The thing about modern superbikes is that everybody wants easy. Tons of horsepower and speed, but easy to ride. Valentino Rossi loves the “sweet” power delivery from his M1, while Marc Marquez and other Honda riders think Honda needs to work on their new power delivery for 2015, because early tests show it is too “aggressive.”
This is the goal of electronic aides, as well. Make a larger margin for error. No more high-sides, because the traction control will save your ass when you gas it too hard leaving the apex. Wheelies hover at just the right height so that you maintain your drive down the straight. Trail braking hard to the apex happens seamlessly, and there is forgiveness if you apply just a bit too much at the lever.
Yamaha’s goal was to make the all-new R1 easy. Very, very, fast … but easy to ride, and easy to ride fast. Did Yamaha succeed? MD’s Ed Sorbo went to Australia’s Eastern Creek International Raceway to find out.
After a full day at the track, split evenly between the standard R1 and R1M, our first impression is that the answer to this question is a resounding “YES”. Yamaha has built a machine that is viciously quick, but easy to ride with sweet power delivery and electronic intervention that is so subtle, and unassuming, as to be virtually invisible to the rider under most circumstances.
For a bike that clearly has massive peak horsepower, the powerband is wide … typically offering the choice of two different gears for a quick corner exit.
Perhaps due to the light, magnesium wheels, the new R1 doesn’t feel like an open-classer when it comes to putting on the brakes. Ed felt confident grabbing the front brake aggressively and trail braking hard, as if he were aboard a smaller bike. Great tire feedback aided this process.
Suspension tuning is hard to fault, including both the KYB units on the standard bike, and the Ohlins suspension on the R1M.
The sound of the new R1 as you rip through the tach is glorious! Ever since introducing the “crossplane crank” on the prior model, the R1 has had a unique sound for an inline-four. That sound has added a pleasurable side dish to the main course offered up by the R1 at Eastern Creek.
Excuse us while we try to find something to criticize. More later after Ed returns to California. In the meantime, if you would like to read our earlier reporting on the R1, start here.
If only the gobbermint could start some type of “stimulus” program and get one of these in each enthusiasts garage.
I well remember back in the late 70s…Honda released the “103hp” I-6 CBX. At least one magazine, possibly long-gone Cycle, said you better get one before the government outlaws bikes with so much hp.
Were they ever more wrong!
FED BAN!!!
I had bought a new 1980 CBX and found the power non-intimidating even after installing the 79 cams. For perspective my prior ride was a 28hp Yamaha SR500 single that I added some handling mods and it never occurred to me the Feds would step in and stop the hp/engineering progress.
Fast forward almost 10 years…..and my new 1989 FZR1000 Yamaha. It was scarrrrry fast for me …..and often I thought too fast for the street, but for track days ohhhh so perfect…… and for the first time I did think the Feds would stop all this, yet here we are 35/25 years later with far faster bikes that are safer and easier to ride.
Fast forward again to now…..recently I did get long test rides on the BMW 1000RR and Aprilia RSV$ Factory and both were yet again …..scarrrry fast on the street for me, but I not thinking Feds banning them anymore, but rather could I control myself on one of these bikes on the street and the answer was NO!
It is all me I know now….as I have never talked to a experienced rider owning one of these new 1000s that thought they were too fast for the street …..or intimidating!!!!
Time marches on, we are so lucky to have all these wonderful bikes available……long, long way from the late 50s and early 60s…. indeed
Thanks for your post and taking me back through the years…..
If you rode a new BMW and RSV4 wait until they get full power BMW has to be set up as Aprilia goes full power at appx. 1250 miles. my RSV4 has race tuner and Apok. ex.it pulls good
Hope you had a good time in Sydney Dirck, and had a chance to have a good look around.
“MD’s Ed Sorbo went to Australia’s Eastern Creek International Raceway”
Dang- that’s a shame.
Great bike- I had a 2006 R1 and loved it. Would love to get one of these…..
Wish I’d had the time to go myself. Are you from Sydney?
Hey Dirck
Yeah man. Love your site- great work!
Sorry Dirck- I clicked on the “Report Post” on your reply- what a klutz!
No worries. The “all powerful one ” fixed it. 😉
I ride a red 2004 R1 and this looks like my next R1. As far as those comments about the bikes being impractical, ok don’t buy one. And as far as the bikes being beyond the street, the track or the rider, well there are so many fantastic “beyond” bikes you can’t go wrong no matter which one you buy. Cannot wait for the shootouts of duc/bmw/aprilia/yamaha/MV Augusta and the rest just to see who is the supreme of beyond.
Hey hh;
I too own a red ’04 R1. It’s my favourite bike for many years and most rides. Light, agile and beautiful sounding Termis regularly lofting the front wheel thru 2 or 3 gears screaming up to the 11,750 rpm readline. … and my garage hosts an 1199R, M796 and ST3 to compete with it. I’ve been waiting 11 years for Yamaha to come up with something more compelling than the ’04 R1 and I believe they’ve finally done it. Now I eagerly await end of March delivery of my R1M. Worst thing that could happen is I still like my ’04 better and that’s no bad life. 🙂
Nice bike, but the R3 is all the bike I need (or can afford).
ladies and gentlemen, today’s winner.
a round of applause for the man who “knows his limitations”, as opposed to allowing himself to engage in shenanigans that “devalue” an industry and it’s products just because he HIMSELF doesn’t have means to pay for it.
paraphrasing Casey Stoner, “Tank does not allow his AMBITIONS to exceed his WALLET”.
