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Well, what a difference a month makes. I’m now on 2,500 miles, the R1 is fully run in and I have started playing with her.
The downside to getting a new model is always waiting for the accessories to come out. I have waited an average of a month for all the bits, but the R1 looks much better for them. To list them, I’ve had a seat hump (plus removed the pillion pegs to tidy up the lines), tank pad, Ohlins steering damper (more on that in a bit), scottoiler, and crash bungs.
The Yamaha steering damper. Oh dear. As you will know the R1 does like to shake it’s head a wee bit. Now, Yamaha own Ohlins so you would have thought that their top superbike would get a decent damper. Sadly no. The stock damper is unadjustable, pretty useless at its job, and after I had taken it off I found that I could hear air as well as oil going through the valves. So why does the Kwaker ZX10-R come with an Ohlins damper as standard and the Yammie doesn’t? Naturally, with the Ohlins damper in place the steering feels far more stable and when the front lifts it’s beautiful and controlled, particularly when the front kisses the tarmac again.
Riding has been a revelation. After, quite honestly, struggling a bit with getting through corners decently and getting frustrated with myself for not doing the bike justice I found it suddenly clicked into place. All of a sudden the shape of the tank makes sense, and sliding around is second nature. Everything feels so natural it’s like the bike has been built round me. It’s quite simply stunning and the feedback through the bike means that you know exactly what’s going on at all times – amazing.
I had the 600 mile service today. At last!!! It was so frustrating over Easter as I had run out of miles (being on 568 on Good Friday) so could not go out on the bike as I didn’t want to go over the 600 miles in case there are ever any issues around warranty work. As well as being an absolute nightmare for my much better half Karen, I was productive in that I painted the bathroom on the basis that having this week on holiday I wanted to spend as much time as possible on the bike, and not up a ladder with a brush!
I’ve had a bit of a dilemma about running the R1 in. The book says no prolonged use over 6,900RPM for the first 600 miles, followed by a limit of 8,600RPM for the following 400 miles. Some people have been saying to just rag it from the word go, others have been saying to stick to the book, and yet others have been saying running in by the book = tight engine that lasts forever whilst ragging it gives a loose engine that doesn’t last. Ask 10 people and get 10 different answers.
Well, after having a chat with a friend of mine who knows a hell of a lot about engines and hearing his rationale (Cheers Bob) I decided to do something slightly different to the two extremes (typical). As the first oil that gets put in a bike is mineral based to help the engine wear in I kept to the 6,900 limit per the book until the first service. However, at the 600 mile service they have put in fully synthetic all singing and all dancing oil that will be good until 6,000 miles. So, if Yamaha are happy that no more little bits of metal will be coming off the engine and floating round in oil after 600 miles I’m happy to start using the engine properly on the basis that as it is so powerful I doubt I’ll get anywhere near the throttle stop so won’t be over-working the engine! Therefore, with the service completed I headed out from Cannock onto the A5 and thought to myself, “right, let’s see what all the fuss is about…”
Well
she can’t half motor! Note to self. Join a gym for upper body work and make sure Karen knows how to put dislocated shoulders back in. You get a good powerband come in at around 7,000 revs which is sublime and smooth, the thrust generated given away by the speed that the revs rise even on half throttle. But… If you go over 10,000RPM crouch down and hold on…. Yamaha have a techy bit of kit that they pinched off the Moto GP bike and stuck in the R1’s airbox. It’s called YCCI (Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake) which in a nutshell lifts the air intake funnels out the way at 10,000 revs. This cunning magic gives a stack load more horsepower due to the shorter route the air has to take giving a faster pulse, and that’s as techie as I’m going to get about it.
So you’re accelerating at the same speed as a normal supersports, like a GSX-R (snigger – sorry Gix, couldn’t resist) for example, then you hit 10,000 revs, then you wonder where the NOS bottle is hidden as you take off and prove that the theory of relativity works. Yep, 180 horsepower is addictive, and I’m nowhere near really giving it some!
The corners are coming along. I’m still not hanging off properly, but am shifting my weight around more. Anyway, here’s a question for you about corners. Flying down a straight and braking for the corner I grip the tank with my knees for obvious wedding tackle reasons. However, as I always brake late and only stop braking just before I tip in (literally just giving the suspension a chance to settle) how do I stop myself sliding forward when I have a knee dangling in the slip stream and half my rear off of the seat? If I stop braking before moving I’d have to brake earlier and if I moved after braking I’d upset the suspension on corner entry. Am I missing a trick or doing something wrong?
I think I may just have to keep to my Mike Hailwood style and stay sat squarely on the bike…
I got to ride the Tiger a few weeks a go whilst my Sprint was in at Windy Corner. Started talking to Roger about the new Tiger and as I had about an hour to kill he chucked me the keys to the demo and told me to take it for a spin.
Having never ridden that style of bike before I was immediately aware of how upright the sitting position was and how high up I was (Only just got my feet flat on the floor). Riding was a revelation. The high wide bars made it a doddle tipping the bike into corners and the long travel USD forks soaked up bumps and gave great feedback. Very confidence inspiring and within a couple of miles I was really throwing her around.
As expected, I got buffeted by cross winds, but was amazed at the effectiveness of the screen. At 95 I was cocooned in a pocket of still air and at 6 foot 4 didn’t even have my helmet in the air stream
The Tiger has the same 1050cc engine as the Sprint although this is a detuned engine that is surprisingly down on both Torque and Horsepower. However, this increases the tank range to over 200 miles and the front still lifts when you give it a fist full. The seat is wide and very comfortable, I can imagine being able to sit on this all day with ease.
Overall I was really impressed with the entire bike. Impressed enough to draw me away from the Sprint? No, but had it had the full ‘on-song’ 1050 engine from the Speed Triple then I would be sorely tempted.
quote:
Originally posted by GSF K1Ohhh Sprint ST.. very nice!! I do like them.
Have you had any problems with the breaks that are being written about???
Welcome to the nut-house, pull up a chair and chat.
Del.I found the brakes went too spongy for my liking after around 3 months and bleeding didn’t help. So when I dropped her in for some recall work to be done last month Windy corner replaced the front master cylinder with a bigger one under warranty. Evidently the early Sprints had a smaller master cylinder giving more lever travel. Since that was done they are great and I have no issues with them. Good feel, no fade and loads of power.
