Still taking my breath away after a decade.

The very first time I saw an R1, on the cover of the 1998 Superbikes summer shootout, I completely fell in love with it. I purchased a brand new 08 R1 at the end of June, and I must say my expectation's were blown out of the water.



At one point or another I have ridden everything that can even b...e remotely confused with a sportbike. The R1 at the end of the day is a "Crotch Rocket" yet it manages to pull it off in a very mature and sophisticated way. Nothing touches the sheer sexy styling of the R1, it truly is going 200mph sitting still. The dreaded lack of ummphhh that earlier models had below 6-8 grand (year dependent) is GONE. The bike starts making giggles at 4,000 rpm's and the party just keeps getting better the more you whack it. Amazing power, Amazing styling, Amazing handling, Amazing brakes.. The most MotoGP tech on a production bike... Truly a worldclass package, and the finest motorcycle I have had the pleasure to own/ride.

The ONLY downside to this bike? Being a short guy, 5"7", The bike is not what I would call "comfortable".. Couple that with a good deal of engine heat/undertail exhaust keeping your inner thigh's and naughty bits on the verge of combustion...

Let's be honest, one does not buy a sportbike for comfort, you buy a sportbike to dabble in time travel. As far as the engine heat is concerned... Im sure the nerve ending's in my leg will die eventually :P Small prices to pay for the privilege of riding one unbelievable machine. Read Full Review

Kando - Still R1

At first sight, anyone can say that this bike is a stunner! Beautiful - the lines are more jagged now than the other models but you can still recognize the R1's that came before.



Because 2008 was the 10th anniversary of the R1 that I owned, I wanted to be able to say "I have the 98 & th...e 08 R1s".

From the start, the 98 R1 put the whole liter-bike scene on its ear. There was nothing like this machine and Yamaha left all the other manufactures holding their d**ks wondering "where the heck did that come from?"! The R1's reign began!

Now 10 years later, I am still in awe of this bike. So it's not hard to understand that I would buy the 2008. Even now, I can park my '08 beside my brother's '98 & everyone will tell us that they can't tell which is the old & the new one.

Now for the machine...

The handling is precise with no room for second thoughts. Almost as flickable as my 88 FZR400. Because of the geometry of the bike, you have the feeling of sitting on top of the bike as opposed to sitting inside the bike like others out there. I personally prefer being on top, it gives me a better sense of control (whether perceived or real, I don’t care). Also because of this, some may not be able to ride this bike for very long. I myself have ridden as long as 5 hours straight just touring and felt fine aside from my butt being asleep on one side. Although it should be said that this bike is not meant for touring from coast to coast either, it's meant to rip a track into bite-size pieces of turns and straights! I have yet been in a lean and grabbed some gas and get unsure about what this 08 will do, other than drive right out of it with my friends behind me saying "D*MN, that thing pulls!".

The power has been waning in the last few years, which I guess is expected - we can’t possibly expect Yamaha to keep making the most powerful bike in the industry year after year after year, otherwise what would be the point to of the CBRs & Gixxers out there. It's only normal that someone (Honda or ZUK) would make a monster like the CBR-RR or GSXR1000. But unless you're talking SBK or GP level racing, these differences are not even apparent to the street warriors like me. Speaking from the real world, the power is the smoothest I've ever felt on an R1 (judging from all of my friends R1's that I've made sure to borrow as often as they'd allow). I've never been so confident in grabbing a handful of throttle in a lean, knowing that I won't get flung because of erratic power delivery.

Stopping power from the six-piston caliper front brakes have not yet been tested to the limit. Although it has surely done it's job impressively including some very eye-bulging, throat drying, nut-shriveling episodes of instant stops. The balance & control even in emergency stopping is very ensuring, with a feeling of being fully planted. Which of course encourages me even more to stretch the legs because I know I can stop?

Styling on the other hand has always been, in my opinion, owned by the YAMAHA R1! I always think that the other makers are playing catch-up to Yamaha for styling. What other bike can you say looks better than the R1's since 98 till now? Beautiful lines - with edges where it needs to cut the wind, & curves where it should be sexy. The double lights blazing in the front - that is unmistakably, no doubt, sure as $**t - R1 (but sometimes it that other copy-cat, name can’t remember ;-p). Even now, with new design, I know that a lot of R1 lovers actually don’t like the 09. But in my, be it biased & infatuated, opinion - this is the NEW R1! It shouldn't look like anything else we know because we've never know anything like it!

Kando: a Japanese word, describing Yamaha’s corporate mission - "the sensation of profound excitement and gratification derived from experiencing supreme quality and performance".
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My new R1

This has been my second R1.

I just bought my new one about 5 months ago, and really dont have many complaints. On a hot day, you can feel some heat coming from the pipes that run underneath the tail, but nothing painful or unbearable. Its a sportsbike, so its not made to be the most comfortable bik...e in the world anyhow.
Im very impressed with the performance in this bike, as i am running right along side of my buddy's Hayabusa. The bike practically steers itself. ive never felt such amazing handling in a 1000cc. And of course, theres no bike that looks any sharper than the YZF's
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08 yzfr1 reveiw

before i collected my new r1 from the dealer i made a few modest changes.gone were the heavy exhausts in favour of two of akrapovics finest carbon beauties and titanaum y pipe.the sound of mechanical music,however it came at a price.the fuelling was rough.the throttle felt like it had 2 settings,on ...and off.corners were scarey.it surged forward like i expected but nowhere near the linear power delivery of my previous 2000 model r1.reving to 6k rpm saw to bright orange flames burst from the exhausts.nice touch i thought.over fuelling seemd to be the problem.so back to a friend in my local bike shop who sorted me a power commander 3 and a bmc air filter and threw in a pair of graves smog block off plates.map installed and what a difference.instantly smoother on the throttle,corners were a joy.still a little fluffy below 4k rpm and idles a bit rough,mabe an hour on a dyno can sort this.other wise all i could expect from an r1.a cracked projector lens sorted under warrenty with no fuss is the only problem and as problems go it was no biggie.i enjoy every mile,the grin factor hasnt faded.i definatly wont be tradeing it in for the 09 r1.its minging.where did they go so wrong.thats another reveiw tho. Read Full Review

The sensible hooligan

I was a huge fan of the original R1 and as this is the 10th anniversary of the original with it's red and white 98'esque paint scheme including red seats, I had to have it.



This bike is a sensible hooligan. I commuted every day at 30mph in London rush hour for over a year and never had sore wrist...s or sore bum. (R6 was dire)

Now I live in Spain I commute 140 km's a day on highways. It eats up long distance and the riding position is very comfortable. I've toured Europe and even ridden around France with the girlfriend and neither of us had any issues.

I also do track days here in Spain and the bike's split personality comes out on the track. Its a savage beast that eats up corners and destroys most bikes in it's path down the straight. The handling is sublime. Even running in too hot into corners and going of line means you can change direction at any point in the turn without a flinch from the bike. And then there is that addictive popping and burbling the exhausts make on the over run that I just can't get enough of. To me this is the perfect all rounder and I can't imagine another bike that can genuinely complete as the perfect all rounder.

The only achilles heal of the R1 is having to change the exup cable 3 times in 2 years. Not ideally located under the exhausts and lots of road crud gets stuck in there causing the cable to snap regularly.

Another downside is the exhausts. A design flaw in my opinion as the bike gets extremely hot to ride when temperatures hit 30 degrees plus. In colder weather it's lovely as it keeps you nice and snug. Other than that I'm over the moon and will hang onto this bike for a long, long time. Read Full Review