Rippin' Ride!
Rippin' Ride!
Is Yamaha's new YZF-R1 the perfect sportbike?
DON CANET
WATCHING THE EARLY-morning sunrise cast a pinkish hue across the thin cloud layer hanging above the Mediterranean Sea helps to alleviate my jet lag. The steady percussion of surf crashing upon rocks 100 feet below my hotel-room balcony melds with the morning song of birds nested among the dense foliage of this grand Spanish estate.
Ah, I believe I’ve found tranquility in paradise, or in the very least, I’m experiencing one of nature’s more pleasant wakeup calls.
Nineteen shiny new Yamaha YZF-R1 sportbikes lined up in a tidy row across the Hotel El Montiboli parking lot snap me out of my serene state like a quick hit of thick espresso. Wide-eyed and ready, I’ll soon be ripping it up aboard an Rl, even if it is just about time for bed back home.
Truth be told, had Yamaha chosen the bitter cold of Siberia, or the intense heat of the Sahara for its YZF-R1 world press launch, Fd have gone willingly. Perhaps the most striking new model of the year, the YZF-Rl’s racy appearance is in itself enough to entice this hot-blooded sportbike enthusiast to travel to the ends of the Earth, for the opportunity to straddle its saddle. In this case, the R1 had beckoned me to the Old Country, to Alicante, Spain, located along the country’s eastern seaboard a few hundred miles south of Baredona-and ineidentally, very near the town of Valencia, from which the Canet family roots spawn.
Upon my arrival the previous evening, I spent a good deal of time ogling the YZF-R1 engine on display in the villa’s courtyard. It featured sectional cutaways and several silver-dollar-sized viewing holes in the engine’s cases and covers, allowing prying eyes a glimpse at various points of interest covered previously in our YZF-R1 technical preview (CW, December, 1997). I was truly taken by the compactness of the new engine, and was equally impressed with the apparent quality of its cast and forged components.
Our introduction to the R1 is a two-day affair, the first session taking place on the very tight and twisting 2.1-mile Cartagena roadrace circuit, the second a full day of road riding in the mountains to the north of Alicante. Once perched in the RI ’s saddle, I immediately realize that the R1 is far removed from its bulky YZF1000 predecessor, having a more condensed riding posture and a cockpit that’s shaped somewhat like the Ducati 916’s. Although the clip-on bars are positioned lower than on the YZF1000, the R1 is substantially narrower in the waist and allows tank-hugging riders to position themselves slightly closer to the bars to achieve a fairly upright stance. The saddle is very spacious in both width and length, with an ample amount of foam for extended sport rides. The pegs position your feet closer together than on the old YZF, contributing to the RI ’s more compact feel while enhancing cornering clearance. Even though the R1 is dimensionally smaller in every way, taller riders will find plenty of legroom for their knees within the contoured reliefs on the sides of the fuel tank.
As the Cartegena circuit is located some 100 miles from our hotel, my first experience aboard the R1 is an extended freeway transit to the track. Our group, being the fourth such wave of journalists to attend the intro, had been forewarned that local law enforcement had cited a few heavywristed scribes earlier in the week. With that in mind, I keep it under 90 mph down the autostrada, focusing my attention on the Rl’s comfort quotient. Keep engine revs in the fat of the midrange and the Rl’s freeway performance is superb. Vibration seeping through the bars is surprisingly low considering that the solid-mounted engine serves as a stressed member in the lightened Deltabox II frame. The suspension is also very compliant at both ends, delivering a level of plushness that had me wondering if it would be firm enough to do business on the racetrack.
Quite different from YZFs of old, the Ri has a lowcut windscreen that offers very little in the way of wind protection. This is good in the sense that my helmet is above any turbulent airflow, and the windblast against my chest and shoulders lessens the load carried on my forearms and wrists. It does extract a price at high speeds, though.
