9/12/04
So sharp, so alert
After a couple of weeks away, mostly riding off-road bikes and then a Giant Trailies test, getting back on the R1 felt like getting on the best bike in the world. So sharp, so alert, so taught and stiff, so quick and so commanding - even though the roads are shitty - I felt like I was riding Rossi's M1.
Except I wasn't, of course, but such is the difference between even the best of other class bikes and the best sports bike this year. I'm already fielding my calls from Harley Stephens at Yamaha UK asking for R1 back but he's not having it just yet. Even during these cold and damp mornings, when the well-worn Pirelli Diablo Corsa tyres would rather be in Spain, I'm happy as Larry.
Happy as Larry with everything except the clutch that is. A couple of months ago I did a handful of racing starts, while speed testing, and fried the clutch (which I mentioned at the time). It seemed like everything was fine until just recently when the lever started biting right out at the end of its span. While it is working properly, the fact that it's at the end of the cable adjustment and biting so far out makes me think it needs replacing.

On a more positive note 500-odd miles later and I'm well happy with the upgraded (8981) Penske shock. It's hard to offer a true opinion about the performance, since the weather has changed and I'm obviously not riding as hard and consequently not working the suspension to the same degree. But there's a clear difference to the stance of the bike. The rear ride height is set at 5mm higher than standard and I've adjusted the fork compression one click harder to match the shock's firmness.
Apologies for the name drop but the very distinguished TT legend, Nick Jefferies, once taught me the quick way of setting up a bike's suspension; sit as far forward as possible on the seat, so your weight is as near the centre of the bike as possible, hold the front brake on and then take your weight on and off, essentially bump up and down to work the suspension. You'll know instantly whether the forks and shock are out of sync with each other because the bike will either dip at the front or squat at the back more (or less). If front and rear compress and rise equally you know things are basically balanced. This test was all I did once I'd fitted the new shock, bringing the shock up to match the forks, then going a little stiffer to suit my needs.

12 October

R1 tip top
As everything's hunky-dory with the R1 very little has been going on over the last month or so, hence I haven't written.

I've ditched, or rather referred back to, the original screen after giving the genuine Yamaha race screen a fair crack of the whip for as couple of months. There's nothing especially wrong with the race one, as it creates extra space to tuck behind on a track, but it's just plain ugly and, frankly, that's unacceptable on a bike that looks this good.

I did manage to sneak it amongst the bikes we took speed testing to Bruntingthorpe this month. Pitched alongside the likes of an SP-2 or a GSX-R600 and 750 there was little comparison. I was more interested in comparing it to the stock R1 we had on test to see how, or if, the Micron, Power Commander and quickshifter made any difference to acceleration and top speed.
The good news is they do, which is just as you'd expect but what's interesting is what difference they make. The quicker acceleration times don't impress me much (predominantly as a road rider). Being only 0.14s quicker from 0-60mph seems like piss-all until you carry this fact on through the increments and you can see the gain in distance has more apparent effect than those in time. For instance at 100mph it's a half second quicker but has travelled a whole 14.23m further. Whichever way you look at it the gains over standard make a lot more sense if you're racing. Half a second and 14 metres out of every corner where you reach 100mph or more? Err, yes please.

The bad news was that after a couple of flying standing starts the clutch overheated and, for a while, had me thinking I'd burnt it out. The fully synthetic 15w50 racing Rock oil I put in it at the service is designed for, well racing, and five or six starts in a row showed what difference thick and thin oil makes. Road-spec, heavier oil is like a road tyre in as much as it can cope with lots of different riders, riding conditions and types of bikes. In short there's just no point using the more expensive high-spec oil on the road. I had no choice but to ride the bike into work the next day and I'm glad to say the clutch returned to normal once it had cooled. An afternoon at a Focused Event trackday since then proved there's no lasting effect either.
Excuse the size of the list of figures here are the results in all their Bob Gray glory...



Bike JP's Long-term R1
Date 27/09/04
Location Brunters
Rider JP

Top speed = 177.62mph in 33.75 seconds and 2115.67 metres

Acceleration
Speed Time Distance AccelG
00010 0.78 1.571 0.59
00020 1.36 5.430 0.67
00030 1.87 11.193 0.73
00040 2.39 19.310 0.76
00050 2.96 30.678 0.77
00060 3.48 43.474 0.79
00070 4.02 59.097 0.80
00080 4.69 81.798 0.78
00090 5.30 105.106 0.77
00100 6.00 134.941 0.76
00110 6.95 179.166 0.72
00120 7.90 228.363 0.69
00130 9.22 301.927 0.64
00140 10.68 390.345 0.60
00150 12.78 526.543 0.54
00160 15.56 720.146 0.47
00170 21.58 1164.163 0.36

