Yamaha R1 2002

Competition at the top of the sportsbike class is fierce, despite these bikes being less popular in the UK than they used to be.

The search for the perfect blend of incredible speed, racetrack handling and outstanding braking continues to fire the imagination of major bike factories. Who can blame Yamaha for trying to build the very best performance motorcycle money can buy?

Glenn le Santo rode the 2002 model Yamaha R1 in sunny Spain.

When Yamaha launched the R-1 it immediately toppled the then open class superbike king, the Honda Fireblade, from its throne. It had more power and, perhaps more importantly to the real world rider, stunning low rev power delivery. The YZF R1´s brilliant four cylinder power plant was wrapped in a chassis handled all this power and torque with ease. It seemed like the perfect bike and the buyers thought so too as it just sold and sold. Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki could only look on and cry.

Honda have played catch up ever since, with this year´s 954 model looking most likely to get close to the R1. Suzuki played a trump card with the introduction of the stunning GSX-R1000K, generally regarded as the current top Superbike. Kawasaki meanwhile concentrated on the ZX 9-R; maybe not the lightest or most powerful, but the big Zed´s a good road bike nonetheless. But Yamaha weren´t content to rest on their tuning forks, so it was no surprise when they revealed the latest R1 at the Milan show late last year.

With more of everything, except weight, everyone was drooling over the prospect of this latest R1, or ‘The One´, as Yamaha are billing it. Is it ‘The One´? There´s only one way to find out: go ride one - and that´s exactly what I did when I was invited by Yamaha USA to the launch in Catalunya, Spain.

The first day of the event was spent on the Catalunya race track. It´s an awesome place, one of the fastest of all the European circuits with a long, long main straight and turns that encourage you to keep a high corner speed for what seems like an age. You would have to look hard for a better place to reveal the new R1´s track pedigree. One thing became immediately obvious after only a few circulations of the fantastic GP circuit, this bike is fast, correction - it´s very fast!

The engine has gained a few extra ponies with a claimed 152bhp on tap at 10,000 rpm. But the peak torque is down slightly, from 81.9lft-lb to 78.9 at 8,500 rpm. I certainly couldn´t feel any lack of torque though, the 2002 R1 pulls hard from as little as 3,000 rpm and the power delivery is absolutely seamless. The torque may be slightly down but it gets to that `fat´ torque curve faster and stays there longer.

Yamaha have successfully implemented the change to fuel injection without creating any of those annoying injection traits some other bikes are plagued by. You can snap open the throttle or choose to ease it on, and whichever method you use the Mikuni EFI system copes well, there´s no lag and no stutter. Holding a constant throttle at low revs also reveals that the system is spot-on. Many injected bikes I´ve ridden don´t like being held at a small throttle opening and reward the rider with a stuttering or hunting response. Not so the R1, it holds the revs smoothly without any hunting, perfect for dealing with traffic on the street or even pit lane speed limits!

Now to the turns. Here the engine plays as much part as the chassis. There´s no point in having great handling if the engine characteristics make it hard to deal with a variety of corners and road surfaces. You need a bike that drives out of slower turns without needing to hold high revs. Corner exit speed out of slow turns is more about torque than power, this abundance of torque also makes the ride more relaxing, and a relaxed pilot is a faster rider. The R1 has this base covered. Despite the slight drop in peak torque the bike handles the slower exits well, aided by a better spread of torque and the benefits of the redesigned EXUP valve. The twin exhaust power valve combines with faultless fuel injection and a redesigned head to make the motor so useable. So slow, medium or fast corners, the R1 is ready.

When I took the bike out onto the famous ‘road of 300 corners´ between Lloret del Mar and Tossa del Mar, the driveability really came into full play.

This incredible road twists along the coast, usually at about 250 to 500 feet above the sea below. Many corners don´t even have an Armco to stop the rider who gets it wrong from plunging onto the rocks below. But the road is so much fun to ride that the temptation to go for it soon overrides the natural fear of losing it over the edge and I was soon gunning it from turn to turn. Luckily the combination of fast accurate steering and an engine that will pull strongly from any revs in any gear make carving such a road almost easy.

The powerful brakes only require a two fingered squeeze to get the best out of them and helped put things right whenever I found myself heading into a bend too hot. The bike will turn in on the brakes too, lucky for me as I got it wrong all too often and needed a bit of extra stopping power after tipping in to fend off the approaching Armco or sheer drop. There´s a slight tendency for the bike to want to sit up if you get on the brakes mid-turn, but it wasn´t serious and just a little extra push on the bar would sort it.

On the track I found the standard fork set up too soft, hard braking had the front squirming just a little. Not enough to really upset the bike but enough to interfere with setting up a turn. There was also too much ping back on the standard setting, with the forks coming back too fast. A few extra turns of preload and rebound damping sorted this, and on the road the problem didn´t seem evident at all. Meanwhile the rear end was working so well that even some pretty choppy ripples at the back of the circuit failed to upset the chassis.

Once in a turn, either on the road or the track, the YZF will track with confidence.

