel, but it is too large, I am not sure how that would feel , I haven't ridden it. He is right at the start when he says "it feels there is something alive in it". The MT-01's nickname in Japan is "Kodo". It means “heartbeat,” the primal source of all rhythm. I will never forget that when I first got on and started it up, I thought there was something wrong with it. Those huge pistons came knocking from underneath, it felt like I was riding a jackhammer.

[@winksplayle]

I bought a MT-01 new in 2007 in the UK for £6999. I've still got it and use it. I'll be 70 years old in a few months time. I will never sell it. The MT-01 is a fantastic bike in my opinion.

[@jameswaterhouse-brown6646]

It must be lovely to ride. Lucky you.

[@fujin09]

new for 7000? that's nuts! what a deal. it was like 14000 pounds here only just across the channel

[@PhilbyFavourites]

I had one of these for three years in the Tweenies. So under rated. But… the underlying vibrations meant my bladder range was lower than the tank range. Older guys will know what I mean. However I took it to John O’groats in Scotland and back to the south coast of UK. Coming back I was in a hurry… it was raining, but I had new Michelins fitted, and it gave me a highly illegal cruise through the wastelands of Scotland in ultimate safety. Do I regret selling it? Sort of, but I regret selling every bike and that means I’ve made a lot of good choices over the years. What I can say is that the build quality was absolute perfection. It didn’t rust, fasteners didn’t fizz, it never broke down. If you get the chance, buy one!

[@floridapatriot9776]

I've been riding for around 30 years now. I don't even remember this bike. At the time of course I was the same as many other young men. Obsessed with horsepower, high rpm's, and top speed. Now nearly 50 years old and I've fallen in love with high torque motorcycles such as my new Harley Davidson Low Rider S. I would absolutely have considered something like this bike today. I agree it would have been amazing to see how far Yamaha could have brought a motorcycle like this had they kept producing it. I also own and love the MT-09.

[@winksmt01]

I bought my MT-01 new in 2007 I've still got it, a great bike and I will never sell it. I'm now 70 years old and live in the UK.

[@andyrobertson1928]

I remember our MT-01 problem well. I was at Yamaha HO at the time and for some reason the bike was labelled as the "New VMAX" in South Africa - when our stock arrived they certainly looked the part, but VMAX they were not and once the word got out, we couldn't give them away - the Dealers wanted nothing to do with them. We even dressed one up for AMID and I was tasked with ordering every possible carbon fiber and titanium part from the MT-01 catalogue that we could get. No luck! I rode that specific AMID bike for a while and if I recall we eventually sold it as a demo for the cost of a standard one but with all the bits! We eventually trickled them out of stock - but it took ages. I enjoyed my time with the MT-01 and always felt it would one day become a classic - I just never had the means back then to buy one. Interestingly, we also brought in two of the original MT-03's which were also brilliant, and I have no doubt they would have been much more successful now than they were back then, where again, no-one in SA wanted a naked single cylinder bike that was tuned for torque and not speed.

[@sam1812seal]

Ironic that they originally marketed the MT01 as “the new VMax” when it was the actual new VMax in 2009 that eventually killed it off.

[@PhilbyFavourites]

Same in UK, they were over priced and the dealers couldn’t give them away.

[@Speedytrip]

I owned 2 of these, best smile producing bike out there.

[@motokenko1623]

An engine that showed Harley and Indian how to engineer a V Twin. I wish I had bought one when I was resident in The Netherlands, a few years after my Buell x1. 😊. Glad to see an appreciated MC journalist beating the C. You are most welcome to share two wheels in Japan. 🇯🇵

[@corujariousa]

For some reason that never came to the US market. It is a beautiful bike! It would be great to see it launched with upgraded dash, engine, electronics but keeping the same design.

