Test Riding a Yamaha R1

Would I like to test ride a Yamaha R1? That was the question I was asked. I didn’t need to think very long before answering yes, I can tell you.

Wow! Was my first reaction when I saw the R1, it looks an awesome piece of kit in the black with touches of carbon here and there. The front end looks mean and I can imagine quite intimidating when you see those front lights in your mirrors. Definitely my kind of bike!

Now as you know, I ride a Z900, a CB1000R and a little old RD200 so we’re not talking race bikes here or sports bikes, more sports tourer or a street fighter as I believe the Z is known as, so I was expecting the riding position to be a little more radical than what I was used to.

This particular R1 has a carbon fuel tank extender which I actually found when riding the bike was good at keeping me in position on the seat but I had just eaten a sandwich before getting on the bike and I found this pressed on my stomach a little. 

If you’re a taller person (I’m 5’6”) you probably wouldn’t notice at all and if you’re short like me, leave the sandwich until you get back from your ride.

The bars are in the normal position you would expect to find a sports bike ie. lower than a touring or sports tourer and your bottom is slightly higher than the bars but when you’re riding the bike, it is surprisingly comfortable, you are sitting on the bike rather than in it.

When I sat on the bike I was immediately struck by how light it was, I was expecting it to to be heavier. As I am a little on the short side, for me personally, it was a little bit on the tall side but I could still reach the ground okay.

There is a TFT LCD instrument display which lights up and looks really cool when you start it up but I can imagine you might have to spend an hour or so working out how to change settings and such like but as I was only test riding it, I didn’t want to fiddle with anything as my relationship with techy stuff is a little on the dubious side.

This bike also has a quickshifter. I have never ridden a bike with one of these so was interested to see how I would find it. Would I want one on my Z?

When I started the bike up, I was struck by how lovely the exhaust note was. This bike has an Akrapovic titanium race can with an Akrapovic carbon heat shield and when you’re riding along it pops and bangs in the right places. 

I found myself pulling on the power only to lift off just to hear the popping but then maybe that’s just me that does that! I really honestly could do that all day, I kept chuckling to myself. I know, I know, I need to get out more!

I found the bike very responsive to what I was asking it to do and although the riding position is extreme for me compared to what I normally ride, I soon felt very comfortable and as though it was completely natural for me to be riding in that position. 

I felt as though I was part of the bike and loved how it handled in the corners and responded to what I was asking it to do. The quickshifter thing was good too and I quickly got used to using it. Maybe I will have to see if I can one on the Z!

I love the look and styling of the bike and it gave me a fantastic riding experience. Hmm… maybe a swap for the CB????

Now for those of you that like techy stuff, here’s some info for you which you may like:

998cc Engine: 4-stroke, liquid-cooled, DOHC, forward-inclined parallel 4-cylinder, 4-valves

ABS with Unified Brake System

Dual 320mm front discs and monoblock calipers

220mm rear disc

Track-developed suspension - 43mm fully adjustable KYB forks using a large diameter 25mm front axle

17” Magnesium wheels

17 litre aluminium fuel tank

Wet weight 200 kg

BK

RJR Motorcycles

My Day out at British Superbikes

RJR Motorcycles

So I was asked by a chap called Roger Rawlins, who owns RJR Motorcycles and is a crash helmet technician for a few British Superbike and Superstock racers, if I would like to shadow him at the BSB round at Silverstone on Sunday last weekend. 

Well, who’s going to turn down an offer like that!

Alex Olsen

I met Roger at Silverstone early doors and we made our way to the Smiths Racing truck where Roger would be working out of that day.

Before today I didn’t know what being a crash helmet technician entailed so it was going to be a very interesting day.

Roger looks after the crash helmets for the following riders:

Rich Energy Racing

Superbikes:

Peter Hickman: BMW - Global Robots BMW

Alex Olsen: BMW - Global Robots BMW (Alex had an accident the day before and is in hospital. I wish Alex a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on track soon)

Héctor Barbera: BMW - RICH Energy OMG Racing

Gino Rea: Suzuki - Buildbase Suzuki

Danny Kent

Superstock:

Danny Kent: Kawasaki - Morello Racing

Fraser Rogers: Kawasaki - Morello Racing

Billy McConnell: BMW – RICH Energy OMG Racing

David Allingham

David Allingham: Aprilia - IN Competition/Aprilia

In breaking news though, David is now riding for Michael Dunlop on a Suzuki GSXR 1000 - congratulations David, that is brilliant news.

First job of the day, cup of tea – I think I’m going to like this.

Roger goes into the garages of the riders he looks after and collects their crash helmets and takes them back to the trailer.

Alex Olsen

The visors of each helmet are taken off (Roger made this look easy but when I’ve tried to take my visor off in the past, it normally doesn’t end well)!

The inside is then cleaned and the pinlock on the inside of the visor is checked to make sure that it doesn’t need taking off and cleaned as residue can get in between the pinlock and visor which could hamper the rider’s visibility.

Roger mid cleaning

The visor is then put back onto the helmet and attention is then turned to the outside of the visor. Again, the visor is cleaned and then tear off strips are applied to the outside of the visor.

Peter Hickman's 

What is a tear off strip I hear you say? 






They are thin strips of clear plastic that are placed across the front of the visor and as a rider (or indeed a racing car driver) goes around the track, flies and dirt land on the visor which restricts visibility. The rider can then remove one of the tear offs and this will then give them a clear visor, simple yet very effective.

