Video: R1 versus the rest

Yamaha has won every class of GP racing but, surprisingly, never a World Superbike championship.

This is, presumably, a nagging pain in the arse of its racing division.

But how to sort it? Answer: a new, all-singing and all-dancing R1.

In making a serious WSB challenger, Yamaha hopes it has made a litre-class road bike like no other; a 1000cc Yamaha to rave about and remember like its 2006 supersport R6.

On paper, the new R1 has the credentials: Like the engine’s claimed 186 ponies, and a super-sharp chassis.

But that all counts for nothing if your rivals still outpace you, as we found out when we tested the new R1 against its competitors, as well as the 2006 R1. See the first UK group test of the R1 in the video below.

See this week’s MCN, available from January 17, 2007 for the full road test with the 2007 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, 2007 Kawasaki ZX-10R and the 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000.