I managed to get a ride on a working MT09 at a different dealer, so what's it like.
After signing my wife's inheritance away I was shown the bike and given the brief, shock horror this thing has no gear lever or clutch lever. It's the AMT automatic/electro mechanical clutch system and it was keyless so it was tuned on by the cooker hob nob.
I sat on the bike to get familiar with all the bits and adjust the mirrors, it felt odd as there is no clutch lever so the bar looks as if there is something missing (which there is). The right bar has the start stop switch, a mode switch and the AT (Automatic Transmission)/MT (Manual Transmission) button. Left bar has the up down shifter underneath, the horn and indicator switch in their usual place but the indicator switch is odd in that it is a two position rocker, not a three position slider. There is a joy stick navigation switch above that and above that the cruise controls. The Dash is the familiar TFT with revs running across the top, gear and speed in the middle and three boxes along the bottom which controls all the trips, time, fuel etc. To start the bike the front brake has to be pulled as it's always in gear when the engine is running.
Pulling out of the forecourt felt well odd without a clutch but we were away and the bike felt quite smooth as it run up the gears, I found it quite a simple task to modulate slow speed manoeuvring using the throttle and back brake, so filtering was dead easy. A quick dab of the front brake showed it was well up to the job. Once out on open roads the gears change very quickly and smoothly, it was very impressive, in slower town traffic I noticed every gear change and second to firt always came with a little bang/crash but it was still fine. I tried manual mode but it's not as good as auto so I left it alone after that. In D (Drive) there are two modes. D the bike changes on torque and in D+ it changes on power, so it's just like an auto car. The indicator switch is different to other bikes in that it's an open L shaped rocker, so press for left and press again to stop. For right it's a push right to indicate and another push to stop, the up side is they auto cancel.
The bike is quite firmly sprung and very flick-able, not KTM lively but better than a lot of other bikes, brakes are excellent and the handling is quite secure, inspiring a lot of confidence in the twisty bits. The seat is quite comfortable but there is an annoying vibration coming through the tank all time and at all speeds. As my legs are long my knee joint was constantly pressing on the tank and it became a distraction. Dealer later told me Yamaha offer rubber knee pads to damp this out, so they know about it. It is quite a small bike so by the end of my ride it was nice to get off and stretch out.
Playing with the different display information I found that the three boxes at the bottom of the display can all be changed to display what ever information you wanted so is highly customisable, they can all display the same or whatever you wanted and when you has finished only one box is active so scrolling only changes that box, it's bloody brilliant. All test rides must end and although I really enjoyed my ride on the MT09 AMT it's not really the one for me, it's a bit small for me, the tank vibration was very distracting, I'm very suspicious of the strength of the cooker hob nob and I still prefer a gear lever, even though I drive an automatic car, a car for me is just transport, and it's no looker. However the good bits really are good, the auto box changes just about the same time I would have changed, it handles and brakes very well and it sips fuel, my test showed 62.6 miles to the gallon and the cruise works well. So I took it back to the dealer and went and bought the bike I thought best met my needs.
Soooo, does that last sentence mean you brought a MT09 then? What were your needs?
I've always likes MT09's.
But don't think I would cut my left hand and foot off.