There is two-wheeler, and then there is three-wheeler. But Yamaha says that their new motorcycle or whatever the heck it is, is a Leaning Multi-Wheeler (LMW).

A fancy marketing acronym for sure used first at the 2016 Tokyo Motor Show when the brand had put up the leaning three-wheel version of the Yamaha FZ-09 on display.

Launched at the ongoing 45th Tokyo International Motor show, the Japanese brand set the pace with this stunning three-wheeled machine called the Niken (probably formed by the diminution of ‘Ni’ which means 'two' and ‘Ken’ which means ‘sword’ in Japanese).

It is a three-wheeled motorcycle based on the hugely popular MT-09 platform that gets double the grip on the front and heightened ride stability for carving corners with minimal effort.

2016 Yamaha MWT-9 concept

2018 Yamaha Niken


Yamaha was at it for quite some time now actually. It all started way back in 2007 when they showcased the bizarre four-wheel Tesseract concept at the Tokyo Motor Show. Then in 2014, Yamaha brought a three-wheeled concept to Intermot dubbed as the 01Gen. But the most relatable showdown was leaning three-wheel version of the Yamaha FZ-09 from 2016.

This 2018 Niken is crazy, even by Yamaha standards. There is no denying in that. But it sure does look bonkers enough to feature in the next 'Transformers' setting.

The front end gets not one, not two but four upside-down forks, two on each side that completely changes riding perspectives for any rider throwing a leg over the Niken. Yamaha says that it has "excellent performance for spirited and sporty riding on various road surfaces".

Christened as the LMW technology, it will be responsible to give the rider greater front-end grip and better confidence to take the winding roads with maximum stability intact. Thanks to its dual-tube upside-down forks architecture paired with dual 15-inch front wheels that leans just like a normal motorcycle would similar to the Dual Tilting Wheels (DTW) of the Peugeot MP3 family of scooters.

Although Yamaha predominantly preferred to stay numb about the details, we know that the Niken runs on the same 847cc liquid-cooled in-line 3-cylinder engine of the MT-09 naked streetfighter. The Niken, however, gets a quickshifter package for upshifts that may or may not include an auto-blipper for downshifts.

Apart from the obvious use of two wheels at the front, quad-LED projector beam arrangement and the 'Transformers' suspension units, the rest of the machine will be a refreshed derivative of the brand's MT-09 including the fuel tank, seats, tail, exhaust and rear suspension setup.

From the images, we can gather that the Niken will come with an LCD dash, three riding modes, multi-level traction control, ABS and cruise control. And there is a side stand, which means the Niken may not have electronic lock-outs.

We can't wait to know more about this alienated Yamaha Niken which will get an official launch on the 6th of November, just a day before the EICMA Milan show. The images released are of the European models and we cannot confirm if they will make it to the states.

Hopefully, we'll get more than the static big-engined three-wheelers like the Can-Am Spyder or Harley-Davidson Freewheeler which don't offer the same experience as two-wheeled motorcycling. Meanwhile, stay tuned with us for further updates and drool over these images.