2004 Yamaha R1 Street Test - Motorcycle.com
At long last, here's the 2004 Yamaha R1, the third all-new bike in the highly anticipated 1000cc supersport class. We told you all about the 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R, back in December, after I rode it at Homestead. More recently, I got a chance to spend a day aboard Honda's new CBR 1000RR and now the trifecta is complete with this review of the 2004 Yamaha R1.
The first R1 made its debut in 1998 and its styling raised the bar for Japanese sportbikes. Each revision since then has refined the look and this new one is undoubtedly the prettiest R1 yet. After seeing this bike in person and oogling the new metallic red and the two-tone silver paint jobs, I sincerely feel that Yamaha has displaced Ducati at the top of the sportbike styling heap. (Of course Ducati helped, when they replaced the gorgeous 916 family with the 999 series) Yamaha says the new R1 is: "Michelangelo meets Sir Isaac Newton". I'd say: From the voluptuous upside-down swingarm, to the flowing intake snorkels, the 2004 R1 just oozes sex appeal.
A comprehensive listing of the changes and revisions is included in Yamaha's spec-chart at the end of this article. However, at the risk of being redundant, I'd like to breeze through a few of the biggies. The entirely n
GYTR Carbon Fiber Parts for the 2004 R1 2004 R1 Racebike
Ergonomics are typical modern supersport and felt a little cramped at first, though I must confess to just getting over the flu and being somewhat stiff at the beginning of the ride. After I stretched a bit, I was perfectly happy and after a solid day of riding, I was still fresh and had no aches to complain about. The footpegs have been moved down 7mm and forward 2.5mm from last year's R1 and the clip-ons have been raised 10mm. When you couple this with a significantly narrower motorcycle, you end up with a roomier riding position. In addition to the new ergos, the new engine is quite smooth for an inline four and was noticeably less buzzy than the Honda CBR 1000RR.
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