2024 Yamaha MT-09 – First Look

Ten years ago, Yamaha revealed the MT-09, a naked motorcycle powered by its then-new 847cc CP3 three-cylinder engine. In the following decade, the MT-09 received several updates, including a larger 890cc Triple and, for North America, a rebranding from its original market-specific name of FZ-09. For 2024, Yamaha announced an updated MT-09, with a new tank, sportier ergonomics, and revised electronics.

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2024 Yamaha XSR900 GP Announced for Europe

At long last, Yamaha is introducing a sportbike powered by its CP3 three-cylinder engine. The catch? It’s not the YZF-R9  we’ve been waiting for, but a new XSR900 GP, a retro motorcycle inspired by Yamaha’s YZR Grand Prix racing machines of the ’80s.

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Guide to Motorcycle Rain Gear

Stifling heat in Death Valley. Biting cold in Michigan winters. Hail and snow in the Mojave. Flattening winds in the Texas panhandle. You name it, we’ve ridden through it. Oh yes, include in the list a drenching cyclone in New Zealand. In that one, veritable buckets of rain per minute descended on our group like heaven’s own turbocharged water wastegate, driving us into the nearest general store, looking for new gear to wear. (All we found were wool mittens.)

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Choosing the Right Motorcycle Helmet

For motorcyclists, helmets can range in importance from their most essential piece of riding kit to a mere afterthought. The drivers for this may be complex, but our guess is that the more serious you are about riding, the more serious you are about helmets. And conversely, if you treat riding lightly (perhaps as only a secondary activity), a helmet may register as no more important than a backpack, sunglasses, or shoes.

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What Do I Need to Know About Motorcycle Insurance?

Like bills, deadlines, and taxes in everyday life, motorcycle insurance is something you’ve got to buy and maintain if you want to ride on the street. It’s a hugely complex business based on mathematical models, profit and loss projections, shifting markets and motorcycle types, rider ages, and other fun stuff. If you’re just starting to ride, here’s some of what you may need to know.

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Which Type of Motorcycle is Right for You?


Ah, the good old days. Back when the Watergate scandal was a big deal, so was motorcycling. The industry had exploded in size and scope to historic levels, thanks to the coming of age for Boomers and America’s appetite for outdoor experiences. And yet…in terms of bike choices, you could only buy a standard bike like a Yamaha XS650, a motocross bike like a Penton 125 Six-Day, an “enduro” (on/off road) bike like Yamaha’s DT3 2-stroke, an Italian scooter, or maybe a big hog straight outta Milwaukee. Needed more from your mount? From there, you really did have to bend brackets and turn wrenches to “make it your own,” as current bike advertisers love to say.

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5 Tips for Financing Your Motorcycle


Like it or not, the backbone of American consumer culture is financing. It’s a honeytrap, that nice new bike, gleaming with promise of great times, sitting there on the showroom floor. It can turn from fantasy ride to literally yours for a simple signature or three, and 24, 36, or more E-Z monthly payments. So, what’s not to like? The unassailable logic of living for today has some merit. You’re only young once; there are only so many good summers in life; and friendships, work or school transportation needs, plus unique living environments, sometimes align just right for a motorcycle ownership. And maybe that’s right now. However, if you can’t write a check for a new bike or borrow from friends or family to cover the purchase, that basically leaves financing. Here are five straight-up tips to consider when heading down this path.

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Buying a New Vs. Used Motorcycle


Several decades ago, we went to lunch with an executive VP of a big advertising agency. Forgoing a restaurant, he suggested going to the local motorcycle dealership and having a look around. There he spotted a lineup of new 250cc motocross bikes, freshly assembled from their shipping crates. Dressed in a crisp business suit and tie, he hardly looked like the potential buyer of a new dirt bike – more like a touring rider, if anything. But he approached the nearest salesman, pointed at one of the new race bikes, and simply said, “I’ll take that one” while handing over a credit card. “I’ll pick it up Saturday.” The young salesman was visibly stunned, and to this day that was the easiest sale we ever witnessed.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Buying a Motorcycle

Does the adage, “Look before you leap” sound familiar? It should, for anyone who loves jumping across gaps or over cliff sides. But philosophically, it’s also smart when you’re buying a motorcycle, new or used. Not only because examining the product may save you from expensive repairs later, but because closely studying your purchase motivations will help you buy the bike you need. Trust Motorcycle.com on this – getting the right machine for your skill level, and for what you want to do in the sport, is crucial. Read on for some useful tips on what to buy, and how to do it.

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How Can I Find Local Motorcyclists to Ride With?

When it comes to motorcycles, sharing life’s experiences is truly magical. Whether that’s hitting the highway for an extended tour, a night ride into the country, learning to do it in the dirt, or just a Saturday morning java run, it’s always better with buddies.

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Where Can I Get Motorcycle Training?

If you want to play an instrument well, how do you go about it? Focused academic study perhaps, or take lessons, join a band, watch YouTube, connect with friends – or maybe just muck about until something clicks. Well, the same might be said for learning to ride well. Some of the best racers and riders in history were essentially self-taught… especially prior to the industry becoming so specialized. But really, the best way isn’t through such trial and error – it’s formal training.

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What’s Required to Get a Motorcycle License?

The United States is a big place with tons of states, but fortunately, the motorcycle licensing rules and requirements are similar in many of them. This can be true even from largest to smallest bike states. For instance, with nearly 1 million registrations, New York tops the list for “active” motorcycles, followed closely by California and then Florida in third. On the flip side, little Delaware and Rhode Island have only about 25,000 registrations apiece. Now, among these states, in California, fledgling riders can get a “learners” permit at age 15 ½, but in Delaware the rule is 17 years old. Other states may further differ, but likely not by much.

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Finding Your First Bike

When learning to handle boats, bikes, and boa constrictors, as a universal truth it’s better to start off small and work up from there. That’s because skills build over time, and at first, smaller and lighter means easier to handle. Fortunately, in the case of motorcycles, there’s a lot to love in the small-displacement ranks. The ride experience is enchanting, and some models even share technology with image-leading flagships, including electric starting and fuel injection, liquid-cooling, and disc brakes with ABS.

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Why Ride a Motorcycle?

The marriage of the early 20th Century “safety bicycle” and a simple engine created the motorcycle template as we now know it. As such, at their design core, motorcycles are simple, efficient devices, a trait they’ve possessed for over 120 years. But it takes more than efficiency to ensure the survival and evolution of any consumer product. The secret other ingredient is that motorcycles feed us on some essential levels, from the joy of being in motion, to rewarding us for problem solving, to promoting social interactions, to building a skillset that “normal” folks don’t possess. Read on for seven reasons you might want to ride a motorcycle.

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Uncorked! 2023 Kawasaki ZX-4RR Vs Yamaha R7 – On Track

There’s a saying in combat sports that styles make fights. Dominant fighters can sometimes be put on their hands and knees by someone with a style they aren’t prepared to defend. Other times the fans are treated to a show because the favorite has to adapt to a fighter with an unorthodox technique. Ali vs. Frazier became legendary because not only were the two complete opposites in the ring, but they were opposites out of it, too. In more modern times, Tyson Fury became the current heavyweight champion by using skill and agility to beat Deontay Wilder, a fighter who uses his ridiculous punching power to clobber his opponents – while also making up for his relative lack of experience with the Sweet Science.

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