Yamaha Trademarks 'YZF-R9' In India — New Sportsbike On The Way?

Yamaha had over the past three months ago in August filed and later received the trademarks for the R9 name in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Japanese bikemaker had also patented the YZF-R9 name in the Philippines at around the same time.

All these trademark filings suggest that Yamaha is finally bringing a sports bike to bridge the massive gap between the 73bhp R7 and the 200bhp R1 on the road. Sure there is the R6 Race, but that motorcycle is a track-only weapon meaning that it is quite useless on the road.

The all-new Yamaha YZF-R9 is expected to be based on the MT-09 naked streetfighter. The reasons for Yamaha to move in this direction can be seen in the past with the R7 which was basically a skinned over MT-07. However, the new R9 is expected to be based on the MT-09 SP which brings with it a host of upgrades over the standard MT-09.

The Yamaha MT-09 SP is powered by an all-new Liquid-cooled DOHC three cylinder 890cc engine that produces 117.3bhp at 10,000rpm and 93Nm of peak torque at 7,000rpm. The engine is paired to a 6-speed manual transmission with an assist and slipper clutch.

These upgrades include fully adjustable 41mm KYB front forks which feature separate high and low speed compression damping. The rear suspension duties are handled by a fully adjustable Ohlins mono-shock setup and a double-sided aluminium swingarm. The MT-09 also features a die-cast alloy beam frame.

Braking duties on the MT-09 SP are handled by a 298mm disc brake up front and a 245mm disc at the rear. The MT-09 SP also sports 17-inch lightweight spin forged alloy wheels. These wheels are the lightest ever fitted to a production-spec Yamaha motorcycle. The wheels are shod with a 120/70 ZR17M/C tyre up front and a 180/55 ZR17M/C tyre at the rear.

The MT-09 SP features all the things needed by Yamaha to form the basis of the all-new R9. All the Japanese marque needs to make the new R9 seem to be some dropped handlebars, rearset pegs for the rider, a quick shifter and a proper fairing to make this a rather convincing super sportbike.

In terms of its looks, the all-new R9 is expected to feature a design quite similar to the one seen on the R7. The bike could feature either single or dual headlights (like in the larger R1), a minimal frontal area and heavily sculpted fairing on the sides.

Thoughts On the Yamaha R9

Yamaha looks to be finally looking at filling the massive horsepower gap between the R7 and the R1, which would scare any rider looking to upgrade from the smaller bike to a larger bike. With the MT-09 SP as the base, Yamaha really could have a brilliant bike in the upcoming R9. If the new bike does meet the high standards of Yamaha's other sports bikes, we could have another proper firecracker on our hands.