This bike is a sledgehammer with a robotic arm delivering such a precise tap it could drive a brad into a picture frame. Interesting where motorcycling is headed. Better living through science… Should come with a bottle of pills that double your cojones so you can ride the thing to its elbow dragging potential.
Nicely said!
I like Yamaha RT1M it offer an all you need speed ,power and has an great design like usualy the best motorcycle ever,even betten than kawasaky.
I never thought the 1971 RT1M was that good but hey, to each his own.
Those droopy lights tho, why
Probably led lights have come a good way on better illumination, they make use of less space so more space for electronics or air intakes
I can almost guarantee you some aftermarket company will come up with a more flushed/hidden replacement. Get that, replace the pipe with an Akra or Termi, and you’re golden.
We happen to have a car with LED headlights and I can say they’re wonderful. Sharp, defined cutoff, very bright while canvassing the road ahead with a broad even coverage of light. They can take up less frontal area allowing designers more freedom with other considerations.A big plus is their relative minimal electrical requirements making them even more perfect for motorcycles with less charging reserve, although bikes today are vastly superior to years ago in that regard.
But they are expensive and their cost can only be hidden well in upper crust bikes.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see LED headlights in more upcoming models and refreshes.
The quality of beam-pattern you’re enjoying is likely more a function of the reflectors in your headlight system then the emitter (LED). There are decent LED replacements for halogens available now, though they still won’t be as good as an integrated system like you have on your car now, just a brighter, more efficient version of what is on the bike or car now.
Looks like the most direct iteration of leading edge prototype technology in a production motorcycle ever.
And a beautiful example of machine art. Totally purpose- built and weapon-like. No frills just designed to assault a racetrack.
Cool.
I can’t ride round the block on my S2R 800 and not see a police man ready to slap me with a nice little fee for riding my moto, where I a possibly ride such a bike?
Track days Scott.
Way cheaper than tickets, waaay more fun!
And this one you could ride to the track as-is. Amazing bike.
Anyone with a sportbike that isn’t doing track days is Missing out.
Come on!!!! A purpose built road just for motorsports, no speed limits or police cruisers radar unit in hand, no intersections, no cell phone talking SUV drivers. Just you and your bike learning the course and increasing your speed as you increase your skill!
The other thing is that you satisfy the beast within….you have no need to Hoon it on the street because you’ve sated your appetitie on the track. Instead of spending your money on tickets and higher insurance costs, you spend it on gear and track time.
This bike makes a lot more sense than the supercharged Kawi. Money well spent making the bike more rideable at a price that many riders are willing to pay. Plus, the Yamaha looks better IMHO.
H8rs gonna H8
Hahhhh! Pretty funny right there!
re: “This bike makes a lot more sense than the supercharged Kawi. Money well spent making the bike more rideable at a price that many riders are willing to pay.”
the irony at this very moment is someone (somewhere?) is reading a ride/review of the Connie 14 and saying this EXACT same thing while striking the R1 off their list.
really? name any bike that actually makes sense, it’s all about passion
Bikes can make sense for a lot of reasons. Less costly than buying a car, good or great fuel mileage depending on what car you compare them to, less space to park them, etc. But I’m not going to deny passion. Passion is what makes us move on them and buy them.
Those living in the snowy regions right now probably wouldn’t think of a bike as being practical but those in the southwest generally have good weather all year round, except in the heat of summer perhaps? 🙂
Ride on!
Re: “really? name any bike that actually makes sense,..”
Honda PCX150, Yamaha Smax 150, Suzuki Burgman 200, any practical bicycle.
The scooters never made much sense to me even though I’ve owned a number of them. I think a Trail 90 makes sense, a Ninja 250 makes sense (more than the 300), a KLR, Honda Nighthawk 750, maybe a Sportster for people that like cruisers. All decent bikes. Inspiring? Not so much.
What makes you think any of those make sense?
Q: What makes you think any of those make sense?
A: Mescaline.
Re: “What makes you think any of those make sense?”
Their steady existence across time and different markets.
The R1 also has a “steady existence across time and different markets.”
Point being, a Honda PCX150 makes no more sense to me than an R1 would make to a pizza delivery rider in New Delhi. Only the individual can decide if a motorcycle makes sense for his/her intended use of the bike.
Thriftiness and lameness do not automatically qualify a motorcycle as one that “makes sense”.
Well, seems like the wheels of progress turn one more time in making the impossible things possible; in this case making a machine with a lot of power easier to handle/ride.
You still have to give it to the average joe (I kindly suggest myself) to do a track test and see if it’s that easier to drive.
I love track days. Where else can you go see old Ninja 250s passing Average Joes on the latest, greatest R1s?
Apparently this is the answer to “more power than you can handle?”
Cool
re: “That sound has added a pleasurable side dish to the main course offered up by the R1”
in ’09, Masao Furusawa and Yamaha gave the GIFT of an entirely new engine configuration to the “consumer buffet” known as motorcycling. the last time a “feast” of this magnitude was laid out before the unworthy was 40 years prior with Honda’s mass production of the inline 4, the ’69 CB750-K0.
we’d do well to remember this.
Respect.
+1000