Despite the bike's availability, we were surprised to find a very short list of aftermarket exhausts available. We wanted to clean up the rear end and get some decent tone, so a Graves slip-on replaced the stock cans. Although the entire stock system is titanium (except the catalytic converter), we wanted the looks and raspy snarl from the Graves pipe.
To complete our must-do mods on the rear, we replaced the unsightly license plate hanger with a Gregg's Customs fender eliminator bracket. It's a small and superficial piece, but it really does make all the difference when considering style points. Gregg's also supplied the trick-looking front indicators that replaced the stock R1's bulbous blinkers.
The bodywork has had an obvious nip and tuck from Yamaha, and considering that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we'll leave it to you to decide if the slimmer new upper fairing works. One notable trait the new snout produces is a strange whirring sound at sustained highway speeds from about 78 mph on up. It can either serve as an annoyance or a travel companion, but it's certainly peculiar.
With our minor (but significant) changes done, we were ready to ride the same route we took the previous day when it was completely stock. The freer exhaust offered a greatly improved engine tone, and combined with the larger sprocket they transformed the R1 into the kind of bike that has you hunting for corners while enjoying the straight bits in between.
If you hope for an ounce of street cred, you'd better make a few tweaks. We decided to perform the most popular and inexpensive surgery on the R1 that we'd do to our personal rides. Of course there are more involved mods that we'd do down the road (motor work, wheels, etc), but to get the R1 looking and feeling good with just a few bucks and a couple of hours, we decided to stick with the basics.
Rear sprocket: Two extra teeth in the rear pull some of the top-end power delivery back to the midrange where street riders most need it. The Stealth (www.tobefast.com) dual-compound unit we installed is not only durable but color coordinated as well.
Fender eliminator kit: Most of us have applied some sort of cutting device to our silly-looking license plate hanger in the past, but companies like Gregg's Customs (www.greggscustoms.com) supply easy-to-install and tidy-looking kits.
Slip-on exhaust: For a more affordable means of getting a mild power increase and the equally important style and sound improvements, a slip-on pipe is key. We looked to ace Yamaha tuning firm Graves Motorsports (www.gravesport.com) for a titanium pipe. It was easy to install, looks smart and sounds wicked.
Turn signals: Bigger isn't always better, and in the turn-signal department we want to go as small as possible. A couple of cool billet flush mounts from Gregg's Customs (www.greggscustoms.com)offer a nice finish.