I’ve recently written some other bike so you’ve probably seen some of the reviews on them. Weight-wise he was trying to tell me that this bike feels a little heavy to him but some of that is the other things. He is comparing it to or other sport bikes more modern ones. This one is really not that bad in terms of weight. I’m comparing it to something a little heavier but you know this was back when the r1 was still a little bit more portly of a bike. I mean he said it was about 450 pounds of weight which I expect it probably is.
I haven’t had any reason to question that set it up for GP shift but other than that it is a gorgeous transmission. The 2013 model our one motive friends was supposed to be about 180 horsepower. We know that with the new or 1m they’re pushing that boundary up a little bit higher. Everyone’s shooting for that 200 marks but the real question is you can use 200 horsepower. More than you could use 180 I mean let’s look at it realistically in fifth gear if I roll on. I mean that bike will go and put me in jail speeds very quickly.
There is absolutely no need to have this much power or anything more than this. I know that it sounds a bit hypocritical coming from someone who owns a KTM Super Duke 1290. Which is you know at the time it came out was the most powerful of all naked bikes you can buy. I love the power and that is why I’m riding this bike and I want to talk to you about it the thing. I noticed immediately on this beyond the GP shifting being a little weird for me. This actually has a very smooth transmission and I’m Roli running it standard right now. I’m gonna put a mode in a second but even in standard the transmission the fuelling is very smooth.
Everyone says that the FCO 9 is really kind of glitchy it’s a little clunky and snatchy. They use these different words to describe the feeling on Osseo 9 as being really shaky. No searching like that and that surging is a big complaint because if you’re trying to ride a bike fast you need good fueling now. I will say that this r1 does complain heavily if you try to put it around to keep it quiet a low rpm you know to 3000 rpm low speed.
It really hates that you can tell the bike was not set up. The idle around it’s not a city commuter bike it’s definitely a fun sport bike to take out on curves. Which is why I’m riding it very quiet and slow out to the curves the suspension is set up a little bit stiff for my liking. I do weigh a little bit less than the owner of this bike but I can tell that it’s fairly controlled. I think it’s got a decent size you know valving on the front forks and everything. I think the suspension would be pretty good and I will say in terms of comfort this again surpasses the comfort of other sport bikes I’ve ridden in the past. I think the 600 class bikes were just the worst you know this being in r1 it’s a little bit bigger.
It’s a little bit heavier makes a little more power and you know you certainly feel the extra weight compared to you know a 400 pound bike or a 200 pound bike like my Grom. It’s not so heavy that you’re going to argue with it too much. Now you start throwing a 450 pound bike around of the curves it’s not so bad you get up to 500 550 600 pounds. Every little bit of weight it adds to it and you do feel yourself fighting them in the curves this one though it’s not so bad. See how well does low-speed handling it’s actually impressed by that again older super sports. Everything we’re hard to do you turns on and my riding skill has not improved.
Significantly to where it’s just suddenly easy now and it didn’t use to be. It’s rather that they’ve been improving these bikes in that regard. So let’s do a little walk around how standard Yamaha side stand. I see but yeah it’s got that just wakes it’s 2013 with the toast exhaust and you have to admit. Yamaha has always made a very compact very good-looking sport bike. Yamaha r1 I love the blue color the only mods on this bike is the toast exhaust a couple of block off plates engine covers. I mean you know so it’s roughly the same weight because you know the engine covers you take off the exhaust.
It’s still every bit of grounds but that engine makes really good power now the thing I’m interested to see is how they’ve done the fuelling. Ever rode it in standard but now I’m interested in riding it is not a sport mode. Start the engine you can switch the mode switchover while it’s in you know stopped position. I’m going to switch it so I don’t know what the traction controls on he’s got it with three bars. I can turn it all the way up and turn it down turn it off I’m kind of the one lower settings of it leave it where it was factory and I forgot it was GP shift already. I will say they like every other sports bike the mirrors are utterly worthless but that’s not the complaint against this bike. Specifically, I mean the mirrors are just going to be utterly worthless I do like the level of comfort you can actually get. You can sit up a little bit more on this one prank are actually fairly good. You know moto friends this is an interesting opinion that I have on this bike but I feel like it’s a little bit too comfortable.
Apparently had to make some compromises somewhere in performance and I don’t feel like it has any compromise performance. It’s not like it could be faster I’m sure it could but it’s not like I felt lacking in the horsepower department. Especially once you bring it up to good speeds away should we go into jail once you bring it up. There like it is very happy to keep accelerating but I feel like I’m missing something. Maybe this engine just can’t get into its performance zone until you’re one hundred under twenty hundred and forty miles an hour. Maybe the suspension is set up a little more stiff and everything it’s just I feel like everything about.
This bike really is designed for track usage, not on the street which is weird. Earlier today I was riding another superbike because it was a leader size. I don’t feel like I am compromised as much in terms of performance it is much lighter. It is aggressive handling insanely fast bike you expected to be and that was the Ducati 959 Panigale. Suddenly when you put this in a mode or standard either way and you try to lug it around at low speeds and low rpms. Like it’s not that it complains the fuelling is very compliant very smooth bike behaves nicely. It handles really superbly it doesn’t beg you to lean it over. It’s very neutral handling like you leaned it into a curve and it hangs at the lean angle you’ve chosen.
Everything about it is fantastic and that’s what confuses me. It reminds me of a Honda of the CBR 1000 actually a 2012 model. It’s just because very linear power a lot of top-end handles wonderfully it has great power. It sounds I mean like everything about it is great but it didn’t try and kill me which is kind of what I expect out of Yamaha. They normally built bikes a little more personality and the fact that this is so expected.
The performance is exactly as I expected it to be it’s just interesting I don’t know motor friends I mean don’t get me wrong. It is a fantastic motorcycle and is an absolute joy to ride I really love the neutral handling that makes it actually very predictable. It makes it very easy to ride very quick and I think that’s maybe some of the problem the bike is deceptively fast is extremely fast and handles extremely well. It feels so easy to ride it almost makes it feel like you’re going slower in it.
It’s almost like Yamaha that’s such a good bike made such a great bike and made it so predictable that it ends up almost feeling and almost ends up feeling too easy. Therefore giving you less of an impression of speed that’s what I said earlier about bikes that try to kill you. It’s like a Yamaha FZ o9 you know twist the throttle and it tries to throw you off the back. Its like this little argument between you and the bike and just always makes for a really exciting ride or is on this you know there’s no drama.
There’s no excitement it’s certainly from acceleration from handling the wind and the speed and the sound. It just makes me feel like it’s more refined than I typically get from a Yamaha. What would I say about that typical Yamaha is that they always have a little bit more of a peak top end power than other bikes. They have a very unique intake sound on the upper end and everything about this bike is just so much more refined than I expect from Yamaha. So it just threw me off a little bit but it is a joy to ride this fantastic motorcycle. I definitely love that cross plane engine and that toast exhaust. I don’t know I feel like whenever I run across the bikes that kind of throws me for a loop when I go riding it.
