To the victor, the spoils. This means in the case of the Yamaha MT-10 it gets the Fast Bikes’ New Bike of the Year Addiction treatment – and who would have thought that this time last year when the cover was pulled off the bike to a collective gasp – Simpsons aficionados will hark back to the unveiling of The Homer… Even enthusiasts of the concept wouldn’t have necessarily thought the model worthy of poster pagination – although that’s all changed now.
The bike’s radical manga-esque styling got all the initial attention, and with the bike still nearly six months off being ridden all anyone could pass judgement on was the bike’s looks. But come launch time the looks were the last thing on anyone’s mind – just surviving the day without being locked up would be the achievement here. The MT-10 is finally the promise of the stripped off superbike that we thought we were getting in the days of the Fazer and Hornet. Tuned for a proper knees up, the crossplane crank motor offers everything a road would need, with Yamaha leaving enough of the R1 in to ensure this naked missile would have a guidance system built in.