Two years ago we wrote about the Yamaha MWT-9, a sport bike with two wheels up front, it looked mean and nasty, in a good way. At that time, leaning 3 wheelers had been out for years in scooter form and some companies were building conversions for big tilting touring rigs, but the obvious question was, why not on something more sporty? The MWT-9 looked like Yamaha was on track, but with only teaser video and a few promotional images, who knew if they were really serious. Well, I guess they were, because the Yamaha Niken looks like it’s about to go into production. It’s set to be unveiled on November 6th at EICMA.
Leaning 3 wheelers have a lot going for them, greater stability, much greater traction in the corners, especially on questionable surfaces and twice the braking power up front. Combine those qualities in a sport bike package and you practically have a whole new performance segment. If this is actually going on sale as seems to be the case, a lot of other manufacturers are going to be watching with mixed emotions, hoping the motorcycle market can get a big boost from a new platform while wondering how soon they’ll be able to come up with their own version so they can catch up.
Yamaha isn’t a stranger to trying new configurations in the showroom, their GTS1000 brought single sided swingarm technology to the front wheel, though that model suffered from bureaucratic design issues that compromised what could have been a much better bike. The Niken looks very close to the concept revealed two years ago, so maybe the team that put it together in the first place was able to carry it through.
Riders are already on all kinds of 3 wheelers, Harley trikes, Gold Wings, Slingshots, Can-Am Spyders and of course the leaning Piaggio MP3, but this is a much bigger leap in the performance direction and the appearance is so different when approached from head on, some will shy away, riders tend to be more talk than action when it comes to actually buying what they say they want or anything too far out of the ordinary. I see it as the natural look of 3 wheel performance and I have no issues with it at all, I kinda like it, besides, if road tests show it works as well as anticipated, it may be a real winner.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it APPEARS it will be produced, but until the November press introduction, we’ll just have to wait for details and see. I hope it’s on tap and ready to go and I really hope it’s a huge success. If Yamaha puts this is showrooms, we should all stand up and cheer.
UPDATE: No question it’s coming, I was just on the Yamaha website, … and, there it is:
Peter Boyle says
looks weird, like the e-wheel Bombardier/BRP/Can-AM things
Charlie says
I wonder how well planted the front will be in corners with the seemingly small support at the top of the triple clamps. The lateral loading the wheels are going to generate could put a lot of flex into the pieces on quick transitions at a sport pace. The MP3’s front end uses shocks instead of forks to help isolate that, and to remove stiction in the suspension action. I would guess that’s part of why they went for the four tube design instead of arms and shocks like most tilters are using.
If Yamaha nailed it, though, I’ll be selling the MP3 to make room for one of these!
todd says
I can’t see braking being improved since the current limits are weight transfer, not traction. Acceleration may improve since the limit there is also weight transfer and there looks to be twice the weight up front on this holding the bike down.
Handling? It didn’t look as though the rider was moving all that fast. The bike wasn’t leaned over a ton and lean angle is likely comprised anyway. If I see a test and this makes it around a road course faster than a FZ-07 then I’ll be impressed.
George says
This article is a bit misleading. “Twice the braking power up front” may be true, But that doesn’t mean that translates to half or a third shorter braking distance. Piaggio claims, I believe 20% better braking performance from their 3 wheel MP3 over a two wheel motorcycle.
Paul Crowe says
On a good, clean, high traction road surface, a single tire brakes very well, but when traction is compromised, perhaps it’s raining or there is dirt or gravel in the road, the second tire doubles your chances of getting a grip and would very likely stop you sooner, maybe a lot sooner, but I don’t know how that translates into percentage of stopping distance. Every situation is different, the second tire is sort of a belt and suspenders thing.
I didn’t say anything about handling a road course in the article, but on normal roads, where all sorts of debris can find its way on to the surface, not to mention oils and lubricants of all kinds, plus potholes and who knows what else, the second tire could add an extra margin of safety, allowing recovery from a loss of traction where a normal bike would be down.
