CRASH TEST: Yamaha Niken vs MT-09 | Is there more grip? 

Find out more here, including measurements of the contact patch: www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bikes/long-term-test-bikes/yamaha-long-term-test-bikes/can-you-crash-yamaha-niken

this music does a permanent brain damage....

Seriously Lower the music otherwise good content.

Excellent test and interesting results, thanks for sharing! Turn the music down though, it’s distracting and too loud.

Recently a journalist (also a good pilot) has beaten by 2s the record on wet track on a Pirelli test track with the Niken

the big benefit of two front wheels shows up in bad pavement situations. If your commute involves urban stretches with potholes or trolly tracks you'll love it.

Very informative conversation, I'm grateful that you had a very competent and articulate professional talking this through. Terrible music though. Still voted up because I needed this information on this dual front wheel concept.

Came for the music. Wasn't disappointed.

Thanks guys for putting all this effort into and also for the excellent explanation of what the limit feels like on the Niken.

As an owner of a month old Yamaha Niken GT with 2,600 miles on the clock I found this very interesting. As a 55yr old Motorcycle Instructor I have owned all sorts of bikes in the 38 years since passing my test including in the last 7 years, 5 Triumph Explorers covering over 85,000 miles. Having watched the excellent shots of the Niken sliding progressively across the wet tarmac and Chris`s excellent description of that feeling in your stomach when the bike "lets go" reminded me of a very wet day 2 weeks ago and the same thing happened to me on a roundabout the front "tucked" but gave me time with a bit of opposite lock to push the bike back up and then on acceleration out of the roundabout lit up the rear tyre to the point i actually stopped to check I hadn't got a puncture!! Certainly saved me from an unplanned dismount! The Niken GT is definitely a "marmite bike" from the reaction I have had so far amongst fellow bikers but without doubt in 38 years I have never had so many non-bikers look at a bike so much. Everybody wants to know about it. Fuel stops take twice as long! Plus points :- The most comfortable bike I have owned. Excellent slow speed control (very useful following 16yr olds on a CBT!) Gets me noticed!! Bad Points :- Apart from good natured abuse (so far) I will let ya know.

If I hadn't bought two motorcycles before the Niken was released, it would be one of the bikes in my garage. I'm digging that bike.

Man I’d love to have a go with these outriggers.... such a great way to really find the limits ;)

I took a niken out at MCN festival for a giggle but I've got to admit I was impressed. It's not going to replace the ninja any time soon but kudos to Yamaha for the concept.

test would be interesting with cornering abs

Thank you for posting - proper critical analysis!

6:35 oof, yeah, that's exactly the feeling

Great video, well done!

Thanks this was a test I did not know I needed to see but it helps a lot with my choice

i'd really like to see just the go round footage, no music, no commentary, just data, plz & thx

Sounds like there is much less risk of highsiding on a Niken given how it doesn’t whip back up.

Happy to see innovation

Thanks for taking considerable effort in this demonstration. It is a great advance and well done to Yamaha for pursuing it. I would be very tempted in this tech if Yamaha made it with a fully enclosed cockpit. What would be good to know also is how ABS impacted your tests and results. Did you still have ABS engaged and did it help mid-corner?

Thank you for this!

Great info although not a surprising result. Some actual numbers would be helpful. For example, just how much faster can you ride the Niken in a corner? what is the lean angle limit? Wet vs. dry performance? Were you using traction control and anti-lock braking? (Just FYI, I have an MP3 500 with traction control and anti-lock braking with the same advantages but without the high performance of the Niken.)

love the front calipers on the mt09 reminds me of early 2000s r6s and fazers

Good informative video nut agree about the background nois

what are those bridgestone things called? looks like they can apply a force and lean a stationary bike

Awesome Mongolian throat singing at 4:03

I was going to buy it, but the pegs scraping on EVERY corner made me crazy when i tried it. Was going to be the first bike bought by my brain and no my heart so the looks didn´t mattered. At 47 after 30 sportbikes and not riding since my Little daughter arrived 4 years ago i think i´m the target for this bike, but still have bad habits on the roads and 45º it´s not enough. The main problem is that it give you toooooooooo much confident making you forget that you are in a bike and you are mortal.

