2005 Yamaha MT-01 Photo Gallery

Despite some serious hype, the buying public were not that impressed with the MT-01 in Europe.

Ian gives the MT-01 a little floggin' on the backroads of England.

2005 Yamaha MT-01 Dyno sheet

We have wanted to ride the MT-01 ever since we first layed eyes on it, but to no avail. Lucky for us we have our man in Europe who was able to get his hands on one.

Now as always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the MT-01 certainly looks better from the right-hand side.

The 2005 Yamaha MT-01 is one bad-ass bike. Just look at the way those underseat exhaust pipes are integrated into the rear subframe.

This is definitely a machine that can put a smile on your face on less populated roads.

The MT-01's hybrid nature may be what attracts so much attention and interest, but that combined with a high price tag may also be its main weakness in that it doesn't really know for sure what it wants to be.

When Yamaha showed its outrageous MT-01 last year, the MCUSA staff couldn't wait to test one of the Warrior-engined naked bikes.

The engine is bolted to the chassis using an eight point rigid-mount system, making it a fully-stressed member.

If you think that you are going to get a tire-shredding beast that will outperform sports bikes in the traffic-light GP, you would be wrong. This is no V-Max replacement.

The simple round-faced combined tacho and speedo with its warning lights inset shows its minimalist nature.

The largest V-Twin ever built by Yamaha is bolted to the MT-01 frame via an eight point rigid-mount system.

The positions of the handlebars, seat and footrests give a natural, slightly forward-leaning riding position that distributes your weight fairly evenly through each point of contact with the bike.

Comfort is not an issue, nor is it much an issue for a pillion.

Yamaha's chassis development team therefore had to create a minimalist structure that would also give good handling characteristics.