The Yamaha Niken is now available at a price of
GBP 13,499 in the UK. The Niken can be ordered
online in Britain and customers will receive an email confirmation of a
temporary allocation if the Niken is available. Then, customers can visit a
Yamaha dealer within 14 days to confirm and finalise the purchase process.
The Yamaha Niken is based on the Yamaha MT-09,
sharing the same in-line three-cylinder, 847 cc engine, which makes 114 bhp at
10,000 rpm and 87.5 Nm of peak torque at 8,500 rpm. The difference is in the cycle parts, and the fact that the Niken employs a radically
different leaning front end with two wheels. And that has led to considerable
gain in weight as well. While the MT-09 tips the scales at 193 kg kerb weight,
the Niken is considerably heavier, at 263 kg.
Yamaha seems to be betting big on the three-wheeled
side of things, acquiring patents for a little known Norwegian brand called
Brudeli, which is also in the business of designing and developing leaning
three-wheelers, based on a KTM 690 Supermoto engine, and gearbox. The Yamaha
top boss has been vocal about the ongoing development and R&D of more
three-wheeled machines, so looks like we'll get to see more of these leaning
three-wheelers from Yamaha in the near future. So far, Yamaha seems to have
taken the lead in a completely new segment of motorcycles - the leaning
three-wheeler.
The Yamaha Niken has no
real competitors to make a fair judgement of if it's been priced well, or if
it's slightly on the higher side. Compared to the Yamaha MT-09, priced at GBP
8,499, the Niken does seem to be a
little pricey, but it does get the radical new leaning three-wheeled
technology. And with limited numbers available, it remains to be seen how the
Yamaha Niken is accepted in the market.
