Cycle News

2015 YAMAHA YZF-R1 AND YZF-R1M FIRST RIDE P54 the turn, rather than fight you. Sydney Motorsport Park's (formerly Eastern Creek, holder of the 500cc Grand Prix from 1991 to 1996 for all those playing at home) downhill turn four requires a solid front-end as it changes from downhill right- hand entry with a slight on-camber section, then going to an off-camber, downhill exit, and another on-camber left as you charge up the hill. Here the R1 excelled—you barely need to look at the apex and the R1 will take you there—as the front will just track its line but equally allow you to change tact easily. This section, taken in third gear, really high- lights how much weight the new R1 has shed. The old R1 was hard work through here, requiring a definite heave on the 'bars to get it to turn, where- as this bike just does it without too much fuss. The ADVICS monobloc front brakes are very good with strong bite and fairly progressive feel at the lever. This is yet another area that has electronic help as it houses Yamaha's Unified Braking System that adds a little rear brake when you jam on the front anchors. I'll admit here that I didn't really notice the system as the only time I tested a machine with it activated was in the very first session (after that the bikes were fitted with a race ECU setting, which disengages the UBS system) and I was so flat out trying to remember everything else that I honestly didn't think about it. Which in hindsight might be a good thing—it at least proves the system works! Another part of the rake system that really does work and I'm bloody glad I didn't need it was the ABS. Not once did I feel it kicking in, and that's the first time I've ever said that on an ABS- equipped machine. It goes a long way to explain- ing how good this thing is on braking and corner entry that ABS action basically plays a backstage roll I wasn't noticing, because I was focusing on the stars of the show. As the day wore on I gradually wound up the spring tension front and back on the R1's KYB springers, standard practice for racetrack riding, and each time the R1 became a bit easier to ride. It can be a physical bike to ride, and I'll admit to given TC setting, enabling you to finish off corners nicely while hard on the gas and not get highsided to the moon. Lift Control comes via the IMU detecting front and rear wheel speeds as well as the pitching rate to control the engine output. Moving to the gearbox and the shift is assisted by a three-stage quickshifter that detects shifter movement to kill the ignition to allow for wide-open changes. Launch Control is something we were not al- lowed to try at the test, but it works by limiting power to 10,000 rpm with wide open throttle and it talks to the TCS and LIF systems to allow for the smooth- est possible start. It's got three settings (1-2 and off). The Unified Brake System operates the rear brake in relation to front brake pressure dependent on lean angle and wheel speed. When you use the circuit ECU, this feature is deactivated but you still get track-specific ABS on the front. The throttle's Power Mode (PWR) is an ad- vancement of the D-Mode and houses four different control maps that regulate the throttle valve opening depending on how hard you wind the power on. It's not a power limiting system like on the early GSX-Rs— you still get full power in all four modes, it's just the ECU controls how fast it gets there. Where you can adjust all these settings is in the dash and there's simply not enough space here to fully explain everything it does, however you can change everything mentioned here on the fly. The dash itself is a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) meter and has displays for street and track riding with the track riding's rev count starting at 8000rpm, as well as showing lap times, gear selection, etc. The street setting has a cool front brake pressure pitch meter, but I would not rec- ommend checking them while riding… The R1M comes stan- dard with the Track ECU although you can fit this to a standard R1. And that gives you the ability to play with the Communication Control Unit, which allows settings to be transferred by WiFi from your tablet or smartphone. With the GPS antenna, it also allows data logging and lap times that you view through the Yamaha Telemetry Record- ing and Analysis Controller (Y-TRAC) app. You can overlay data onto a satellite map with 21 different chan- nels able to be recorded so you can show your buddy just where you're faster in each corner and why he's buying the beers tonight.

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