Does the outrigger only work on the MT09 chassis?

I love the music! It’s somewhere available?

I saw the gold forks version today for the first time . That's how I ended up here. The engineering of the front forks fascinated me . These days of multiple potholes probably makes it one of the safest bikes to ride.

What happened with counter steering method?

Excellent info chaps. Well done! One thing you didn't mention was the Piaggio MP3, the pioneer in this TTW field - and with the fork legs inside the wheels, not outside. That would have been an obvious addition to the comparo - an MP3 500.

Skip the music next time

It's an interesting idea. I'm sure it's got more grip. I would love to have a go on one . What is it like filtering in traffic ? It's then really heavy and expensive, I really doubt they'll be selling that many of these machines.

real question is given the required skill to master each configuration, which is faster around a sharper corner?

Annoying music or not.... I want a Niken!! :). Great video.

Ok sir

Has anyone else noticed that although they are counter-steering the bars, the front tire does not point toward the outside of the turn like a normal two wheeler does in a counter-steered state. I've watched several videos and this seems to be the case in all of them, hmm. 3:05. So all though the Niken gets the tire(s) to the inside radius of the tire, it does it in a totally different method with all that linkage, and if that's the case, then the fact that it countersteers is an added in affect by the engineers to make it feel and steer like a two wheeler, they could have made it a non-counter-steering mechanism. It seems that the steering mechanism forces a lateral movement to inside radius. Where with a two wheeler, counter steering is a function of the bike folding at the steering head due to the front contact patch being moved off axis with the rest of the bike. Does that make sense to anyone else, or did I have to much sugar today?

im gonna need that outriggers or whatever in my daily commute. i need the confidence!!

Niken's not my pint of Guinness, but you do make some good videos! Cheers!

If theres a 1200cc i volunteer to test it!

cracking test and the results are expected, I recently took a Niken out for a demo and the front end stability is very noticeable, also - its WAY more fun to ride than i expected. :-)

I love how he was worried about damaging the bike and Yamaha being mad and not himself.

Nice video, but the music is way too loud, damn.

Sure it has more traction in the wet, but I'd like to see what it's actually capable of on a dry track. Then see how well it keeps up with the other bike. It's no good if it's only a one trick pony.

The exhausts are not cleaned after welding in the factory. Quite annoying on the mt series!

Would you do a video on the sound of these three wheelers. I think that the major reason some are slow, including myself, about switching from a Harley is the thrill of the sound. The vibration of that power and the sound that rumbles to one's ears like thunder. I love it, but it just isn't something found in these other brands. I meaning that sound rumbling from the pipes and it is the MAJOR reason I do not switch although I would like to. I don't like trikes, but this NIKEN GT idea is really cool to my taste, but not enough to give up the rolling thunder sound of my HarleyD Ultra. I hope HD is listening and comes out with their own version plus the beautiful sound of those pipes.

I wish I could buy those side wheels (outrig) for my everyday ride.

It's hard to pay attention with the music

Can countersteer be applied on the Niken aswell?

Since the main goal was to get a larger contact patch, can't we do that on a conventional motorcycle by using a wider front tire ? And if we want to make the breakaway more predictable, why not use a harder rubber compound ?

Interesting concept. This could be a way to make bikes faster than cars around bends - more grip. Two real wheels + leaning might be even better?

You, guys, made exactly the same mistake in your test that Germans already did previously in their similar test: YOU CHOSE THE WRONG BIKE! The only straightforward two-wheeled analogue to the NIKEN is Tracer 900. Since NIKEN is, basically, a three-wheeled version of Tracer. So that's the bike you should have to choose for this test, obviously. But you, guys, cheated, and chose the MT-09 instead, which is 21 kg lighter, and has lower center of gravity than the Tracer. That makes this test (MT-09 vs. NIKEN) unfair. Tracer vs. the NIKEN would be the only perfectly fair. But not this.

