[Seeker]

Expectations versus reality.

When I owned a Street Triple I thought the suspension was harsh so had the front forks revalved by Reactive Suspension (York) and, following the ST forum's advice, I ordered a Nitron rear shock set for my weight. The result was disappointing and the lesson was "just because there's a fancy name on the suspension doesn't guarantee a smooth ride". I didn't learn that lesson.

MT09 SP expectation: Floating over potholes whilst glancing down disdainfully at the uneven road surface. Not only did I not score a bulls eye, I'm not even sure I hit the board.

To be fair, I've only covered 110 miles and the suspension was set to mid settings, on the second ride when I'd softened them a little it was better, so I've softened them a bit more but have reached the limit on adjustability. The bike is new so I expect it to soften anyway as the SV did - it took about 5k miles but I may be too light for the springs - I had a quick check on the front preload and was barely getting 30mm sag with it adjusted to minimum (the forks were on mid setting originally), I haven't had chance to check the rear sag but the rear Ohlins comes set to minimum preload anyway. So fancy suspension name does not equal comfort, I have now learned that lesson.

What else: having owned a Street Triple (with 105hp) I expected lunatic acceleration from the Yam and even taking it gently it's a little manic, changing up doesn't seem to slow the acceleration down, makes me wonder what those 200 hp bikes are like. I haven't played with the mode settings yet and left it in the middle setting but it seems a little woolly (?) on initial throttle but then a bit sensitive as you get rolling but that's probably my learning curve. The SV allows you to pull away without touching the throttle because the AL7 onwards automatically raises the revs slightly, not sure I could get away with that on the Yamaha. I haven't tried the quickshifter and on the subject of the gearbox upshifts are good, downshifts a bit clunky/notchy, the SV is much better, again; the bike is new.

I think the seat height is slightly lower than my SV but that might be the custom seat on my SV. The seat is more comfortable than the stock AL7 seat and it's flatter with less incline towards the tank so I can move around a bit more. It weighs slightly less than the SV so maneuvering around the garage or riding at slow speeds is easy.

The instrumentation is too small for my old eyes, there are things being displayed but I'm not sure what, beyond speed/revs/gear/time. I'm used to zeroing the trip meter on petrol fill ups - on the SV, whilst on trip, press and hold the select and it zeroes. The MT only zeroes when it's flashing and it only flashes when it's selected, the "select" button seems to go around the menus one way and the "reset" seems to go the other, so you have to leave "Trip 1" and then return to it, then zero it: seems clumsy. It has all the AL7 menus plus coolant temp (no separate gauge), air temp and once the reserve light comes on it starts counting how many miles you've run. I like the AL7 gauge better but maybe I need to read the manual again.

So I have a bike that will definitely outclass its rider in performance but, as yet, not supplied the "featherbed" (sorry Norton) ride I was expecting. Leaving on a positive note at least I have the building blocks to get there.
It seems to me that there is a gap in the dealership's service. Since the bike has so many variables it would have made sense for a tech to question your riding style and then set the bike up accordingly.