2025 Yamaha YZF-R9 First Ride Review – Not What You Think!

Naturally, you and I are going to call this the R6 successor, but Yamaha swears up and down that the R9 is not. The pursuit for track dominance ultimately priced yesteryear’s Supersports out of reach for a lot of people, and their peaky power made them impractical on the streets. What Yamaha’s doing here is taking the formula that worked for the R7 – accessible power and performance – and ramping it up a notch for those who are ready to graduate into something more. If you ask Yamaha, the R9 is supposed to slot somewhere in between the R7 and the R6. That might sound strange and like a bunch of marketing BS to some of you, but after a full day of riding the R9 around Sonoma Raceway, Yamaha may be telling the truth after all.

To find out why, check out the whole video above, where Road Test Editor Troy Siahaan breaks down what the R9 is, what the R9 isn’t, and most importantly, how it all translates on track. If you’ve read the title and bothered to read this far, you can probably guess that the R9 isn’t what you think it is.

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[urbanstrencan]

Yamaha did an amazing job with R9, bringing back everyman's sports bike :) Love the looks, the performance is just enough to have fun, and tech is just what you need.
Great video keep it up :)

[kupalisky]

Hope Triumph makes a Daytona 765 and Aprilia makes a RSV2 for the category.

[jordanacton]

That monstrosity they consider an exhaust is absolutely hideous

[churchofbrap]

Many of the track reviews on this bike have it hitting the rev limiter alot

[silverthumbring]

Seems weird that the sport ( R ) version takes its base from the street ( MT ) version. I'm from the era where the FZ1/FZ6 got the hand-me-downs from the R1/R6.

[gixsix]

Nice report. Great to see you're still into sport bikes as we all get older.

[Mason_van_Bike]

Take a drink every time he says 'to suit the more sport/track orientated nature of the R9"

[TalonTSI]

It's literally replacing the R6 in world supersport. That's what it was designed for. The reason it exists.

[Ryhno]

Great stuff as always and great to meet you Troy! Thanks again for the tow! Hope we meet up at another event soon.

[gprimeofx]

The GSX-R750 still rules supreme! Although the R9 would look pretty good in Marlboro colors...

[stephenrandall]

Sorry but Yamaha missed the mark with its looks and the paint schemes are definitely not helping. Needs a redesigned faring and paint job

[ealvarez]

Sportbike sales are down because the dealerships want to charge $5000 above msrp in dealer fees.

[paulantonio]

I've ridden Sonoma on several occasions. Love that track and also enjoyed Troy's lap on the R9, which brings back good memories. Can't wait for a side-by-side comparison with the V2 Panigale.

[domingonavarro]

You’re going to have to include the CF Moto 676, triple. It’s here, it cannot be ignored.

[japfourme]

That exhaust is almost as big as the bike, what an eyesore!!

[salskars]

I haven't ridden one but Yamaha nailed the look.

[mpeugeot]

Love that it's so easy to switch to GP shift. I changed over in 2008 with my Suzuki SV1000 and never want to go back to the standard shift pattern.

[lexkingvlogs]

I was up on the hill watching you guys but decided to leave and just wait for my bike to get here.

[devonsutterfield]

Can’t get past those terrible winglets..

[DarR]

Coming off a Panigale 959 and owning an M1200R and a MTS1260PP, I'm not comfortable downgrading torque and HP. Bottom line is that the R9 needs another 30hp + to make me open my wallet. Perhaps the next iteration of the CP3 engine will bring more power. Even the 600 was more powerful. There's practically a 100HP gap between the R9 and the R1 for just 100cc difference.