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Charlie says
Braking will be improved. At the utter, absolute limit, no, it won’t matter much. Most people can’t get there. They’re not even close. I’ve let some friends that are good track day riders play with my KTM Superduke R with its ABS on and off. They’re well off, 20 feet or more from 60mph, of what the bike can do. These are good riders on clean pavement with clearly set stop lines. Maybe they’re just being nice and not wanting to scuff up a nice bike.
From owning and riding my MP3, I can tell you it’s slid a tire and the other one let the bike keep tracking in braking in curves with trash (dirt/pebbles) in them. I was doing it on purpose and riding harder then I should have been, but I can tell you the system works. I wasn’t even close to crashing, and I was all but trying to at one point (the MP3 is a $1500 beater that just won’t die!). It’s a different but very cool experience to ride it. I’ve even taken it down some simple single track and dirt roads, and other than plastic creaking (it’s a heavy, 500lbs, under damped little beastie) it handled it quite well, considering it’s a street bike.
Lean angle is probably all you’re going to want to use, too. Sure, on a track, it’ll be less than you need, but that’s not what these are aimed at. The MP3 has a lean angle of about 40 degrees, and I’d suspect the Yamaha would be similar. The MP3 can hustle along with most sport bikes on the street, at least till the throttle comes into play. Then, we get gapped, badly. Just makes it all the more fun to catch up again at the real apex of the next curve!
Jeff says
This video shows a lot of benefits…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mthB475hEk
Paul Crowe says
Good video, Jeff, Thanks.
Bob says
A new form with, in my opinion, too much old design baggage to keep it “Familiar”. What thrills me is the potential for design development. And that someone in the motorcycle business actually has the will to do something innovative. I both hope that they succeed wildly and go on to an exciting future – and fear that innovation in the motorcycle business will be even further stifled if they fail.
I’m somewhat surprised that a cruiser version wasn’t built first – something like a “Penster” – something far more exciting a TriteGlide.
I also wonder how much “Engineering by patent evasion” is in effect on this design.
And, yes, nice to see life here at The Kneeslider as well!
Paul Crowe says
I’m not sure about the patent issue, but it is interesting how many variations of leaning mechanisms they’ve tried. All of those previous concepts, whether three or four wheeled, appear to have used different methods of getting everything to tilt. The OR2T and Tesseract 4 wheelers were different and so is this. They had a lot of ideas and this one must have worked pretty well, enough to give them the confidence it will work for production.
If this is successful and people buy it and if it gets potential customers over the “different” looks, maybe a cruiser of some sort is in the works, too. Keeping a semi-familiar look may be necessary to get people used to the idea before going whole hog into multiple models.
I bet this converts some of those Can-Am riders, too.
Jeff says
the video I posted showed they put the front end on a V-Star 1300 for testing….you have to look hard…but a still pic of it is in there.
Paul Crowe says
Did you mean this? I’m not sure what model that is, but whatever the case it’s really cool they’re trying two wheels on so many platforms, including cruisers. Sharp eye, Jeff.
Mick Dimunno says
Ok I don’t get it
I race bikes and it’s all about ” get it lighter” which means faster to get up , and faster to stop.
This is the complete opposite, let’s add more stuff we don’t need to make something heavier and slower, it seams counter productive,
In an age that’s about efficiency and striving for better performance from power to weight ratio, this is useless except for the novelty factor.
It’s a nice hairstyle
Paul Crowe says
It doesn’t appear to be aimed at racing. If you watch the video in Jeff’s comment above, there is animation showing uneven road surfaces and as I noted above, it gives you an edge on real roads where the surface isn’t maintained and kept free of debris like a track. An R1 on race tires isn’t the best tool either, when it comes to corners where potholes, gravel and dirt might be up ahead.
A lot of riders aren’t looking for the lightest, most flickable track weapon, they want a stable platform that’s still fun to ride. Like those tilting conversions for Gold Wings and Electra Glides, better that than a trike that won’t lean at all.
Of course, if you had a bunch of these, there’s no reason you couldn’t race them in their own class or series.