So there I am, conservatively pluggin’ along merely 35 mph above the posted limit when I’m suddenly strafed by a trio of Italians, their Rls in tight line-astem formation rapidly pulling away from me. Being the competitive type, I pin the throttle and give chase. Even in top gear, the R1 quickly builds speed as the tachometer needle edges steadily toward its 12,500-rpm redline. My body tightly tuckedin with chin resting on the tank, the upper half of my helmet still protrudes well above the windscreen. Sustained high-speed sprints aboard the R1 will give your neck muscles a good workout as your head rocks vigorously in the windblast. But the R1 itself remains steady, only displaying a hint of weave felt through the bars as I negotiate a slight bend in the open roadway. I witness a reading of 180 mph on the trick LCD digital speedometer display, with revs to spare before extinguishing the afterburner and coasting back down to my prior cruise state.
With standard suspension settings front and rear, my first 30-minute track session is spent getting acquainted with the bike and Cartagena’s undulating, 18-tum layout. My immediate impression is that the attention Yamaha engineers paid to steering precision has paid off. Use of balltype steering-head bearings rather than tapered rollers, along with a new low-friction dust seal, has effectively reduced turning resistance, imparting feedback and feel that few bikes can match. With stock gearing, the R1 tops out in fourth at the end of the main straight, while the remainder of the lap calls for second or third gear. This lends itself to hard acceleration out of several slower corners, offering a true test of the half-inch of additional tube extension incorporated into the Rl’s 41mm upside-down fork. The purpose of the added travel is to help keep the fork from topping out, prolonging front tire contact with the ground. But with the Rl’s 55.7-inch wheelbase (not the claimed 54.9 inches; I measured it myself) and in the neighborhood of 130 rear-wheel horsepower, giving the front Metzeler flight is never a problem. In fact, this might be the world’s most wheelie-happy sportbike.
Although a bit on the soft side with standard settings, the chassis exhibits very good control and stability, with more than enough cornering clearance. By mid-session, however, my pace is exceeding the limits of rear-tire grip.
Back in the pits between sessions, twiddling the rear shock’s seven-step ramped preload adjuster, in conjunction with a couple of clicks in on the rebound-damping adjuster, makes easy work of firming up the rear. Air pressure in the Metzeier MEZ3 steel-belted radiais is also lowered in typical racetrack fashion to increase contact-patch size. Satisfied with the increased level of chassis feedback, I spend the remaining sessions absorbed with on-track experimentation.
Ridden at a swift and smooth pace, the R1 does no wrong. Steering effort is like that of a nimble 600, but there is literclass power on tap. Negotiating the entire track in top gear isn’t a problem, something no middleweight could ever hope to achieve. In fact, dropping the revs to 1000 rpm in sixth gear, then snapping the throttle wideopen clearly demonstrates the motor’s flexibility, as it pulls cleanly right out of the cellar.
Late-brakers will appreciate the Rl’s revised one-piece front calipers, as they deliver excellent power, feel and consistency. Charge in too deep and the bike still bends over willingly as front-brake pressure is eased off during turn-in. With seemingly limitless cornering clearance, tightening lines in mid-comer is governed only by rear tire grip. Even then, stepping the rear out does, in fact, get the bike tumed-not something you want to try on just any bike.
On the racetrack, the fat 190/50-ZR17 rear MEZ3 breaks loose with regularity, but the slides come with ample warning and remarkable controllability. Chalk it up to the extended length and forward pivot point of the swingarm, a bit of borrowed YZR500 GP-bike technology, made possible thanks to the Rl’s ultra-short engine cases. I soon gain great confidence in the Rl’s reaction to slip-and-grip riding antics, making sport of how far I can keep the rear tire lit driving off comers.
Back out on the mountain roads the following day, the Metzelers are flawless and remain hooked up at all times. Short-shifting from one comer to the next provides stirring acceleration, but keeps the front end planted. Shifting action feels mechanical and is noisy in the lower three gears, but positive in its engagement. The mirrors, while plenty wide, remain half-filled with elbows, and the images do get a little fuzzy above 7000 rpm. Bringing up the rear are dual round taillights that may not agree with everyone’s sense of style.
So, the R1 may be a taillight and a good set of mirrors short of perfection. Kawasaki’s new ZX-9R, Honda’s revised CBR900RR and Suzuki’s redrawn TL1000R super-Twin have a lot to worry about. Consider the YZF-R1 a wakeup call to all Open-class sportbikes. Time to rip it up.
