2023 MT10SP review

[Wintersdark]

As you may well know, my 2019 Tracer was stolen, and in a fit of irresponsibility and silliness, I bought a 2023 MT10SP to replace it. 

I've got a couple thousand kilometers on it now, and a 2WDW flash, so here's my thoughts:

Is it an upgrade over the Tracer?  It has *vastly* more power, much, much better suspension, sure.  But an upgrade, no.  It's a very different bike. The riding position is still fairly comfortable, but it's MUCH more aggressive than the Tracer, and I find the limited fuel range is as much a blessing as a curse as you generally need to stop and stretch earlier anyways. 

On the fuel range, the big bugbear of the MT10 line... 200-250kms out of a tank, depending on how you ride.  Long enough that it can be a bit annoying but at least in North America it's REALLY rare for that to be insufficient.  Honestly, while mildly annoying it's nowhere near the problem people make it out to be.  Yes, gas mileage is significantly worse than the Tracer (35mpg for the 2nd Gen MT10's), but... Eh.  It's not a bike you buy for cheap gas.

I don't know if the electronic suspension on the 3rd gen Tracers is the same or not, but the electronic Ohlins on the SP is as much better than the KYB on the 2nd gen Tracer as that was over the stock MT07 suspension.  The MT10SP is more stable, even under extremes such as very high speed cornering on rough pavement - the R1 chassis is evident here as well.  There's no comparison in agility and flickability, and the short wheelbase + rigidity lends itself to very precise handling, but it remains very stable at extreme speed on the highway.

I want to touch on the 2WDW flash.  Honestly, it's essentially mandatory for this bike.  Stock, the electronic throttle valve IS HEAVILY restricted in first and second, giving you no more than 35% throttle until 6000+ rpm.  This keeps the bike quiet around town and makes it VERY easy to ride, but it also means there's such an extreme power increase from 6k-7k that it's kind of hard to manage (after 7k it'll actually give you full throttle).  But this means that even if your wrist is still, you're essentially snapping the throttle open every time you cross that line.  The 2wdw flash gives you 1:1 throttle mapping in A mode (gentler in b>c>d) making the power feel far more linear...

And the flash also adds 15-20hp all the way across the RPM range.  Everywhere. With stock intake and exhaust!

The electronics and rider aids are extremely well implemented. Six-axis IMU allows lift and slide control independent of traction control, user customizable engine braking, lean sensitive ABS, full up and down quickshifter (that works incredibly smoothly), cruise control, track and street modes for the dash.  All work fabulously and are tuneable for each ride mode AND able to be temporarily, independently adjusted on the fly within a ride mode.

Still.  It's much less comfortable for touring.  Nothing like an R1 of course, it's still a naked bike with a more upright posture, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Tracer for comfort. 

And I'd argue that the extra power, while wild, is utterly unnecessary and often unusable - it's not like the Tracer is by any description a slow bike. 

On the other hand, it is *extremely* fast, handles marvelously well, and is very comfortable for such a bike, even as a 6'4" 300lb guy.  It'll pull casual 4th gear power wheelies effortlessly.  While the front end is.. questionable... The rest of the bike looks amazing, and the stock titanium exhaust system is surprisingly sexy:

Minor quibble: The mirrors absolutely needed extenders.  Even if you're a slender person, stock they were utterly unusable. With the extenders on them, I still need to pull my arms in or move my head out a bit to see past my elbows.

And finally, best for last.

The sound.  God, the sound it makes.  The intake noise in particular you *feel* in your chest, and it's awesome.  The CP4 sounds a lot like a V4, not at all like your standard inline 4. Much more growl than whine.

[johnmark101]

Thanks for the review.  From all I have read the cross plane four cylinder motor is brilliant.  And I agree with you on the exhaust note of the bike as it sounds fantastic. 

If I ever give up touring, I have thought about the MT09 SP as my next bike, but the MT10 SP is also a contender.

[draco_1967]

17 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

The sound.  God, the sound it makes.  The intake noise in particular you *feel* in your chest, and it's awesome.  The CP4 sounds a lot like a V4, not at all like your standard inline 4. Much more growl than whine.

That is what got me *that* close to buying an MT10 over the Tracer. It sounds soooo good, even stock. What held me back was the range and the desire to keep my license (which would have been significantly at risk with the MT10...😈).

The Tracer still makes me smile when I ride, but that MT10 had me giggling like a maniac when I cracked the throttle. 

[Wintersdark]

On 12/4/2023 at 6:43 AM, johnmark101 said:

Thanks for the review.  From all I have read the cross plane four cylinder motor is brilliant.  And I agree with you on the exhaust note of the bike as it sounds fantastic. 

If I ever give up touring, I have thought about the MT09 SP as my next bike, but the MT10 SP is also a contender.

If I'm being honest, I think the 09SP is a more reasonable machine for the vast majority of people.  It's also sporting a good suspension and the new chassis is a lot improved, while being equally wheelie happy.  The 10 is dumb.  But good lord is it fun to ride. 

 

On 12/4/2023 at 9:12 AM, draco_1967 said:

That is what got me *that* close to buying an MT10 over the Tracer. It sounds soooo good, even stock. What held me back was the range and the desire to keep my license (which would have been significantly at risk with the MT10...😈).

The Tracer still makes me smile when I ride, but that MT10 had me giggling like a maniac when I cracked the throttle. 

It's a real danger.  I mean, you can be doing 200kph in 4th and just be in the middle of the powerband.  It's an extremely, unreasonably, ridiculously fast machine. I did a trip from Calgary - Red Deer and back today, and was rarely below 160kph/100mph, and that just felt like a sedate cruise.  The feel and sound when you get on the throttle is *addictive*.

[Wintersdark]

So, as today's trip involved a long of long, straight, utterly flat highway, I spent some time on cruise control at various speeds while sitting upright and noted fuel consumption.  If you tuck, you can save a fair bit, particularly at higher speeds, but I wanted to get realistic numbers for a long cruise at speed. 

Speed - Consumption - Range

100kph - 22km/l - 374km

120kph - 20km/l - 340km

130kph - 17km/l - 289km

140kph - 13.5km/l - 230km

150kph - 12.8km/l - 217km

160kph -11.3km/l - 192km

200kph - 8km/l - 136km

Obviously in practice ranges are going to be a bit lower as this would require steady state riding vs acceleration/ stopping / etc, and how it's physically
impossible to not accelerate hard from every stop while screaming into your helmet.

But it's really not bad if you ride the speed limit then you can get ranges that are actually impressive.

On another note, the seat.  It's much maligned, but honestly at least for my big butt it's quite comfortable.  It's very firm, but not hard - as someone who has owned an MT07 and Tenere 700, there is a significant difference.  The MT10's seat is also broad and well shaped, and at a very good angle (I'm looking at you, stock Tracer seat position).  No sore bum whatsoever today. 

[knyte]

Some interesting observations, as always