Standing 1/4 mile = 10.90 seconds @ 141.58mph

Bike Yamaha R1
Date 27/09/04
Location Brunters
Rider JP

Top speed = 175.73mph in 35.10 seconds and 2163.21 metres

Acceleration
Speed Time Distance AccelG
00010 0.85 1.650 0.54
00020 1.44 5.544 0.64
00030 1.98 11.597 0.69
00040 2.53 20.269 0.72
00050 3.07 31.107 0.74
00060 3.62 44.652 0.76
00070 4.23 62.296 0.76
00080 4.87 84.016 0.75
00090 5.76 117.909 0.71
00100 6.50 149.174 0.70
00110 7.57 199.816 0.66
00120 8.56 251.039 0.64
00130 10.00 331.673 0.59
00140 11.55 425.146 0.55
00150 14.11 591.606 0.48
00160 17.61 834.793 0.41
00170 24.95 1375.561 0.31

Standing 1/4 mile = 10.90 seconds @ 138.85mph


By popular demand

(and one hell of a lot of barracking)
JP finally updates his R1 long termer words, "I've been too busy enjoying it to write about it" is his the half-hearted excuse.

It's true, I have to be honest I'm really fucking enjoying riding the R1 at the moment. I have been all year but just lately it seems so peachy I can't get enough. I even did something last weekend that I swore I'd never do which was get up early and go for a 'Sunday blast'. My credibility in my own eyes has fallen sharply with that latest slip towards middle age but I don't care. Besides I've finally found a half decent route not far from my Norf Larnden flat and if 8.30am on a Sunday is the only time the road is half empty then 8.30am it is.

Here's why I'm enjoying the R1 so much; firstly the promised exhaust test (results of which will appear in the next issue of SuperBike) ran me through a range of different characteristics from the engine and let me settle on the one I preferred. That turned out to be the one I've been running all year coincidentally, the Micron Serpent full race system. Naturally that was the one producing the most power but it was a close call between the Micron and the least powerful but mill-pond-smooth, and gloriously mannered, M4 full race system. I went for the Micron because the strength of power higher up the revs better suits the amount of time I spend rattling round tracks and at higher revs but if I were riding more on the road than I do I'd strongly recommend the M4 pipe and can combo.

The R1 also feels as familiar as a glove after so many hours riding it on the track over the last month which means it's been having a tough life. It's either parked up in the van or I'm thrashing it to death doing a test at some track or other, it's a stark contrast to earlier in the year when all I seemed to do was dribble across London and back in the rain. So with nearly 4,000 miles on the clock I decided it deserved its first service slightly early. Too early it turns out because aside from changing the oil and filter and pointing out the head lights weren't working (because I'd unplugged them) the boys at Infinity Motorcycles in Purley found nothing for me to write about. I half expected the brake pads to need replacing at least but not a dicky bird. I got them to pour in Rock Oil's Synthesis 4 Racing oil instead of the standard stuff. I expected a little boost in power output from the oil but it showed no difference on the dyno. The main difference should be more consistency in performance when the engine is being used harder on the track.

With all the exhaust changing recently I noticed some surface corrosion is forming on the sump and on water pipes but otherwise the R1 is standing up to British weather pretty well.

While the bike was on the dyno during the exhaust test I also noticed a couple of things which fellow R1 owners may be interested to learn. Both the speedo and tacho are over-reading and while there's nothing new about speedos doing that, seeing the tacho so far out came as a surprise to me. For your info the speedo is 10mph out at 70mph (so reads 80mph) and 20mph out at 150mph. So in theory doing 35mph past a 30 limit Gatso is within the law as is doing an indicated 80mph on a motorway. Doing 150mph anywhere other than the track is naturally all down to you! As for the tacho once you're above 10,000rpm expect it to be reading around 1,200rpm higher than the engine really is revving. This apparently doesn't make any difference but I'm not sure what the point is.

To update the Penske shock situation, I didn't get many miles on the standard road shock at time of writing last month's termer report in the mag but since then I've been out on it more and, frankly, I'm unsure about it. I don't know if I've just got used to the increasingly slack-arse shock and the way it slumps in the first part of travel but the Penske has a stiffer poise which pitches the back end of the bike higher. I've got the ride-height adjusted a little higher but I think the problem stems from an initial stiffness followed by not enough compression as the bike squats under load. This gets more unsettling on the bumpy roads. As this is the standard Penske shock, the 8900E, it comes with no compression adjustment and I reckon that's what's needed to control things a little more for the road. The rebound adjustment is great though and after a few experiments up and down the range I got it settled around 3/4 of the way through the range towards hard (I'm still not 100% sure). Overall though I'm not sure the 8900E is enough of an improvement to warrant the extra cost and can't wait to try out the next model up in Penske's range.


