GIRO DAY

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Australia on the 2009 crossplane R1 and being immediately surprised at how much force it needed merely to roll the thing from side to side (a feeling that never entirely went away). The new R1 is completely different. It flicks left to right and back like a Peter Powell stunt kite in a gale, warming my early morning brain as much as putting heat into the tyres. The chassis has an instant rightness that makes me smile, and give the other two on the BMW and Ducati a thumbs up. The oncoming traffic clears for a moment, so I let a few of the R1’s demons slip loose. The motor spools up like a turbine for a micro-second, then eviscerates the nose-to-tail line of cars and lorries, turning them inside out and leaving them spinning, gutted, in the wake of the Yamaha’s howling, shattering pace. I mean, really: holy fuck, what an engine. What. An. Engine. For all the guff Yamaha made about the mechanicals inside the previous R1 being derived from Valentino Rossi’s M1, and how the crossplane crank produced ‘pure’ torque that felt intimately connected the throttle, that engine feels like a truck motor compared to this thing. No word of a lie, as I ride along casually deploying its weaponsgrade acceleration, the machine the Yam reminds me of most is Honda’s RC211V, the 990cc MotoGP tool I was lucky enough to ride back in 2005. That bike had been dialled back by HRC technicians from full race spec to a softer, journo-friendly 200-odd bhp. It has taken 10 years to get the same feeling of incomprehensible, but invincible, performance on the road. But here we are, and the Yamaha R1 definitely has it. It feels like the power curve is a near-vertical ramp, especially between 7000 and 9000rpm. The new R1 motor is substantially narrower than the old bike’s, with a lighter crossplane crank, revised, lighter counterbalance shaft, titanium rods, wider bores and shorter stroke, finger rocker valve gear and redesigned head. This should amount to more revs, more power, sharper engine response and lighter steering. And it does. The Yamaha romps through the early morning river of commuting tin boxes like a bionic eel weaving effortlessly upstream, driving relentlessly forward in a flood of quickshifting shortshifts. Awesome though its engine is, the R1 is not flawless. The quickshifter is fine on upshifts, but coming the other way down the box is a bit hit and miss, That burger van’s just around the next corner The R1’s engine is a phenomenal exercise in rocketship power delivery The R1 feels quicker for the least input Power: nothing without control ‘Where the Tommy Hillfinger?’ 52 PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK | JUNE 2015
THE RUTTER TEST / S1000RR v R1 v 1299 S ‘The motor spools up like a turbine then turns the line of cars inside out, leaving them spinning in its wake’ especially with an insanely tall first gear – I often find myself trying to shift down into a gear below. Rutter has the same issue: “It’ll do over 100mph in first,” he points out. “This isn’t going to be much fun in hairpins. There’s a lot of engine braking, too, and it’s easy to lock the rear.” Throttle response needs fine judgement to avoid jerkiness. I’m not sure if it’s a fuelling thing; I reckon the actual grip is physically stiff to turn, as if the rubber is fouling the bar end (it isn’t) or a cable is trapped (it isn’t either). The S1000RR’s fly-bywire grip turns like a lightlysprung volume dial in comparison. Either way, I find myself using a combination of clutch and rear brake to smooth things out. We stop for a coffee and I mention the problem. “What mode are you in?” asks Johnny Mac. Er, it says Mode 1 on the big colour screen. We used to call them clocks, but that’s no longer sufficient. Is it officially now a dash? A swarm of acronyms and pictograms is very cool but will anyone be admiring the brake pressure monitor when their eyeballs are glued to the visor? “Try it in Mode 3,” suggests McAvoy. “It’s the same power and delivery, just with softer throttle response.” Rutter nods. With no manual, we stab at buttons – a rocker switch system on the left bar, a scroll wheel on the right. Once you work it out, it’s fairly simple to master. We hammer off again into the Lincolnshire Wolds. The throttle still feels stiff. But the roads are dry, the tarmac is warming up, and the R1 starts to deliver on its promise of A-road supremacy. It’s truly, madly, deeply sublime, pulling wheelies off crests with electronically-controlled accuracy, back end sucking into the tarmac and releasing grip in tiny, metered stages of slippage – and all the while with the droning, baleful moan of a bewitching powerplant. It’s sportsbike heaven. In fact R1 is so calm and collected at speed, it doesn’t feel significantly faster than the other two. But it gets where it’s going so much sooner than either of them that it must be. No wonder Rossi cuddles his M1 all the time. Surprised he doesn’t nip off with it for a quickie. It flatters your riding, inspires new confidence to go at it harder – not faster, as such, just smoother and better. We swap bikes and I take the BMW S1000RR. Michael Rutter is raving about it: “It’s fucking beautiful. You feel like you could ride a million miles on it and then go racing with it without even thinking about it. Thank God for the heated grips early on though – without them I’d have said ‘Fuck it,’ and turned round and gone home.” I covered 10,000 miles on the original S1000RR in 2010 and around 4000 on the tweaked 2012 model. I’ve also ridden this bike before, at the launch. So I know it’s going to feel amazing. It’s basically taken the cool bits of the old HP4 – semi-active suspension, enhanced electronics and braking, engine tweaks – and added them to the S1000RR package. Until the R1 was announced, it sounded unbeatable. But after riding the Yamaha, the S1000RR – yes, I know this sounds crackers – feels large, doesn’t turn as sweetly; it’s more practical and road-oriented than the R1, a feeling backed up by heated grips, cruise control and the best quickshifter and autoblipper of the three. Rutter’s impressed: “You’d never think you’d need them on the road, but they’re just fantastic. Now I’ve tried it, I wouldn’t buy a bike without one.” Purists may mock, but this stuff is genuinely useful. The BM also has a roomier riding position than the R1, with a longer reach to the bars. “The S1000RR is the most JUNE 2015 | PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK 53
Page 1 and 2: GIRO DAY Fancy a bike to do the Mot
Page 3 and 4: ‘I’VE FINISHED FOURTH OVERALL I
Page 5 and 6: Q Pure Ducati: Desmo valve gear, ta
Page 7 and 8: ‘FOR A BIKE MADE IN THE MID-’50
Page 9 and 10: Q Comfy position and torquey engine
Page 11 and 12: ‘IT’S COMFORTABLE AND FAIRLY TO
Page 13: THE RUTTER TEST / S1000RR v R1 v 12
Page 17 and 18: THE RUTTER TEST / S1000RR v R1 v 12
Page 19 and 20: Kawasaki ZZ-R1100D Go far and fast
Page 21 and 22: Not the quickest around bends but m

GIRO DAY

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