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 What's New?
Yamaha R1 review
Opinions have been
divided on the new
Yamaha
R1, but we reckon
there's no debate
- it's
great.
By Kevin Ash
Published: 12:44PM
BST 07 Sep 2009
We didn't get to
ride Yamaha's new
superbike,
the 2009 YZF-R1,
earlier in the year,
but
if I was hoping to
get some idea of
what
to expect from the
motorcycle press,
I was
in for a surprise.
While the authoritative
weekly Motor Cycle
News rated it as
the top bike in its
road
and track superbike
comparison tests,
some
of the monthlies
rated it last, while
others
put it somewhere
in between. It aroused
my
curiosity at least…
Will Rowan Atkinson's
latest Fagin leave
us crying out for
more?I was keen to
try
the bike as it's
the first transverse
four-cylinder
motorcycle to feature
a cross-plane crankshaft.
The R1's crankpins
are staggered at
90-degree
intervals so no two
pistons are doing
the
same thing at the
same time.
The idea is to eliminate
inertial torque,
a powerful cyclic
"shuddering"
that comes from all
four pistons slowing,
stopping and accelerating
at the same time
in a conventional
four, producing large
energy
transfers to and
from the crankshaft
which
speed it up and slow
it down twice every
revolution.*
It means that the
rider should have
a more
direct feeling of
connection between
throttle
and rear wheel. It
works for Valentino
Rossi
on his Yamaha MotoGP
machine, but would
it
make any difference
to a road bike? And
could
this feature be the
source of the broad
range
of opinions?
It certainly affects
the sound: fire up
the
R1 and you're greeted
not by the whizz
of
a standard four but
by a deeper, lumpy
voice
reminiscent of a
V4. You'd guess it
was a
Honda VFR unit if
the damn thing didn't
rev
so ferociously at
the lightest hint
of throttle.
This is not esoteric
bike anorak talk,
the
R1 sounds totally
different from its
rivals.
It's a compact machine,
not as diminutive
as an Aprilia RSV4
but smaller than
a Suzuki
GSX-R1000 and with
a more sports-oriented
riding position,
too. Comfort's not
bad,
although the engine
soon starts to pump
out
a lot of heat over
your legs, even in
relatively
mild weather.
But it's the engine
you notice: it's
epic,
quite the best in
the class, and I
can't
see why there should
be any equivocation
over that. The throttle
response is instant
and dramatic, with
massive torque at
lower
revs muscling you
forward at the smallest
whiff of fuel, followed
by staggering thrust
as the rev counter
climbs beyond its
180bhp
peak to 13,000rpm
and more. The performance
is immense yet the
level of control
is more
than I've ever experienced,
delicate and
precise whatever
you're doing.
You can even dial
in different levels
of
throttle response
via a handlebar switch,
though the hardest
setting can be pretty
aggressive for road
riding. This engine
speaks
to you, and if it's
due to the cross-plane
crank, then no one
else will catch up
until
they do the same.
That leaves the chassis
as the culprit, and
this is more understandable.
On first acquaintance,
with stock settings,
the R1 can be reluctant
to turn, needing
some effort to get
the front
end down. Leave it
like this and you
might
well end up preferring
other bikes, but
all
these machines come
with suspension adjustability
specifically because
they're precision
instruments
that need to be tuned
to suit the rider.
Leaving it untouched,
then condemning it,
is like complaining
that a television
is
too loud because
you don't want to
change
the factory volume
setting. So, add
some
extra compression
damping and preload
at
the back to sharpen
the steering and
the
R1 becomes as eager
to corner as anything
else, no longer running
wide but holding
a tight line, and
accurately.
If only the Dunlop
211 tyres were a
match
for the rest of the
bike. Motor Cycle
News
tester Michael Neeves
said: "If magazines
only rode this bike
on wet roads in February,
as some did, then
the stock tyres really
let it down. You
need to change them."
These have no place
on an £11,000 superbike
and while most riders
will soon change
them,
please, Yamaha, better
rubber to start with.
Even so, the R1 is
an electrifying machine,
shockingly animate
and hugely exciting
with
class-leading performance.
A few impracticalities,
such as the lack
of any storage space,
and
an exceptional thirst
that will have you
struggling to best
34mpg – the range
to reserve
is only 110 miles
or so, and another
25 to
empty – will steer
some riders towards
the
Honda Fireblade,
which is almost as
quick.
But for sheer adrenalin-pumping
thrills,
this is the one.
You don't have to
change
the tyres and adjust
the suspension but,
for the ultimate
performance, you
should.
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