The third generation of Yamaha's litre-class rocket has had a lot of detail revision to keep it in the front rank, if not at the head of its class. It's a year behind Honda's Fireblade and Suzuki's GSX-R1000 but gets electronic fuel-injection and a more civilised version of the infamous R-series gearbox.
Power output is marginally up on the carburettor model, to 111.8kW at 10500rpm and the Mikuni F1 suction-piston electronic spritzer system does away almost entirely with the dreaded "slamming door" effect prevalent on earlier fuel-injected bikes - particularly those fitted with the Bosch Motronic set-up.
The R1 picks up smoothly and gently at low revs and can be ridden slowly without jerking, something few spritzer sports bikes will do. The most impressive feature of this immensely muscular motor is the wide spread of power; there's usable torque anywhere above 3600rpm, real grunt from seven.
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For everyday buzzing around that's all you'll ever need but it's like riding a tiger on a tight rein. When there's enough open road ahead just twist the R1's tail and from 8500 revs it goes absolutely barking mad all the way to the bloodline at 11750.
Treat this bike with respect; if you get careless with it, the R1 will bite you. Full-throttle upshifts are always accompanied by a slight headshake because there's simply not enough weight on the front wheel to keep it still and the howl from the bigger air box and its forward-facing intakes will give you goose-bumps.
It rushes up from 120km/h to just over 220 in about as long as it takes to say it and the R1 reportedly tops out at a shade over 280 (IOL's test bike wasn't fully run in so I didn't try any terminal velocity stunts).
Yet, it doesn't feel all that fast; the power delivery is so well modulated that there's no sudden leap forward – rather the bike seems to suck the world towards you fast enough to distort your perceptions of space and time.
The benefits conferred on the chassis by the long swing-arm are real and tangible.
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