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| Yamaha R1 – better treat it with respect |
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Dave Abrahams July 16 2002 at 01:29AM |
Get IOL on your mobile at m.iol.co.za |
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.
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. Towards the end of my time with the biggest R, having put quite a lot of mileage on it, (it's that kind of bike – a mission for milk to the local convenience store often turns out to be a full tilt two-hour mountain road adrenalin overdose) I briefly let it off the leash at our secret test track with short bursts through the gears up to nine-five. The results were genuinely awe-inspiring. Treat this bike with respect; if you get careless with it, the R1 will bite you. But my riding was mostly restricted to running in at around 5000rpm, where I discovered that under the looneybike persona there's a rideable street bike with effortless torque delivery and good street manners.
The clutch is a definite improvement over previous R-series offerings … light and progressive with the solid if rather sudden hook-up that's needed to deal with all that torque. It gets a little grabby if abused but won't slip or judder. It's mounted high up on the right side of the gearbox in its own oil-bath and never seems to spin the plates dry, which often happened on the first R1s. All R-coded Yamaha have Mr Miwa's famous vertically stacked gearbox; the concept came about as the result of his quest to put the longest possible swing-arm in the shortest wheelbase. It works; the Rs are some of the best-handling four-cylinder bikes on the road but the unique layout places the shift mechanism right at the top, as far away from the lubricating oil as it can get and still be inside the engine casings. The rear-set linkage actually runs upwards through a hole in the frame to reach the shift shaft high up on the left, roughly where the throttle linkage would be on a conventional bike. As a result the Yamaha sports bikes are distinguished by the worst gear changes yet to come out of Japan. They're short, heavy and often gritty; good changes require more rider input than usual and missed shifts are not uncommon because you sometimes can't feel exactly when it goes in. Like the Suzuki, however, the higher the revs the better it works and at the end of my time with the R1 I managed a couple seamless snap-shifts. Senior test rider Jenni Peters said she hoped the 'box would improve with age – but the 2002 R6 I tested some months ago was even worse and it had more than 10 000km on its liquid crystal odometer. Even the hand-built R7 superbike racer has a poor shift action by most standards. Yet thousands of Yamaha enthusiasts the world over put up with it because the benefits conferred on the chassis are real and tangible. And R carries the weight of its engine well forward for quick, effortless turn-in and precise front-wheel tracking. The latest R1 is no exception; its geometry has been set up to improve front-end agility without losing stability. Chassis modifications The engine has been raised by 20mm, bringing most of its mass closer to the rolling centre of the rider/bike combination; the swingarm pivot is also 17.5mm higher, steepening its slant angle for quicker response. The redesigned swingarm is asymmetrical to allow the big titanium tailpipe to be neatly tucked away and is fabricated around a cast-alloy pivot for extra stiffness. The result is a litre-class bike that you ride like a hot middleweight. Where you look is where it goes, with hardly a twitch from the front tyre even on poor surfaces. As much as you should be cautious with the muscular motor, you can trust the chassis with its fully adjustable 43mm upside-downies to hold its line through your favourite twisties. The brakes are still state-of-the-art Sumitomo one-piece callipers, now with aluminium pistons for quicker response and fed through braided stainless-steel hoses for extra bite. Their response is precise and almost perfectly linear; the more you squeeze, the more you stop. Yamaha recognises that the rear brake plays very little part in hard road riding so the 220mm rear disc is lighter than that of the 2001 model and is asymmetrically drilled for better heat dissipation. A surprisingly diminutive Italian Brembo master cylinder, neatly tucked away above the right foot peg, supplies it. The third-generation R1 body panels are even more severely tailored than the original, pared to the minimum in search of the most compact package. Large cutaways in the lower sections let hot air out and show off the beautifully cast cylinder-head. The revised shape of the 17-litre fuel tank allows for a more tucked-in riding position, as do the footpegs that are higher and further back. The long, angular tail-piece with a full bolt-on undertray is one of the most severely tailored I've yet seen on a road bike; with the longer seat, it gives greater freedom of movement to the rider, while the concave multi-element LED tail-light is eye-catchingly difficult to ignore – a powerful safety item. As with several other Yamaha models IOL has tested, the lower body panels are flimsy and inadequately bracketed. The upper fairing is robust and firmly mounted, but the belly pan in particular is so thin that I had to support it with one hand to avoid cracking it while polishing it with the other for the photographs. I know the makers are trying to build big sports bikes as light as possible (the revised R1 weighs in at 174kg dry, just seven kilograms heavier than the current 600cc R6) but a kilo of extra plastic here and there would have paid dividends in terms of owner satisfaction. Tall in the saddle The seat is intimidatingly tall at 820mm and made me very nervous when paddling around in car parks - so much so that more than once I climbed off the bike and pushed it round rather than take a chance on retaining my balance on uneven ground. Once on the move, however, everything falls readily to hand and the seating position is reasonably comfortable for more than two hours at a time, although I got the feeling that I was sitting on the bike rather than in it, much as on a Ducati 916. There's a six-way adjustment - the first I've seen on a motorcycle - for the backlighting on the rev-counter (the only analogue dial on an otherwise digital instrument panel) and a big LED shift indicator light instead of a red line. The tell-tale orange light can be set to come on at any desired engine revs, both for running in and to suit riding styles and road conditions. The rest of the instrumentation is digital and, much as I prefer real dials with real needles, the liquid crystal numbers are lighter, cheaper and more accurate. The latest edition of Yamaha's No.1 looneybike is a strikingly handsome, almost austere package, with a minimum of curves and covers. It's been designed to look like a motorcycle, not an exercise in melted cheese. It's surprisingly comfortable and (dare I say this?) user-friendly around town, despite the poor gearshift. But tweak its tail and you'll be forcefully reminded that this is one of the top three sports bikes on the road, frighteningly quick and utterly competent. Is it the best? Ride all three before you decide; you might prefer Honda's Fireblade or the Suzi Gixer but for me Yamaha's R is still the best. Price: R129 995. Click here to use IOL Motoring's repayments calculator.
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