Which is the model no one intending to race or track an R1 should buy. We've prepped more than a few Ms and the customer always has the same look on their face when they bring almost everything they paid an M premium for home in a box instead of on the motorcycle, including the mechatronic "MotoGP suspension" no Yamaha (or any other brand) actually uses in MotoGP. The brushed aluminum tanks are cool, but the M is the street cool and that's about it. On a race track, the premium price amounts to fuck all in performance. Get the base model R1 (not the S) if you're going to put it on a race track and save yourself 8 or 9k.
That kid's talent and the economy didn't line up. I think he could have been one of the better SBK guys from North America. I had no idea he was a moto journalist. Good for him making money riding motorcycles.
He was (is) a helluva rider. I believe he got hurt real bad at one point. I also remember a very weird crash (NJMP maybe?) where he was reaching across with this left hand, adjusting the brake lever adjuster, in the braking zone. Somehow he managed to put some undesired inputs into the bars/brakes and crashed. It was in the last corner before the front straightaway. It was really weird. Even the announcers were like "he shouldn't have been messing with that right then".
Brett McCormick was suppose to make an apprearance in one of your (Canadian) rounds this year but something fell threw and he didn't ride. When he had road the track the previous week or so, he was right on best times of Pro Superbikes... and this with a 600cc GSX. He has been rumored to do a return in CSBK but nothing has ever happened. We're still hoping he finds a good ride.
You're not biased are ya? The reason nobody uses electronic suspension on their bikes is because it's it's illegal for FIM. When Yamaha tested it in WSBK back in the late 2000's it made a huge difference. Granted I'm sure it's not the same stuff that tha R1M has but you're gonna have a hard time convincing me that anybody short of a seasoned expert racer can outride that suspension. Saying all that it probably doesn't make sense from the premium price point. They're getting a little ahead of themselves, $26K is pretty steep.
Well, I believe it makes a huge difference if it's an active or passive electronic suspension. Passive systems (mass production) react to the changes of the pavement / loads. Active systems (gps) know where these changes happen.
The reality is that it is only a short matter of time before electronic suspension will be legal in most series. My point, however, was that $26,100 is steep for a Piano. That is just a tad short of the Ducati V4 s at $27,800.
I thought active systems can use sensors to read the road ahead of the tire to prepare the suspension for the bump or dip that is coming up. Maybe those systems are not used in motorcycles yet, but I thought Lotus developed a system like that for cars a while back. I would imagine lean angle would add a whole additional level of complexity to that set up both in terms of the sensors and the math. I thought one of the challenges for the electronic suspensions at race pace was rider feel. The electronic suspension would not feel consistent to the rider, so the rider doesn't really trust it.
It's definitely coming. Aprilia already offers turn by turn changes to traction and wheelie control to the masses. Wouldn't take much for active suspension systems to be linked in to that.
There's more than a few people where price is not a factor, and that limited buyer pool is all that's necessary to make it a success. To have a limited production version of the bike they rode and loved, and brings back fond memories, that's really all that's necessary to make the sale. And given how quickly the first R1M sold out, I doubt this will be an issue this time around either.
The 2015 R1M had such a big draw because people thought that it would be a limited run only be produced for that year leaving it to be a collectors bike (like the 50th Anny LE model)... Then Yamaha decided it would keep producing the R1M year after year reducing its exclusivity.
I mean I guess that's better than Ducati, they had a special edition evetythang every 6 months to make people think they were buying something limited edition when realistically it was essentially BNG edition bikes. That kind of reminds me of what the car manufacturers are doing nowadays with BMW and their M-power series and Mercedes with AMG.
Manufacturers in Canada are still not spending on road racing like they did. Really too bad, feel for the guys limping along keep it going on shoestring budgets. Wouldn’t take that much to get Brett back in. Having said that after breaking your c5 you understand the risk/reward a little more than most......
Yeah he broke his c5 st Assen. Recovered fully and actually finished 5th 14 weeks later at Portugal. At that time only the factory riders were making a salary, most everyone else was bringing sponsors ( paying to ride) . Brett had a good gig at Effenbert and actually was making a small salary. That team folded though and the only options for 2013 were pay to ride which he will never do. So he went to University and got his degree in mechanical engineering. Has a good job as an engineer now. Gets on the track whenever he can, and this journalist gig is a great opportunity.