Yamaha’s offering suits the young rider

By Renaud Amand

October 16 2014, 5:57 pm

Renaud Amand takes Yamaha’s MT-125 for a spin.

You’ve just turned 18, you’ve got your A1 motorcycle licence in hand and you want it all. Something cool; something that makes a statement. After two years of working double shifts in your minimum wage summer job and saving like a madman, you’ve finally amassed a modest fortune, enough for your first set of wheels.

The new Yamaha MT range has caught your eye. And why wouldn’t it? The thing is… you’ve just turned 18, and you can’t have it all.

UK law restricts you from riding anything bigger than 125cc. You are restricted to 15 horsepower for yet another year, despite the fact that your tweaked moped is easily as nippy as a 125cc and has far from adequate brakes.

So, you can vote, get married, apply for a mortgage and have credit cards. You can even be called for jury service, but you can’t ride a Yamaha MT. Or can you?

Yamaha’s new MT-125 is the answer. It’s seriously cool, using the YZF-R125’s underthings but without the potential money-pit of a vulnerable fairing or a riding position that makes your wrists feel like they’re broken.

The MT-125 looks far bolder and chunkier than it really is. The front end’s LED daytime running lights give it some maturity and despite having a skinny rear tyre, you still wouldn’t assume that its top speed, with its rider lying flat on the tank and a tail wind behind, is only a gnat’s wing past 80mph.

Yamaha’s engineers have done everything in their power to make the modest power output as accessible as possible, whatever revs are showing on the counter. There’s no need to constantly chase the redline around town if you want to keep the bike responsive. It picks eagerly up from as low as 4,000rpm, and while it’s no torque-rich bruiser like the bigger MTs, it’s more flexible than you’d think.

That said, you need everything the 125cc engine has as soon as the traffic starts flowing, and it’s soon clear that the throttle should be treated as an on/off switch. It’s all or nothing with the baby MT and ‘all’ is the better option as often as possible in order to keep hold of as much momentum and speed as possible.

Like every 125, every mile per hour is worth pure gold and if you want to make good progress you’ll need to avoid the brakes – if you safely can. Thankfully, the MT’s brakes are mighty stoppers when you do need to call on them. There is a firm, predictable single caliper at the rear and a powerful radial four-piston caliper that offers pretty precise feedback at the front.

At just 138kg when ready for the road, the MT is well balanced for sporty riding. The bike turns practically on the spot and corners with the lightest of inputs at the bars. It flicks through bends with ease, the non-adjustable suspension and skinny Michelin Pilot Street tyres eventually squirming under the pressure as they reach their respective limits. As for uphill sections, every one of those Japanese stallion counts if you want to reach the summit with any speed left.

As a first introduction into the world of motorcycling, you can’t go far wrong with the MT-125. It has a fancy digital dash, a roomy riding position, a novice-friendly 810mm seat height, the mirrors are effective and the fuel consumption is a frugal 94mpg according to the onboard computer.

Perhaps your age is a limiting factor in choice as far as motorcycles go and the MT-125 could hit your wallet pretty hard with its expected £4,000 ball-park price tag, but at least Yamaha are trying to entice the next generation of motorcyclists with this very appealing, totally legal 125.