Very cool test.

Wow independent tests backs Yamaha. I just wish the bike was in my price range but never mind.

I think the Niken could dominate on the track if they can figure out a way to shrink the front down so it's not so massive and unwieldy. I also wonder how it compares to just running a single giant 240 tire in the front instead of duel 120's.

Name song theme?

It is a great trike. But it could move better on small rocks. Still I do like the boost and jump functions. ;)

Great test and review. If I could afford it, I'd get a Niken, but it's just out of reach for me.

what caused the bikes to lose traction? you were nowhere near the maximum lean angle when you see them jump.

The mt09 also had a far tighter line.

As the tech gets better, I can see more of these three wheeled bikes being offered from all the big manufacturers.

Music too loud but thanks for the content!

Chris Northover over here.

the music is much more faster than the motorcycle itself

Why three wheels? Because a set of supersport tyres aren't expensive enough

So what's the conclusion? The Niken inspires more confidence and increases limits but is ultimately slower than the mt09 because of the weight?

Scary test

Once the two frontwheels of my Yamaha Tricity lost contact in a curve on a icy street. Me, rolling over the street, couldn´t find a difference in falling from a two wheel bike. ;-)

Testing on a smooth track built for racing. I'd like to see that tested on country roads in Australia, or even in some suburbs. You'd come off and I'm pretty sure you would end up with some pretty serious injuries.

Great video but what's with the terrible music?????

I also say get rid of that damn music or let it play gently in the back round not in your face.... shesh!

Like listening to the monster from 'the ring'

Lost me with the music...

Why the mt09, should have used the tracer, it is more alike!

More bike action would have been interesting, just the chat and odd clip did not really show the difference that well chaps.

Music to aid the vomitting process.

I'm the only one who liked the music and the audio mixing I guess? (I Used to work as a mix engineer)

I wasn't sceptical at all...

I’m not ready to go for the Niken but it is a bike and it looks like fun, I can see that if I was older this might give me that little extra to carry on riding. Upon pricing one of these to the level I would my BMW r1250 Rt it’s hard to ignore how expensive this thing is. £22k for a full spec and it’s an 800cc, the pannier and top box are small and a completely unusable shape. I’m not sure they have their maths right, nobody is paying this much for that bike surely.

the rave in the next field over should keep it down

I can see how the niken would have a grip advantage when pushed to its limits, but the extra weight means it could never be a competitive racer anyway. In normal road riding the extra grip would be redundant and the extra weight a liability. So i strikes me as an interesting design idea, with no real practical application. You could increase the grip further by adding two extra wheels instead of one - they are called 'cars'.

try it with rosso corsa 3..never fall..

Well if you were to ride the bike normally and not jam on the front brakes going round a corner in the wet, you'll be fine.

I’m sold on the Niken

Watches video, scratches head. Watches video, scratches head. Goes for a 100 mile fun ride on my "old school" FJ 1100 to clear my thoughts.

Turn the music up louder please And flashing lights

But can you back it in?

I don't think using the tires for the niken on the 09 was fair. You could have just as easily put the 09s tires on the niken and had a completely different result. The best test is having both bikes run the tires they are designed to run. That what it will be in the real world...

I love a test that starts with few minutes of this is all the mods from stock extra weight, outruggers tires blah blah blah then the tests... result inaccurate information

ultimate commuter bike

Why is that god awful music four times the volume of the voices?

Imagine having to intentionally crash a bike

The music sounds like a teen burping a song. And did they answer the damn question?

i love my niken,its the best in the world..

there's a thing yamaha did called r&d so duhh of course it works. anyways I'd buy it simply because it is unlike any other

Music way too loud

Yeah but who is really stabbing the brakes like that mid corner on their motorcycles in the wet?