Making History at 150 Horsepower.
Picture yourself in the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat. Now switch over to afterburners. Can you say whoosh? A somewhat extreme example, to be sure, though not entirely unlike (albeit earthbound) the sensation you experience when twisting open the throttle of the seriously wicked YZF-R1. Power – staggering, mind-blowing power – flows seamlessly as you flick through the silky six-speed gearbox. More to the point, it’s all about power-to-weight, the secret formula that determines the pecking order in the upper stratum of the sport bike elite, and here the R1 has no equal. Just ask Cycle World magazine, who hailed it as having “the best power-to-weight ratio of any production bike ever.“

With its ultra-compact 20-valve, 150-plus-pony Genesis powerplant pushing along a mere 390 pounds (dry), what you get is open-class muscle in a package that could send most 600s running for their calorie counters. Add to that a 54.9″ wheelbase, an aluminum Deltabox II frame and fully adjustable, race-bred suspension front and rear, and what you have is a hard-core sporting machine whose handling is as razor-sharp as its engine is phenomenal.

Everything about the R1 – from its fat, 6″ rear wheel to its gorgeous, wind-tunnel-perfected bodywork – screams ultra-high-performance, the natural progression of what Yamaha unleashed on the unsuspecting sport bike world nearly 20 years ago when we brought you the original FZ750. A more perfect open-class back road instrument does not exist, and “if a pure sporting tool is what you seek,” states Motorcyclist magazine, “then here’s your Motorcycle of the Century.”