Here it is, the Yamaha’s 2018 YZF r1 Super Sport, yes I know it’s 2019 but we don’t have 2019 r1 model in our possession. We have 2018 Yamaha yzf-r1 this 2018 model came out in 2015. It is five years old now and it still looks dang good. I really like the way Yamaha went aggressive on the styling modeled it. After the YZF m1 MotoGP bike. There are headlights but they’re recessed and the front forks looks like you can put a big fat number plate on it. Just race it on your way to work!
I love the gills. This is a signature styling feature now. R1 started in a production capacity with a very nice-looking, very aggressive style. I can’t lie though; you know I’ve been staring at this thing for five years now. It looks awesome it would be nice if Yamaha changed up the styling a little bit more.
Let’s stop talking about the bike and let’s go for a ride! it starts right up and I think it sounds pretty good. I’ll talk a little history about the Yamaha r1. This is the 21st year of Yamaha r1 production. The front fork brand originally came out with this machine and it really revolutionized the sport bike world. I think before the 1998 r1 it was the YZF 1000 and that was a great bike. I’m sure but it was almost more like a sport touring bike, where as this r1 concept really capitalized on having a motorcycle that is very lightweight. It has a ton of power and as like very graceful ergonomics and a racy suspension.
Yamaha went back to the drawing board and for 2015 they really came out with something really special and that’s what this r1 is based off. The 2015 model is much more aggressive route. Sport bike manufacturers are always balancing track performance versus road and street performance. The 2015 Yamaha is like “we’re all in, we’re going for track performance – this isn’t a street bike, this is gonna be a track bike. Yes, it’s gonna have headlights and taillights and a license plate and yes you can ride it on the street, but realistically this bike is for track riding.”
The bike was awesome; so just hard hard hitting in the way a sport bike is meant to be engineered. So 2015 came around and Yamaha whupped on everyone in all the sport by comparisons. They did really good. It was at the top of the class for sure. Last year Yamaha made a couple of updates to this bike. They fitted it with the standard quick-shifter which is totally awesome! It has both up and down quick shift. It allows you to just downshift without having to use the clutch. A really nice feature especially when you’re at the racetrack. They also adjusted the lift program in the wheelie control programming. A little less aggressive in the way it curtails power when you’re accelerating. A lot of racers and really fast riders had a problem with that.
Yamaha has not increased the MSRP very much since the inception of the spike in 2015. The cool thing about Yamaha with the design of the shift linkage you can literally flip it upside down and have it reverse shifting. It is good for guys who like to ride track down and five up. It basically makes it quicker and easier to grab an up shift instead of having to fumble with their foot to lift it up. We made it to that shift pattern if you’re able to do that it’s not a big deal at all. I always find myself just speeding on it. There is so much power as we said earlier about this r1. When Yamaha went to this platform in 2015 they wanted to make a really aggressive track bike and that’s what this thing is. It got very aggressive ergonomics. It’s not a very comfortable street bike. but not at all the suspensions.The clip-on handle bars are low and the foot pegs are tall. The seating position in canted forward quite. Going fast around corners is what this bike is made for.
A great feature is the sound of this engine that cp4 cross-plane crankshaft engine. Yamaha really set itself apart from its competitors when it came out with this cp4 engine. Although it’s configured like a conventional inline 4 in terms of each cylinder, the firing order and the way the engine operates is totally different. It makes the engine feel like a cross between a v-twin and conventional inline four. It has got torque in the bottom RPM’s and good connectivity to the rear tire when you’re twisting the throttle and it still rips on the top end just like a normal inline.
It’s a great engine configuration. It sounds like a m1 race bike and that’s with the stock pipe. You don’t even need to put the aftermarket exhaust pipe on it because it sounds so good stock from the factory. For street riding this thing isn’t the most pleasant but boy it rides fast. It makes you feel like you’re a racer. In its stock configuration it puts out right around one hundred and sixty-two horsepower at the back tire. That’s nothing to scoff at, it’s a lot of power.
Yamaha offered a circuit ECU and that ECU disabled the link brakes. It also disabled the headlights bumped up the power around 182 horsepower. So even though in stock form this thing makes 162 if you get in the ECU you’re gonna be making twenty more horsepower out of this thing. This thing really there’s a lot of performance built into this engine. Another cool feature about this engine is just how smooth it is. Just a little hint of awesome vibration that makes you feel like you’re riding something special just a little day. There’s hardly any vibration just a really smooth running motorcycle. I wish this bike had cruise control so I don’t have to worry about speeding every time I ride it. It just jumps off the line so well you just want to go 100 miles per hour. This meter back when it came out it was shaped like an iphone5 about as big as an iphone5 display.
Obviously, our iPhones have grown this display it’s not but it still looks mighty nice. The trap mode you can actually go into the menu system. The switch to a circuit-specific theme which gives you all the information we need arriving at the circuit. It’s a very complete instrument set those great pressure sensors so near loading the front. The front suspension rear the little blue light comes on and that cool. It’s a little bit small but still neat I was wondering why the throttle was so jumpy or in power mode. So we’re gonna change that to makes it a little bit more gentle.