[@ahmedaskar1720]

Thanks for the content. I appreciate the effort behind it 💯

[@tomstc]

I have one, love it and love the attention it gets

[@jala6707]

I bought a 2009 MT-01 with only 20,000 km a few years ago. They are cheap now here in Canada, for the same reason I guess as why they never really sold well: buyers are still obsessed with horsepower and who wants a cruiser that looks and rides like a sport bike? And yes, it takes a bit of time to get used to the bike. It IS different than other motorcycles. But once you get hooked to the combination of ridiculous torque, fantastic sound, and sporty frame & body, you can't go back! What a great bike!!

[@joek81981]

I've never seen this bike before. If it had a color screen, you could tell me it was brand new and I'd probably believe you. Those headers aren't it, but the rest is kinda timeless.

[@sam1812seal]

The MT-01 was effectively replaced by the updated 2009 VMax. Same idea of a cruiser with a 1700cc engine and all the torques, but the change from V2 to V4 meant that it came with heaps of BHP too, that the old MT01 was sadly lacking.

[@yonniboy1]

Spot on!

[@mociczyczki]

vmax is not in the same class as mt01 ,it have cruiserlet say power cruiser engine but oversll geometry seating position is basicallly naked bike not cruiser/choper bike mt01 whellbase 152,5 cm seat hight 82,5 cm rake 27 degrees with more weight at front whelll and higher centre of gravity is defenitelly closer specifiacation to typical sportnaked bikes rather than cruiser/chopper bike vs vmax with ots 170 cm whellbase 77,5 cm seat hight and 31 degreee rake with less weight at front whell lower footpeg oversll higher weight cos 310 vs 265 kg and lower centre of grwvoty hight is defenitely closer to typical cruiser/ chopper type class bike 😉👌🏻 whats funny is that its mt01 which have more like cruiser bike engine characteristics with lower reving biger storke and lower on rpm peak hp and nm with higher nm absolite numbers than hp vs vmax v4 is more like from some big sport touring bike shorter stroke more cylinders both peak nm and hp at much higher rpm and peak nm absolite numbers lower than peak hp …but class bike for road aplocstion is more determined be geometry seating position weight distributioon rather than pire engine techspec characteristics so yea mt01 =naked vmax cruiser/chopper …. but yes vmax is alot faster at straight thanks massive power advantage 200 vs 90 hp though in corners mt01 is probably faster cos of biger lean angle and higher centre of gravity + tire size required lesss lean at the dame speed and on twisty road with short straight mt01 should beat vmax 👌🏻.

[@mat_from_ballarat]

I nearly bought one of these a couple of years ago. I still regret not doing it. Maybe one day.

[@MrBlueberrypie44]

Be nice to actually hear the thing... was the microphone actually a potato?

[@dutchyjhome]

As far as I know Yamaha started this sequel in the 80s with the bike called the Yamaha TR1 in Europe and was in fact the predecessor of the Yamaha BT1100 Bulldog which was the predecessor of my Yamaha MT-01; Every time they did the same: Take a cruiser V-twin engine and put that cruiser engine in to a street bike, you know a more straight up naked bike. In fact, the Yamaha MT-01 is fully based up on a Yamaha R1; framework and suspension wise spoken. They basically took a 2005 Yamaha R1, they took off all fairings and took out the water cooled high performance R1 4-cylinder engine, and they put in the R1 frame a Yamaha Warrior 1700 air cooled engine. All suspension remained R1 spec: so the front fork is R1, the brakes are R1 the rear fork is R1 and so the ride feels like a R1, but with a thumping 1700 Cc Air cooled V-twin. In my modest opinion, you can have a blast of fun with this comfortable 150Nm Torque bike which drags you through canyons and hairpins like they're not even there...

[@BudoReflex]

Didn’t know it existed. What a beautiful bike.

[@nelsonho8327]

I am so lucky to have this bike in my garage

[@jameswaterhouse-brown6646]

What a very cool bike. I love it.

[@Jimo368]

Closest thing would be a Buell

[@kostasjezuz4846]

Right, only the Buells of the time were WAY lighter!

[@kostasjezuz4846]

Yamaha was SO obsessed with Buell back then, they made the MT-01 and then made the R1 look like a Firebolt...

