Manufacturers have ways of teasing, sometimes nearly torturing us, with concepts, trademarks, and design patents that we want to go into production but sadly never do. Heck, sometimes they even go into production, but you'll still never see one—yes, Yamaha, we're looking at you and the XSR900 GP.
When murmurs of the R9 turned into near-factual statements, it was understandable for some people to be a bit weary. Well, for those who were hesitant to let themselves believe, it appears Yamaha has given you the green light.
In a recent Instagram reel on Yamaha Motors USA and European accounts, we get glimpses of a motorcycle and a countdown timer that stops at nine. The description reads, "A new era is rising. October 9th."
I'd go as far as to say if Yamaha doesn't officially announce the R9 on October 9th, it's one of the nastiest things a motorcycle manufacturer has done recently.
Assuming it's the R9, all we can really assume is that it will replace the supersport-shaped hole in Yamaha's lineup after it discontinued the R6 in 2020. The R9 will almost certainly use Yamaha's CP3 engine, which I think is one of the most fun on our roads today. But, if it's going to power a supersport, hopefully, it'll be modified to have a bit more grunt high in the rev range.
I have a sneaking suspicion the chassis will also be fairly formidable, as it was on the R6. But since leaving the supersport niche, Yamaha has put work into its sporty middleweight naked offering, the MT-09 SP. I hope we'll see some of the SP's bling parts and electronics featured on the R9.
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