Get one of these now! (Yamaha YZF-R1)

Member Name: Sharky

Product:	Yamaha YZF-R1
Date:	07/07/00 (993 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 3 miles every minute,

Disadvantages: No good for pillions (who cares?)

I currently ride a zx6r (see review), but have have been fortunate enough to ride this R1 beast on several occasions.
It is difficult to translate into words (even by a hardened biker), the experience you get riding it. After riding for several years and riding my zx6, blades and a TL1000, I thought how can the R1 be hailed as the ultimate bike, so I rode one.
The weather conditions were excellent, sunny but not boiling hot with a slight breeze and very dry. I just jumped off my zx6 and sprinted to the R1. Familiarising myself with the controls (throttle mainly), good clear instrumentation from the digital screen and I was off.
The handling was phenomenal, compared to the blade and even my zx6, the R1 was nimble at all speeds. Very quick and responsive at high speeds without being cumbersome at lower (normal) speeds.
Speed, well, if you imagine being strapped to an exocet missle and launched, this is close to the raw grunt of acceleration this bike has. By the time I reached fourth gear the front wheel was starting to lower to the ground. (brown leathers syndrome).
When you see the colourful power and torque charts for the R1 in all the mags, it is normally a few BHP above the rest, boy does that translate to a vast difference on the road.
The R1 is slandered as 'not a comfortable bike', at 5'11 it was made for me (and I told my fiance that), I found it comfortable through traffic, no more wrist ache than normal from my zx6. Admittedly I may think different if I had to do 1000 miles non-stop within the speed limit. The bike was designed with nutters in mind who will take the bike to the limits at high speeds, this is where the riding postion is excellent.
Some might say I am in awe of this bike and this review may be biased, they are probably right. Just show me a real SPORTS biker who doesn't get off the R1, who struggles to their helmet off from the grin.
Don't sit here reading this go and get on one!

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