2014 EICMA: 2015 Yamaha R1 makes debut

Out of the three highly anticipated unveils at the 2014 EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Yamaha lead the charge as it unveiled the 2015 Yamaha R1. The new Yamaha R1 has to be among the most important bikes to be unveiled in 2014 as it hadn’t received an update for a long period of time. Let’s go directly to the powerplant first, powering the 2015 Yamaha R1 is a new crossplane motor that has been christened CP4 by Yamaha and it churns out 200PS of peak power. This means that the 2015 Yamaha R1 is almost 19PS more powerful than its predecessor. The new mill has been equipped with titanium fracture-split conrods, a 10.5-litre airbox, two-directional fuel injectors and a slipper clutch.

The overall design of the 2015 Yamaha R1 is more compact and petite compared to the older bike with the rear section being specially tapered down. Yamaha claims the fairing design has been influenced from the M1 MotoGP machine and from the front it seems to have a headlight less appearance. But look closely and you will see twin LED headlamps sitting underneath the fairing. Also the front fairing has a vent at the centre for ram air similar to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Another major change is the shift from under seat exhaust to a more conventional single muffler at the side.  The instrument cluster is all-digital with a TFT display buyers also have an option of communication control unit (CCU), which allows a rider to download GPS data, and upload ride settings to the R1. 

The 2015 Yamaha R1 has been loaded with electronic aids like traction control, slide control, launch control, wheel-lift control, and anti-locking brakes. One of the important criteria’s for the Yamaha engineers was to keep the weight of the bike as low as possible. The 2015 Yamaha R1’s subframe and wheels have been crafted from magnesium whereas the exhaust system has been built using titanium. The new R1 tips the scale at 199kg (wet weight) which is 8kg lighter than the older bike.

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This means that the 2015 Yamaha R1 has a power-to-weight ratio of over 1:1 and among the best with respect to its rivals. The 2015 Yamaha R1 has been priced at Rs 10.1 lakh in the US market and will be offered in the following colour options of Yamaha Blue/White, Raven Black, and Red/White. The 2015 Yamaha R1 should make its way into our two-wheeler market by first half of 2015 and will be priced around Rs 18 lakh and will compete against the likes of the Kawasaki ZX-10R, Honda CBR1000RR and Suzuki GSX-R1000.