With the Speed Wars of the 90s eventually leading to a gentleman’s agreement to limit the top speed of pretty much all Japanese motorcycles to 300km/h or 186 mph in fear of a ban in Europe. This is something Yamaha has stuck to over the years, although safety has improved greatly and many other manufacturers have chosen to abandon this agreement.
A key part of this is Yamaha’s decision to focus on lap times around a track rather than out-and-out speed. If they wanted to, they could have increased the displacement a long time ago and the speed would have gone up but lap times would have also gone up too with the extra weight.
The Yamaha YZF R1M is the fastest production motorcycle the company has ever made.
Where It All Started For The Yamaha YZF R1M
When the Yamaha R1 was launched way back in 1998, it completely changed the liter-bike game. Until then pretty much all literbikes were unwieldy speed machines that couldn’t even out corner a muscle-car.
The not-quite a liter Honda CBR900RR showed the world that more displacement didn’t necessarily mean heavy. Yamaha had to come up with an answer and they knocked it out of the park. At 420lbs (wet) it came in a good 25lbs lighter than the smaller, less powerful Honda. It was an immediate hit, suddenly liter-bikes could keep up with the 600s in the corners then power past them everywhere else.
In terms of speed and acceleration, the original is still a fast bike, the chassis and suspension are just way behind the modern superbikes.
Not All About Speed
If Yamaha chose to, the R1M could easily scoot past the 186mph mark. It is something they seemingly have no desire to do though, with it being a special edition many Yamaha fans might have wished they did.
Clearly this wasn't at the top of their list of concerns, the upgrades from the normal R1 include a whole heap of carbon fiber on the outside, some titanium for the insides of the CP4 engine, and an advanced electronic Ohlins racing suspension. All of this is geared towards bringing down lap times, with little interest in the actual top end.
A Road Legal Track Bike
With all the added features, it takes the already very capable R1 to another level on track. Although the bike has mirrors and blinkers this bike is built for the track, everything can be tuned to your preferred spec via the Y-TRAC app (for both R1 and R1M) taking the expression dialed in to a very literal level.
Although the fastest Yamaha may not be the fastest bike in the world, it packs unrivaled technology in a package the just oozes quality. It will be very hard to find another bike you could ride to a track and blow away a few track-only bikes.
September 25, 2020 at 11:45PM
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