We pit the all-new 2009 R1 against a 2008 to find out who reigns supreme
What the Internet is to our culture, the Yamaha R1 is to the sport of motorcycling-it changed the course of history. Without a doubt, the R1 redefined the sportbike and started a revolution. Introduced in '98 when big power meant big weight, the R1 turned the world upside-down with a stout engine stuffed into a lightweight package. During an era of overweight sportbikes the R1 tipped the scales under most 600s and out dyno'd even the almighty ZX-11. The '98 R1 caught everyone by surprise and left them standing with their trousers down.
With a short wheelbase and thunderous midrange the R1 redefined the term "fast," as it had a knack for power-wheeling in the first three gears. Along with the legendary motor, the timeless looks also changed the game. Packing split dual headlights and a pair of round taillights it was so fresh the competition was left with jaws wide-open. Nothing could touch it. The '98 R1 was in fact the king of the streets.
The first generation R1 was so nasty that many people feared it. The thought of a bike doing wheeies off the throttle in third gear sent many running for the hills. With such a reputation the R1 was eventually molded and tweaked through the years (a lot of folks say softened-Ed.). Some say it was to tame the midrange hit, while others claim it was molded into a focused monster with big top-end heat.
For ten years Yamaha stuck with the same inline-four powerplant but tweaked various bits along the way. Fuel injection replaced carburetors, dual exhaust systems were added, higher-lift cams were fitted, compression ratios increased and even the legendary Genesis 20-valve (five-valves per hole) cylinder-head design was replaced. In the end the basic architecture remained, but peak power was significantly increased: The '98 R1 made 128.2 HP and 70.8 LB-FT RPM, while the '08 pushed those figures to 152.3 HP and 73.7 LB-FT. While it's apparent the '08 made more peak power, it did so at 2,000 RPM higher. That meant you had to spin it to get into the power-the exact opposite of the early beasts.
After a decade of dominance the end of 2008 brought with it murmurs of an all-new, MotoGP-inspired model. Could it be, after ten years of a successful recipe, Yamaha would abandon it all? As it turned out, they did. The 2009 Yamaha was truly all new with features like a big-bang motor, adjustable power modes and an all new frame, just to name a few.
As quickly as the '09 stole the limelight, people forgot the '08-a bike that represented a decade of engineering and experience. In a matter of months, used R1 prices fell and anything but the '09 was old news.
With all the hoopla over the new R1, we wondered if it was really better? Is the big-bang all that, how about the new D-mode throttle controller? Will the new model smoke the '08, or is the tried-and-true still the best white and blue?
To find out who reigns supreme we wrangled a stock '08 R1 and put it against Yamaha's latest and greatest. While we ran the two through the mandatory performance regiments, we decided a street test was more applicable for the majority of us. So instead of lap times around a controlled circuit we took it to the streets, the canyons and to the dyno.
2nd opinion:
"I can remember the first R1 I rode right down to the street, the time of day, weather and even the smells; it was that intense. That 1998 model seems ancient compared to these two though. The '09 is deceptively quick while the '08 delivers power in a typical screaming inline-four fashion. They're both blue, but the similarities end there. To be honest I'm still not sure which one I like better because they're so different. And to go against the grain, I think the older bike sounds better! If I wanted a twin I'd buy one..."
-Dave
Big Bang Explained
As power increases on modern motorcycles so does the difficulty of transferring it into forward motion. Where once wheelspin was never considered, modern liter bikes will break loose in a heartbeat.
A traditional four-cylinder motor with a flat-plane crank has two outer and two inner pistons that move upward and downward in pairs 180-degrees apart. By nature, torque is fed to the crankshaft by combustion and is worsened by the inertia of the crank rotating. When you have two pairs of cylinders firing at the same time there's a lot of weight behind them. This translates into what engineers call "noise." This noise not only limits traction but also confuses riders about how much available traction is actually left.
When Yamaha introduced the cross-plane crank on the '04 MotoGP M1, the uneven firing order helped rear traction. By placing the pistons 90-degrees apart around the crank they eliminated the inertial torque variation of a traditional four-cylinder motor.
With this uneven firing order came a pulsating power delivery without the tire-spinning hit of a traditional four-cylinder motor. The bonus is the unique exhaust note.