Ready for Racing

Roger places one of the plastic strips across the visor which are secured either side to pin type things (there is probably a technical term for these and I will have to find out what they are) and then smooths it down with a scraper to remove any air bubbles. 

Tab being applied

A piece of, what I would call duck tape but there’s probably a proper name for it, is then stuck down on one side of the film strip, doubled over and then cut to shape to form a tab.

Alex Olsen

Each rider has their own idea of how many tear off strips they require for each race but normally two or three are added to the visor per race. To add more tear off strips, the process is repeated again until there are the required number of tear offs.

Hickman's Area in Garage

The outside of the crash helmet itself is then cleaned and the crash helmet is then ready to go back to the rider in their garage ready for the next time it is needed.

David Allingham

So after the crash helmets have been cleaned and returned to their riders it’s tea time again :-)

Once all the crash helmets are done, Roger and I went off to watch some of the racing from the banks (the grandstands are closed at the moment). 

If you’ve ever been to Silverstone Circuit you will know that there is normally a cold wind there but today the sun was shining and I did venture to take my jacket off.

David Allingham

Once each race has finished, we made our way back to the pits to collect the crash helmets and start the process again stopping on the way for another cuppa.

Alex Olsen

Going into the team garages was very interesting, there are normally two riders per team and each rider has their own set of mechanics who, every time I went into the garage, were working on the bikes. 

I guess each time the bike comes back in, it is checked over and any adjustments the rider requires will be made. The rider chats with his engineer to give him feedback on any issues that may have arisen during the race.

Alex Olsen's bike

I found the whole day really interesting and extremely exciting to have been given this level of access to see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and it made me realise just how many people are involved in the team to get each rider out on track.

Thank you Roger for the opportunity of seeing what you do, I really appreciate it :-)

BK

RJR-Motorcycles

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Buying a Yamaha RD200

So I bought a Yamaha RD200! What made me do that, I hear you ask!

Well it all started when I was asked if I would like to test ride and blog about a newly restored RD250. Up until that point I had never ridden a two stroke bike so I wasn’t sure what to expect but what I certainly didn’t foresee was that I would absolutely love it.

Having only been riding for just under seven years, I learnt to ride on a YBR125 which, I have to say, was a really easy bike to learn on and I did enjoy riding it but I wasn’t sure if that was because I was finally learning to ride a motorbike, something which I had wanted to do for a long time or whether it was the bike, probably a combination of both.

My first ‘big bike’ was a Honda Hornet 600 and now I have a Z900 and a CB1000R, so I have only ever ridden ‘modern’ bikes.

I also realised that the RD250 was real ‘old school’ and by that I mean there are no fancy electronics or rider aids to worry about going wrong and after a little bit of research I thought it would be good bike for me to learn how to maintain and look after a bike as my skills in the garage are somewhat limited to say the least.

So I test rode the RD200. My immediate thought was ‘Where are the brakes???’ The RD has a drum brake on the rear and a old style single disc on the front. From my experience of driving classic cars with drum brakes, I know that normally you have to give a week’s notice if you want to stop! It is surprising though how quickly you adjust your riding style and anticipate when you would appreciate coming to a stop!

It is a completely different riding experience, I felt as though I was sitting on the bike rather than in it like on my Z and the noise and smell of the two stroke are just amazing. 

Before setting off I was told about ‘finding’ the powerband at about 6,000 rpm when the speed kicks in. Whoa, they weren’t kidding. It was huge fun to ride and an absolute pleasure and I had a huge grin on my face.

By the time I got back from my test ride, I knew I was going to buy it and I couldn’t wait to get it home.

The mechanical side of the RD has pretty much been done by the previous owner – the engine, gearbox, front forks and rear shocks have been sorted so really all it needs is tlc so for me, as someone who has very limited mechanical knowledge, it is absolutely perfect as a first bike to learn how to maintain.

To be honest, to start with I just intend on riding the bike for the rest of the summer to make the most of the good weather and then during the winter I will start in earnest with my ever growing list of jobs.

My first ‘job’ when I got the bike was polishing. I have to tell you I really think I know how to polish a bike now and I don’t really feel the need to do that part again! It definitely is much easier when someone else polishes your bike for you.

When I got the bike the brake lever was bent so I went on eBay and managed to source an ‘old stock’ Yamaha replacement and when it arrived I fitted it myself. 

The nut was stuck so I used a bit of heat which helped loosen it and when I replaced the nut I used some copper grease to stop it rusting on again. 

I am so chuffed that I was able to do do the job myself and having never done anything like that before, to me was an achievement, albeit a small achievement.

Having gained a little bit of confidence I thought I would tackle the number plate holder as this, in my opinion let the bike down badly. I look the number plate off and unbolted the holder itself and wire brushed and cleaned it all up. 

I then sprayed some primer on and then sprayed it all in silver and then refitted it to the bike and put the number plate back on.

Wow what a difference that has made to the bike. I think my ‘paint job’ might be what they call a ‘twenty feet’ paint job whereby if you stand twenty feet away it looks awesome, any closer and it’s well, maybe not as awesome but hey, it was my first go at spray painting and I was pleased with myself for having a go.

Now to decide what my next job is ….. I’ll keep you posted…..

BK

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