10 June 2004

It's been a busy month or so both in the office and out on the road testing so apologies for not updating the R1 page.

At the start of the month the R1 had a week sabbatical in Datatool's workshop while I was away dressing up as DP Gumby The R1 has an immobilser as standard so they opted for the System 21 alarm (£179.99). The System 21 can be fitted to any bike with a standard immobiliser (Honda, Kawasaki's etc) bumping the bike up to a category 1. Leaving the bike at Datatool for so long meant they fitted all sorts of other electrikery like the digital gear display (£59.99) and an indicator warning light/alarm (£39.99). Call Datatool products (0870 1652414 or go to www.datatool.co.uk)

I've also fitted some Gilles adjustable rear sets (Performance Parts 0870 2402113, £299.00) which put the footrests 40mm higher and 45mm further back and will help the longevity of my boots on the track. Getting them in black adds to the look to of the bike plus they've sharpened up the already slick gear change. The only tricky part was adjusting the length of the spring that operates the brake light. Even with the switch adjusted right down on its thread the light was permanently on so I had to "stretch" it slightly with some pliers. It's definitely worth using nut lock/lock tight/thread lock or what ever you want to call it on every single one of the bolts. I know from past experience they can come loose on the Gilles sets but, in my haste, I missed a couple out and sure enough they came loose and I lost the foot plate half way through a track day session.

Adding to my R1-smugness about the World Endurance championship I notice also that John McGuinness and Jason Griffiths are breaking records on the Isle of Man, good luck to them both for the rest of the week and lets hear it for the YZF massive.

One final thing this month was to run the bike dry, deliberately honest), to see how many miles are in a tank. You'll be interested to know I got 161.4miles on the tank (which included motorway and city miles) and 29.1 miles with the fuel light or F-trip on. Oh, and 3/4 of a mile pushing to the fuel station.

Micron serpent system

The Micron Hydratech Serpent pipes and race silencer as, used in WSB and BSB, are this month's biggest bolt-on (featured on our product pages June 2004).

The skilled hands of Mark at BSD got the stock system off in no time. He left the EXUP valve wired in to keep the ECU thinking it's there but basically it was quite a quick job. Mark then bolted the system loosely in place at first to make sure it all fitted correctly, before nipping things up. The four-into-two-into-one-into-two configuration took a little bit of persuading at the four-into-two junction but nothing some elbow (and some grease) couldn't rectify. The pipes cost £499.99, the cans are from £309.99 (01773 876330 or www.micronexhausts.com). The next job is to get a power commander on there to smooth out a hole in the lower revs and get the best from the system.

They sound great by the way but the effect on the power is the biggest gain. Here's how it all compares;

After 550miles: max power 145.67bhp@12,650rpm, 69.18lb-ft max torque

After 2,300 miles: max power 149.0bhp@12,630rpm, 70.93lb-ft@9,880rpm max torque

With full Micron system: max power 153.92bhp@12,630rpm, max torque 72.71lb-ft@9,880rpm

11 May 2005

In the interest of delivering a proper test I ran the bike dry just to see how many miles I could get out of tank. If you're an owner you'll be interested to know I got 161.4miles on the tank, 29.1 miles of which were with the fuel light or F-trip on. If you're not you'll be pleased to know it meant I had to push the bike about three quarters of a mile.

I've fitted crash bungs courtesy of me old mates at BSD (01733 223377, £41.99). By all accounts you'd do well to find better engineered bungs. They put a proper amount of time and thought in to tailoring a set to match each model. They're also well made and above all bolted straight on without any fairing cutting, which isn't always the case.

I've also fitted some Gilles adjustable rear sets over last weekend (Performance Parts 0870 2402113, £299.00) which put the footrests 40mm higher and 45mm further back and will help the longevity of my boots on the track. Getting them in black adds to the look to of the bike too plus they've sharpened up the already pretty slick gear change. The only tricky part was adjusting the length of the spring that operates the brake light. Even with the switch adjusted right down on its thread the light was permanently on so I had to "stretch" it slightly with some pliers.

I notice the R1 is still going well in the World Endurance championship this year. I've been keeping a close eye on it, not just because reigning champions Phase One are running an R1, but because endurance bikes are closer to our road bikes than any other world level race series. I'm saying that's pretty good proof of the R1 being the best production sports bike out there in 2004. It also vindicates my litre bike test verdict back in our June issue.

Miles done: 1747miles

Modifications: Crash bungs and Gilles adjustable rear sets

1 May 2004

I'd love to have made my trip to Cornwall half way through April a topic of extended termer news. I'd love to have spouted about how clever negotiations led to the wife driving a car full of her mates down to sunny Corsand bay leaving me free to travel separately on the R1. I'd love to waffle on about how easily the R1 accepted the soft luggage and tank bag, about how relatively easily the trip down there was despite horrendous rain, about how nice the weather became the next morning, about how damn good the roads are once you've jumped off the Torpoint ferry and then about how much I enjoyed the at-oneness of the journey back up the A303 past Stonehenge and back to London.