There´s no understeer and bumps and ripples are shrugged off without drama. On the track it was a little too easy to get the rear tyre sliding, which is the sort of behaviour that makes a moderate rider like me uncomfortable. Yamaha had brought along American 250 supremo Richard Oliver for the test and he was able to hang out the rear all too easily in turn three at the track, a long right hander that just seems to go on and on.

The problem seemed to be a tyre thing. The YZF was blameless except for the fact that maybe 150bhp is rather too much to expect any street tyre to cope with in such a long turn. It almost certainly wouldn´t have been happening on race rubber. Back on the road this problem didn´t arise and all the testers agreed that the package worked well on the street - even when pushed hard. To be fair to Dunlop, turn three is a very long turn and the YZF was spending an age over at full lean with the temptation to squirt on all 150 ponies was irresistible. It won´t upset mere mortals, and I count myself in that category, but riding ‘Gods´ may look for a change of rubber.

I know you´re all begging the question, is it better than the GSX-R1000 and the Fireblade?

Well it´s hard to tell when not riding the bikes side by side, but the Blade is always going to suffer because it lacks the outright capacity of the other two. The big Gixer trounces them all on outright power but the YZF holds the trump card on driveability. The Gixer may produce more adrenaline but the ordinary rider will probably be quicker on a YZF.

It´s more likely that the buyer´s decision will come down to things like brand loyalty and maybe even looks as there´s now so little between the open class bikes on handling and performance. Here the YZF commends itself; it´s a fantastic looking motorcycle.

The Japanese are learning fast how to make a bike look good and the YZF is perhaps Yamaha´s best effort to date in the styling department. That white LED rear light is a peach and the front still has that ‘I´m gonna eat you for lunch´ look with those aggressive fox-eye lamps. You can even remove the rear indicators and licence plate holder by spinning off just four bolts for an even tidier look - for track use only of course.

The clutch and gearbox are so good I found that I hadn´t even given them a minute´s thought after hours of riding. The clutch is completely linear in its action and the days of Yamaha clutches braying like donkeys are thankfully long gone. The bike´s stable at speed and doesn´t flap even when exiting corners hard on the gas with the front wheel skimming the Tarmac.

Is this a perfect bike you may ask?

Griping about modern bikes is getting harder - they build them so well nowadays. But if I had to pick faults I´d say that the brake lever span is going to be too long for riders with small hands, even adjusted to its shortest reach it will be a stretch for some. The riding position is more extreme on this model R1 and this will cramp you if you´re riding in slow traffic. But the higher pegs do mean loads of ground clearance and combined with the slightly lower bars the rider is tucked out of the draught. I ran the bike up to 160mph on a fast stretch of Spanish motorway and didn´t feel like my head was being ripped off by Godzilla. An improvement then, on the original model. Yamaha sell a double bubble screen for those wanting a little more protection for crazy high-speed work. I have no complaints about the saddle; it looks thinly padded but even after a day sat in it on the road I wasn´t suffering.

For the gadget mad rider there´s plenty of entertainment. You can set the pretty blue LED shift light to flash at a pre-selected rev limit to warn you to change up a gear. The instrument lights are adjustable for brightness and you can get the LCD display to tell you the time or your trip mileage. The trip even reads out how many miles you´ve got left in the petrol tank when you go onto reserve - very neat. British market machines allow the rider to select KPH or MPH readout. Yamaha even provide a colour-matched hugger to keep the rear shock crud free, very thoughtful. The under seat stash space is minimal, but this is a tightly focussed sport bike, not a tourer.

The new YZF R1 is a winner. It´s a significant, if evolutionary improvement on the previous model. The detailing is very good and the overall package is almost faultless.

It has all the power that a track day junkie could ask for and enough handling and braking to cope well with that bitchin´ engine. Lesser riders will be cosseted by the motor´s stunning power range and will find it an easy bike to ride on the road at speed. Faster riders are provided with as much power as anyone could realistically want from a road bike, and frankly enough for all but professional road racers. Just one word of warning! All that effortless power could shoot your driver´s licence full of holes in the time it takes you to say ‘redesigned EXUP valve´!

Get Yamaha motorcycle insurance for the yamaha r1 2002.

Vital Statistics
Engine Liquid-cooled across the frame four-stroke
cc 998
Claimed power (bhp) 148bhp at 10,000rpm
Compression ratio 11.8:1
Transmission Six speed cable operated clutch, chain final drive
Cycle parts
Bore x Stroke: 74mm x 58mm
Valves: 20Valve
Carburetion: Mikuni computer controlled fuel injection
Chassis: Twin spar aluminium
Suspension:
Front: 43mm Showa inverted fork
Rear: Single shock with rising rate linkage
Both ends adjustable for spring preload plus compression and rebound damping
Tyres: UK and USA OEM: Dunlop D208
Front: 120/70 x 17
Rear: 190/50 x 17
Brakes:
Sumitomo
Front: 2 x 298mm discs and 4-piston single unit calipers
Rear: 245mm single disc with single-piston calliper
Geometry:
Rake,trail, wheelbase: 24 degrees,10.3cm,139.5cm
Performance
Top speed More than 170mph
Fuel capacity 17 litres
Buying Info
Current price Approx £8,000