[@Wileylikethehawk]

There’s one of these for sale locally and I’ve definitely been tempted.

[@nukezat]

Criminal it skipped the us, but with the Harley fever I can see Yamahas thinking

[@jamesonpace726]

I remember. Very cool & very expensive. Ya can't sell "different" & high priced at the same time....

[@Dzinbhudist]

My old bike so good memories about it ❤ had warrior which has basically same engine, now enjoying raider with 1900cc and 2nd gen vmax :) you can call me yama fan boy and i wont be dissapointed by that statament :)

[@bigred8438]

Always wanted one of these but ended up with XV1900 Roadliner instead. I thought that if the MT-01 had any of the characteristics of its bigger engined brother the Roadliner, it could be dangerous in a racing frame with racing suspension. The torque on this engine is completely addictive, and with a very handy power output to, I would have been telling the BUELL to move over.

[@fujin09]

22000 rpm :-D.I have one since 2010, 110k, but need to part with it due to local emission regulations. It's not allowed anymore in my city from 2025 onwards. Really unfortunate cause it's my only motorized vehicle (besides an e-bike that i use daily unlike the MT01).

[@monsterslayer4317]

I don't get it, a Harley killer offshoot, and it never came to the US? Damn...

[@Errol.C-nz]

The other air cooled Sport Cruizer would be a highly interesting comaprison.. Victory Hammer S vs MT01

[@michaelarchangel1163]

I wonder how many buyers went the whole hog with this bike, having the Yamaha Stage 3 kit fitted, with cams, throttle bodies, intake and exhaust. I did see a full fat one for sale on eBay several years ago.

[@drdoolittle5724]

Could not agree more, my little Honda 700 with 62 NM and DCT, makes me just do acceleration tests all the time and beat most up to 60!

[@Dzinbhudist]

Ahahaha beat up scooters 🤣🤣🤣

[@mikehimes4833]

Hey don’t worry about that helmet strap

[@dshiloh3577]

I put to shame numerous sports bikes and wannabes at the twisties every weekend. It's got great cornering abilities + it will pull in 3rd gear outa the corner with pride. Not fast at the striegt patches due to 5 gears only, and a push rod engine. 125,000 km on my 2005 model, no issues.

[@marcalmunozborras6769]

Buyin' it next week ;)

[@michaelhart5886]

A friend has one here in Sydney Australia and wont ever part with it

[@kalnwi2023]

2006 ?

[@leward]

Unfortunately, they never sold them in the U.S. Had to buy in Canada if you really wanted one.

[@peterkoning21]

I remember these as the V-Max replacement....but Yamaha fucked up and it was NOT the replacement every one wanted and expected.

[@DarkRiderMotovlogs]

Criminal pricing, that bike was launched at R95 000 in 2006...

[@BarnettSpeedSuzukiThou]

22k rpm eh? Lol

[@DavidMorisset]

You open the throttle a Thunder happens. 😂😂😅

[@Patshes]

🆒😎💪!

[@ragarse3]

Nigel - really???

[@simonlye007]

"Ooh! Listen to that!". Sorry, bike reviewer, I can't hear any engine sound because you AREN'T USING AN EXTERNAL MICROPHONE!

[@stevejones1318]

These 'tests' of dealer's bikes are thinly veiled advertisements. Interesting bike though. Torque trumps power when you're over 30.

[@patrickbakjensen7561]

Its a stupid bike in all ways!! They take 1700 Road Wavriror and through the engine in af naked bike - then it lost the bestdrive and got a 15 liter tank ??? Why? The Bulldog that was a spin of on a Dragstar had the same shart drive and a big 20 liter tank...to only 1100cc. With all that said I truely love the MT-01 😁

[@numbersix7193]

That is the worst looking bike I have ever seen.

[@AlexPtc89]

Too bad the sound is so garbage on this clip.

[@geraldscott4302]

That's a Roadstar engine, the rest of it is an absolute nightmare. One of the ugliest bikes I've ever seen (except for the '17 and later Honda Rebels of course)