Yamaha confirms new semi-automatic bikes

We recently wrote that motorcycles are hitting a tipping point where automatic and semi-automatic transmissions are on the rise and could become dominant in the future – and now Yamaha has confirmed that it’s entering the same arena with a new ‘Y-AMT’ (Yamaha Automated Manual Transmission) gearbox that’s set to debut on “a range of models in the near future.”

It’s a move that comes just weeks after BMW announced its new Automated Shift Assistant, which will debut on the 2025 R1300GS and R1300GS Adventure models, and KTM previewed it’s next-generation 1390 Super Adventure complete with its own take on the semi-auto. With semi-auto ‘DCT’ versions of Honda’s Africa Twin and other models starting to outsell manual variants, and the launch of the low-cost Honda E-Clutch on the CB650R and CBR650R this year (with more models to follow), it looks like self-shifting bikes are the latest battleground for the big manufacturers.

Yamaha Automated Manual Transmission

Yamaha’s Y-AMT might be the latest addition to those ideas but the company can rightly claim to be a pioneer in the field, having launched the YCC-S semi-auto option on the FJR1300 back in 2006, combining a hydraulically-activated automated clutch and a finger-operated shifter.

The new Y-AMT’s operation, from the perspective of the rider, isn’t dissimilar to the YCC-S setup. There’s no clutch lever, and you have the choice of running in either a fully-automatic ‘AT’ setting or using finger-operated paddles on the bars to manually flick between ratios in the ‘MT’ mode. In the auto position, there are two drive options – ‘D’ for a relaxed experience, and ‘D+’ which holds gears longer for more revs and performance – while the manual shift offers multiple possibilities for control thanks to ‘see-saw’ levers on the left bar. There’s a downshift button by your left thumb and an upshift trigger by your left forefinger, but the finger-operated trigger is large enough to work as a two-way paddle so if you prefer to keep your thumb wrapped around the bar you can do both up and downshifts using your forefinger alone, pushing the paddle away for downshifts and towards you for upshifts. The ‘D’ modes and the ‘AT/MT’ selection are changed via buttons on the right bar control pod.

How it works

Yamaha says that the system gives more control than a normal manual box, letting riders focus on other aspects of riding the bike without having to move their left hand and foot to swap gears.

The system itself works on what is essentially a conventional, manual transmission, like the designs being introduced this year by KTM and BMW,  rather than a clean-sheet redesign like Honda’s DCT. Where the Honda box uses two clutches and can select two gears simultaneously, switching between the clutches to seamlessly swap ratios, the Yamaha design has a normal single-clutch setup but with the clutch and shifter operation controlled by electro-mechanical actuators instead of human muscles. The huge leaps taken in recent years on quickshifters and ride-by-wire throttles mean that simpler semi-autos like these can make silky-smooth shifts without the complexity of the dual-clutch Honda design. They might not be truly seamless shifts like DCT, but these systems are simpler, cheaper and much lighter – Yamaha says its semi-auto adds 2.8kg to a bike, while DCT is about 11kg.

When will it be available?

Yamaha hasn’t officially confirmed which models will get the option of its Y-AMT gearbox, or when, but says it will come to a “range of models in the near future, bringing this innovation to sport riding, touring and commuting.” The company also says the system maximises the power characteristics of its crossplane-concept engines. Patents published earlier this year showed elements of the Yamaha semi-auto system fitted to the MT-07 and YZF-R7, but it's also likely to show up on the Tracer 7 as well as the MT-09, the expected YZF-R9, the Tracer 9 and possibly even the MT-10. Since the system uses external actuators on the clutch and shifter rather than mounting them inside the transmission, it should be relatively easy for Yamaha to adapt it to almost any of its existing, manual-gearbox bikes if it decides there’s a market for an automated version of that model.

With Honda, BMW, KTM and now Yamaha getting in on the semi-auto action, as well as Kawasaki on its Ninja 7 Hybrid and Z7 Hybrid, the choice is becoming increasingly wide. It’s only going to get wider in the future, as several other companies are also hard at work developing their own automated bike gearboxes.

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