I guess you could say it’s just not as snappy I like power mode too overall for Street and track riding. We’ve got trash controlled and the least restrictive setting one all right on the street so it doesn’t really matter. The slide control is in the least restrictive setting one but again we’re right on the street we’re not writing anywhere near the speed. We need to activate a slide control but it is cool that it that Yamaha offers it and at the racetrack, it certainly works brakes on this bike. They work great they’re good but it would be nice if Yamaha put on something a little bit more high specs.
I recently washed the brake fluid out of the brake front brake lines and it made a big difference in getting the brakes back to the OE levels of power. The stop front brake pads on this thing and they still a good fight over time. The brake food in these things too creates pretty quick so you gotta be up on you’re under maintenance of the hydraulic fluid. The brakes will feel a little sharp all the time the link brake system on this motorcycle works really well. This is always a pretty big predictive link breaks I never really liked it until I wrote the setup on this bike. It worked so seamlessly even at a track pace that it’s just really well engineered.
My only gripe is that it can’t turn off ABS so you want to do and he knows really is there any slides into. It turns out that you’re not gonna be able to do that because the ABS we talked about the suspension on this bike. It’s very stiff this is a stiffly sprung bike you got to put a lot of load in the controls to make the suspension movement on the street. It really beats you up on the track though it works so good for those of you that want a ride with a passenger. The passengers on this bike are mighty small this isn’t the best option for giving a girl or someone else a ride. The seat is so small so if you do have a girl riding with you make sure she’s a small one because the seat doesn’t have a lot of room.
This bike is a full tank of fuel gallon capacity in this fuel tank it’s also made of aluminium and steel to help save some weight. The fuel tank topped off this thing makes it weighs 441 pounds more than 41 pounds so it’s not the right thing in the class. The nice feature Yamaha added to this motorcycle is the cast magnesium wheels. The cast making wheels are super light it just equates to a motorcycle that changes direction and goes where you want more effortlessly. These one sport bikes are so overkilled for the streets you’re just on the throttle and then on the gas. The throttle and on the brakes and all within it seems like a second engine so smooth on top gear. Right now it’s barely plugging at 4000 rpm it’s very minimal vibration super smooth riding experience.
Northbound shifting leaps off the pooris whose engine produces a ton of torque. One of the only drawbacks of this bike on the street aside from the stiff suspension and the ergonomics is how much in fuel this thing drinks. This thing is a guzzler these cross-plane engines are not made for efficiency. These engines are made for performance and for going very fast and that’s exactly what this engine does. You can literally expect to see fuel mileage figures in the low 30s on this thing.
It really depends on how you ride though if you look the engine and ride real slow you’re gonna get decent fuel economy. If you’re winding out the engine and really giving her the business everywhere oh god she’s gonna be drinking the fuel. Even though sport bikes somewhat lost their practicality on the street just with their more limited levels of comfort. They’re really neat because they just please get to where you want to be. There’s so much power they’re so nimble the performance on them is so high you can just accelerate and brake so heavily. You can get yourself out of situations where on other vehicles you’d be conovan you’d be kind enough in a bind not with this r1 ridden.
This bike at night a bazillion times as well and the LED lighting on it works really well really illuminates the street ahead of you. These LED-equipped motorcycles are just head and shoulders better than the old halogen. This Yamaha YZF r1 motorcycle for street riding I probably recommend. It’s just too aggressive ergonomics are too unforgiving and suspensions too stiff. Just the practicalities not really there for me. Why I buy this bike? Is to ride it at the track all the time absolutely for sure. How it bumped down the sixteen thousand seven or so all day long to do that. Geat thing about Yamaha is they make such an expansive line of machines that if this bike isn’t your forte some other bike will.
Alright guys let’s give her a wheelie oh whoa she’s a hard bike believe it or not that throttle is a little touchy in the low gears. Doesn’t really bracket in because we’re with ABS met my friends is a bride to work on Yamahas racy Grazia r1. We didn’t have time this week for any Instagram call-outs or questions but we’ll make sure to be on that for the next episode. I know you guys really like that segment and I really like answering all of your questions.
Remember for the recent Super Cup MC commute we had some really funny ones. How cool is that you turn the key off and the embossed r1 logo comes on 2018 r1 carries over for 2019 same motorcycle. A neat bike very edgy styling hardcore performance it rides as neatly as it looks. Which still is a pretty good thing even though it’s not the most comfortable on the street but I really like this bike. It’s really amazing what Yamaha has done with this YZF r1 they’ve set a new standard in the class. It’s got a wealth of electronics awesome engine fun-loving personality. It looks cool and if you’re looking for a real hardcore racy race you’re AC racy street bike. This r1 is the bike for you it is a marvellous machine.
