Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

but without chatter or lockup. Like we say over and over, every trackworthy bike needs a slipper clutch. The new R6 engine is responsive, to say the least, and whips the tach needle clockwise in the blink of an eye when the throttle is pinned. Heading down the front straight and in a few of the other acceleration points on the track, it was obvious that the R6 has some pretty impressive top-end power. We'll be real curious to see what the bike makes at the rear wheel on the dyno when we get ahold of a test unit. Other notables are the new midship exhaust system, which is one of the bike's most outwardly noticeable attributes. Stainless-steel header pipes head into a collector with three honeycomb catalyzers and then through an EXUP valve (a first on a Yamaha 600) and then into the titanium silencer. The reason for the midship deSign is to keep the bike's center of gravity lower and also to keep it out of the airflow for better aerodynamics. Last, but not least, is a new cooling system with a larger water pump, a new curved, higher-capacity radiator and twin fans, in addition to a high-efficiency oil pump for improved lubrication. On the other end of the spectrum, Yamaha engineers worked very hard to increase the capabilities of the chassis, which was arguably the best in the class already. The goals were to increase frontend stability and feedback under braking for corner entries, increase agility and flickability, increase midcorner stability, improve chassis feedback and traction for qUicker corner exits, and increase topspeed stability. It would seem a tall order to gain the desired stability while maintaining the bike's razor-sharp handling. But significant changes to the chassis were made in an effort to have the best of both worlds. Yamaha took a long look at its own twotime MotoGP Championship-winning M I for inspiration. The new Delta Box frame consists of a cast-aluminum headstock, pressed-aluminum side plates and cast-aluminum rear section and engine hanger mounts and a CF die-cast-aluminum subframe. The frame is conSiderably more rigid than the '05 bike. The swingarm pivot was moved 20mm higher, while the compact threeaxis transmission allows the use of a longer hybrid cast and pressedaluminum swingarm, which helps eliminate squat under acceleration and eliminates the negative effects of tension from the drive chain on the suspension. Yamaha moved the pivot in an effort to get it closer inline with the rear axle and steering head planes in what they call the straight-frame concept. The geometry numbers are 24 degrees of rake and 97mm of trail with a I380mm wheelbase. Yamaha claims 355.81 pounds as the bike's dry weight, with 52.5 percent of the weight over the front and 47.5 over the rear end, which are numbers derived from the MI as well, and ideal for front-end feedback and grip. I have to say that the R6 is incredibly stable almost everywhere - much more so than the previous generations of R6s. Under braking, midcorner, and especially when flicking the bike through Losail's qUick turns-eight-and-nine combination, which falls away and goes off-camber at the same moment, the bars would wiggle for a quick second, but they never started tank-slapping too seriously (despite not having a steering damper) - the previous bikes would have protested violently there. Turn-in feels just as crisp as before, so Yamaha may have been able to extract the best of both worlds after all. The braking system is largely unchanged except for new pads in the radial-mount front calipers and lighter disc carriers up front; they still work awesome, by the way. The R6 has updated suspension both front and rear, but the Losail track is more suited to a game of Eight Ball than suspension testing. It's so smooth that I didn't really have to mess with the suspension beyond the settings that Yamaha test rider Jeffery DeVries had dialed in for the Dunlop Sportmax GP race tires. The R6 uses new high-speCification suspension with a fully adjustable 41 mm fork with high- and low-speed compression damping, preload and rebound, while the shock features a new linkage, high- and low- speed compression damping, rebound damping and preload adjustment. No complaints in this department. The R6 has an all-new look to it for 2006, but most of the deSign elements were executed for function and not just styling. The bodywork was deSigned for maximum aerodynamic effiCiency, with side spoilers, a slim tail section with standard solo-seat cowl, winglets on the front upper fairing, while, as mentioned before, the compact muffler resides out of the airflow. The windscreen provided excellent wind protection when tucked in at speed, much more than the previous bike's. Many of the ancillary parts such as the mirrors, Signals and license-plate bracket are easily removable for track days, by deSign. The dual-line beam headlights should prOVide plenty of illumination at night, while the LCD taillights are not only bright, they are cleanly integrated into the tail section. MotoGP technology has trickled down to the production level for years, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to some of the electronic Wizardry we're sure to see in the next few years. Nothing is impOSSible in the sportbike market anymore, and the latest generation R6 is proof of that. Technology continues to move along at an unprecedented pace and the consumer continues to benefit from these huge leaps in design and performance. Who knows what we'll see in the near future, but with the MotoGP bike's displacement dropping to 800cc in 2007 (much closer to these middleweight sportbikes), you can bet even more groundbreaking technology will make its way onto our weekend rides. We say, bring it on! eN A slipper clutch is new for 2006. SPECIFICATIONS 2006YZF-R6 599cc Liquid-cooled, inline four-cylinder, 16 valves, DOHC BORE x STROKE ..........67.0 x 42.5 mm COMPRESSION RATIO 12.B: I CARBURETION EFI wI shower secondary injectors and YCC-T IGNITION Digital COl TRANSMISSION Six-speed STARTING SYSTEM Electric FUEL CAPACITY 4.5S gal. WHEELBASE 55.2 in. RAKE/TRAIL 24°/97mm SEAT HEIGHT 34 in. FRONT TIRE 120/70ZRI7 REAR TIRE IBO/55ZR 17 FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL 4.B in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL 4.B in. FRONT BRAKE .......... Dual 31 Omm disc wI radial-mount 4-piston calipers REAR BRAKE Single 220mm disc FINAL DRIVE Chain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 355.Bllbs. DISPLACEMENT ENGINE TYPE CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 30, 2005 2S

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