Instead, I'm forced to talk about the audacity of bike thieves. I should quickly point out they didn't manage to nick off with the bike but that's far more to do with a vigilant taxi driver and the speedy response of the Plod than it is to do with effort on the part of the thieving scum.

As the saying goes; "If they want it bad enough they'll take it." Ain't that the truth. Basically my North London flat offers little in the way of secure parking. The front door is separated from a very busy road by a contained, but very visible, front yard so locking and chaining the bike to a metal fence is my best option. I work on the theory that a carefully placed heavy chain makes life to difficult and time consuming for a thief.

I was wrong. The private hire driver who thankfully rang the Police tells me he'd spotted the same people trying to nab it twice before, both times he'd called 999 and they'd legged it. Clocking my Xena chain (Phoenix NW ltd 0870 2203700, £139.99) was locked up through the bottom yolk and fork leg was a sturdy one (there are marks of a saw or grinder on the lock), they came back tooled-up. This time they took the trouble to remove the brake calipers and mudguard, take the wheel out, loosen the fork leg off, slip the fork down in the yolk and were on the point of releasing the chain when, I'm thankful to say, the cabbie again called the Bobbys who apparently collared one and saved the R1 from a certain dismantling.

Miles done: 1547miles

Modifications: front wheel removal/attempted robbery

Secure parking
The question is what can I do about it? Opportunist thieves are never going to nic a bike this locked up. So do I stop riding my bike home? Should I move house? Sleep outside?

Fitting an alarm is top of the list because, as much as I despise the beeping annoyance they have caused me in the past, had one been fitted this time it would have alerted me, my neighbours or scared this determined crew off. The location being so visible clearly helped too. Careful thought about where I put the chains is crucial as well; I had been looping one through the fork legs and bottom yolk but from now on I'll put another through the swingarm and back wheel which, I hope, will be enough. Failing that moving house might be the only option.


15th April 2004

Welcome, welcome to my new termer page and apologies for its late arrival. Much to disdain of all my colleagues here at SuperBike, with the exception of Jayne, I was pleased to announce the arrival of a Yamaha R1 much earlier than everyone else. Pleased being the understatement of the month. Messrs Pryde, Dowds and Roots had two reasons to be green-eyed and envious; firstly, as any new owners out there will know, Yamaha got its arse in gear and shipped bikes to the UK quicker than any other manufacturer, and secondly the R1 is the hottest tip for sports bike world domination.

I had a sneaking suspicion at the Oz launch of the R1 in February it would take some beating. But the results of our litre sports bike test (see SuperBike June 2004), the first round of European Superstock result, and until they binned-it with eight laps remaining, the Le Mans 24hr race each prove the R1 is the best straight out the crate.

I spent the first 550 miles gently feeding life into the motor. Then, immediately after the 500mile check-up at Dr Infinity Motorcycles surgery in Purley (which is really just a check-up and oil change), I thrashed it to within an inch of itself speed testing and then strapped it to BSD Motorcycles developments dyno (01733 223377). Mechanical sympathy tells you revving a bike flat out in every gear and holding it there for a mile, a dozen times, can't be good for it. But speak to enough people and the general consensus is it'll do no harm. The opposite, if anything, some say. Most race engines get nothing like the 550 miles grace I gave the R1, usually getting chucked on a dyno with less than 100 miles under their belts.

The first job was to remove the pillion footrests. I've got no need or intention of carrying anyone on the back unless Kate Moss turns up and needs a lift. Even if she does the four bolts are easily put back under the seat. Ditching the pillion seat for a seat cover or hump should help reclaim the slender lines the bike's designer intended from these ruinous pillion concessions.

Miles done: 670

Modifications: Removed token pillion concessions, 500mile service

Speed and dyno testing results
With only a handful of miles on the clock I decided to test what "she's got under the hood" with the view to testing it again later in the year to find if there are any differences.

Acceleration
0-60in 3.33s, 0-100 in 5.68, 0-170 in 15.43
Standing 1/4 mile in 10.35 seconds @ 146.98mph
Top speed of 175.75 mph in 22.9s
Max power 145.67bhp @ 12,700rpm
Max torque 69.18lb-ft @ 10,000rpm

Allowing for back wheel versus crank losses in power and the newness of the engine, 145.67bhp is a long way short of the 180bhp claimed figure.

One other fact I noticed is 70mph in 1st gear is still below peak power and around 2,500rpm short of max revs. By that reckoning I could probably ditch the other five gears and save weight.