2015 Yamaha Yzf-R1/r1m
CW FIRST RIDE
2015 YAMAHA YZF-R1/ R1M
JAPAN HITS BACK, AND YAMAHA’S R1 PROVIDES THE BLOW.
Blake Conner
Japan has finally hit back and hit back hard. After falling behind European manufacturers such as BMW, Ducati, and KTM in the electronics war, Yamaha has answered the call.
The recession hit Japanese motorcycle companies the hardest, and they waited the longest to reinvest in sportbikes.
But the wait is over. Yamaha has now introduced MotoGP technologies to the new YZF-Ri just a few short years after Lorenzo and company first utilized some of them. This has brought a whole new level of sophistication and refinement to the superbike-buying customer.
Make no mistake: The 2015 Ri is a game changer. Instead of making a great streetbike that was also capable of race-winning track performances, Yamaha designed this pair of brandnew machines to excel on the track first while also maintaining good street manners. What makes the Ri stand out isn’t the brand-new engine, chassis, or styling. Rather, it’s the outstanding electronics suite controlled by Yamaha’s proprietary six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit that allows the rider to get the most out of the bike.
Our first ride on the Ri took place at Sydney Motorsports Park (a.k.a. Eastern
Creek) in Australia. With so many electronic adjustments available, the combinations are practically endless.
To get the most out of the six sessions planned for the day (three on the base model and three on the RiM), I focused on the basics: Traction Control System (TCS), Slide Control System (SCS), and Lift Control System (LIF, a.k.a. wheelie control) while leaving ABS and the Quick Shift System (QSS) in defaults for most of the sessions.
My first sessions were spent aboard the $16,490 standard bike but fitted with Bridgestone’s new RS10R supersportspec rubber in place of the bike’s OEM RS10 fitment. To get a feel for the track in my first session, I toggled the bike’s
power mode to the second of four output settings. This mode allows full power with a slightly less abrupt throttle response. Then I selected TCS 4 of 9, LIF 3 (most intervention), and the SCS with the most intervention. While learning the track, the refined systems provided a mental safety net, but they’re difficult to detect at a less-than-flat-out pace.
By my third session, I dialed back TCS to 1, LIF to 1, SCS to 2, and set power to mode 1 (full power, lively delivery).
The effectiveness of traction control and slide control were much more apparent, the electronics allowing the power to be far more aggressively laid to the track. The wheelie control works very effectively; turning it down kept
the front tire from going sky high but didn’t kill too much drive onto the front straight. LIF is incredibly smooth, never abruptly cutting power to tame wheelies. It simply never allows the wheelie to float up too high in the first place, which means it never needs to disrupt chassis stability by slamming the front down. According to Yamaha’s engineers, TCS, LIF, and SCS utilize fuel cuts, ignition retard, and throttle butterfly manipulation to achieve the desired result, which contributes to the precision and smoothness.
Once I had the track layout dialed, I was able to pick up the pace and get a feel for how potent the new engine is. With
a more aggressive and revvy nature, the crossplane-crank engine feels far racier—and way more powerful—than the previous-generation unit. But what impressed me the most is how well the entire package works together. The engine provides ample midrange to top-end power, allowing you to carry a gear taller through tight corners that might otherwise require an additional downshift. That usable and smooth power, together with the excellent leanangle-sensing electronics, gave me the confidence to get on the throttle much earlier and more assertively than my brain would typically allow. So seamless and refined are the TCS and SCS that it only took a few sessions for me to place total faith in them.
The Ri is all about speed, which it delivers in huge doses, but its level of composure is amazing. I couldn’t believe how relaxed I felt behind the windscreen at the top of fifth gear on the main straight. Thanks to a roomier new ergonomic layout (with a flatter seat and lower tank), great aerodynamics, and a taller more protective windscreen, the Ri cockpit is calm—even at 180 mph.
As amazing as the engine and electronics are, they are
backed by a chassis that is far more track-ready than any previous Ri.
The standard model’s new KYB fork and shock provide excellent damping characteristics, and the fork’s cockpitaccessible clickers and preload adjusters make quick work of refining your setup. On track, I was impressed with how light the bike felt and how flickable it was transitioning through the esses and into the ridiculously tight turn 11 hairpin. This agility is no doubt aided by the ultra-light magnesium wheels and a claimed wet weight of only 439 pounds. Front-end feel and midcorner stability also were excellent in hairpins or when wide-open through turn one.
Yamaha has always equipped Rís with excellent brakes, but this new system takes it to another level. The hardware has been upgraded with a new Nissin radial master cylinder, stainless-steel braided lines, and larger 320mm front discs pinched by four-piston radialmount calipers. But the Ri also has Yamaha’s Unified Brake System (UBS) and ABS. For street riding, the linked, bank-angle-sensing system applies additional rear brake when the front is applied but not vice versa. At Eastern Creek, we rode with the optional Circuit ECU accessory that deactivates UBS and applies a very aggressive track ABS setting, which I found impossible to invoke on track. The brakes provided
THE R1 IS ALL ABOUT SPEED,
WHICH IT DELIVERS IN HUGE DOSES, BUT ITS LEVEL OF COMPOSURE IS AMAZING.
YAMAHA YZF-R1
DOHC inline-four
IuII~1~JW1~u1Il 988cc
ii 33.7 in.
FUEL CAPACITY 4.5 g~i.
CLAIMED WET WEIGHT
$16,490
SYDNEY MOTORSPORTS PARK
This track, just outside of Sydney and formerly known as Eastern Creek, hosted the Australian Grand Prix from 1991 to '96 before the event returned to Phillip Island near Melbourne. During those six years, some of the biggest names the sport had ever seen grabbed victories there including: Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan (twice), Kevin Schwantz, John Kocinski, and Loris Capirossi. While those races were held on the classic Gardner GP Circuit, a newer configuration called the Brabham Circuit now features seven additional corners, including the esses section and turn 11 hairpin.
powerful bite and were easy to modulate. That same Circuit ECU also eliminates the top-speed limiter and gives the slightly detuned-for-sound-emissions (190 versus 200 hp claimed) US models their mojo back. But FYI: It also kills the headlights, so you won’t be tempted to use it on the street.
Our last three sessions were spent on the $21,990 RiM. After convincing myself that the standard model could possibly be the best supersport bike currently available, I was in for a shocking surprise. It got better! For our sessions on the RiM, Bridgestone equipped our bikes with its V02 slick tires, which also required adding two teeth (43) to the rear sprocket to compensate for the rear slick’s larger rolling radius.
After familiarizing myself with the available settings of the Öhlins Electronic Racing Suspension, I headed out for the first session. What I discovered is that the M takes the base Ri’s performance to a completely new level. With more grip than I could ever fully utilize, and Öhlins suspension doing all the thinking for me, all I had to do was concentrate on riding as fast as possible. After just a few laps, I felt totally confident in the “decisions” the Öhlins system makes in mere milliseconds. I tried the most aggressive and sporty (stiff) A-i setting and then also sampled the slightly softer A-2. Both worked excellently, but for track use, on slicks, the A-i provided better damping characteristics.
The Ri and RiM are amazingly complicated machines, but for all of their complexity and sophistication, they do a fantastic job of not making a big production out of it all. All of the systems work quietly in the background, allowing the rider to get on with the program and simply ride faster and safer than they’ve ever ridden before.
That is perhaps what makes the Ri and RiM instant contenders for shootout wins: amazing performance, transparent electronic intervention, awesome comfort, great styling, all without being overly complicated. Yes, Japan is back in the sportbike game, and Yamaha intends to remind the Europeans that it knows a thing or two about class-leading technology. ETËË
