2007 R1 not so good

[Constant Mesh]

https://www.motorcycledaily.com/16february07_r1final.htm

 

[MKO]

It seems like a great track bike and I love the styling, but the heat seems to be a problem...again. The tall 1st gear can be band-aided with a sproket change, but the article points out the fuel costs. With the broader power curve that the 4-valve hed provides, Yamaha needs to space the ratios out better for street use. Top gear is about right but first needs to be shorter. The GSXR still seems to be the litre choice for the street, IMHO. Although for sport riding in general the Ducati 1098 may be the best of breed.

 

[05fjrman]

i wouldn't kick one out of my garage. the fjr is kind of lonely.

 

[Bike Effects]

My '98 R1 may just be a better street bike. The market competition forces the manufactures to up the ante every year and the street bike focus can be lost.

 

[Warchild]

Bah.... it's not like this web site is a leading, recognized authority on anything. Some attorney in California put together a web site with opinions and RSS feeds and have advertisers fund it. Big whup.

So some no-name rode the new R1 and wrote he didn't like the heat coming off the cats, or the tall first gear. Shyeah..... so?

What Mr. No-Name doesn't apparently realize is that you simply take that 17T front sprocket and replace it with the OEM 16T front sprocket from the early-generation R1s. It's an exact fit. Many a dedicated 2004-2006 R1 enthusiast do this simple mod right out of the crate. Tall first gear "issue" solved! <_<

And as far as the heat off the cats? Um, gee.... how about removing the cat? Duh. Alternatively, the cat automagically goes away if the owner springs for a set of slip-ons. Example: I installed LeoVince SBK Titanium Racing Ovals on my '05 R1..... the cat and the heat coming off it: gone.

The new R1 has some amazing new technology and is an awesome machine, and it matters not what any website blog or mag article says about it, good, bad or indifferent. It only matters how *you* perceive the bike when/if you get to test ride one. I would never let a magazine article or blog write-up influence my decision to investigate or rule out a particular bike. The author could be a complete brain-dead ******** for all we know.

While I am certainly in no danger of scoring one myself (that red '05 R1 of mine is still one gorgeous hunk of wood-inducing Eye-Candy), I certainly would welcome the new R1 in the stable if Sportbike Fairy sprinkle some pixie dust in my garage and one magically appeared. :lol: And I can hardly wait to see what the Bostrom Brothers are going to do with it in the Superbike and Superstock classes this year. B)

 

[gr8eyes]

+1 Warchild. I agree totally. I do like to get opinions from journalist's but they may think one thing is real important and I may think something else is more important to me.

 

[Heber Guy]

The 2007 R1 came in third out of 3 in the Roadracing World and Motorcycle Technology comparo in the latest edition. Good riders and usually reliable source. I am happy with my 2006 LE and the EXUP dip is gone with a full SATO system and PC3.

Al

 

[FJRMGM]

removing emission controls can result in a hefty fine if someone wants to get nasty about it.

 

[Blueliner]

removing emission controls can result in a hefty fine if someone wants to get nasty about it.

please don't jay walk either...

Is anyone actually checking that sort of thing? I don't think that even CA is doing so. So when you make the exhaust change, keep the old one in your garage instead of on ebay, then if your locale starts doing emissions testing/inspections on motorcycles, you can put it back on.

 

[fjr]

Lousy article. Aren't sportbikes supposed to be "firm".....and they are complaining???

I wish my CBR got those mpg numbers......

Literbikes aren't for commuting? Who would have thunk it?????

 

[beeroux]

I for one take this article quite seriously.

Any decent test rider knows Levi's provide the best crash protection while testing a bike on the open roads of America.

******.

GZ

 

[coop]

Just get a GSXR and you wont even remember they made an R1. :exhappysmiley:

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I was watching the superbike world championship racing last night. Haga started 15th and finished 2nd in the first race on his R1 and again from 15th took the lead on lap 9. The podium finishers were Yamaha, Honda and Ducatti.

I have heard from my friend who is a maintenance manager at a local Yamaha.Augusta shop that they really did some nice stuff with the R1 handling. He likes the 07 a lot more than the 06. He doesn't like supersport bikes a whole bunch...he's more of an FZ guy, he does like the new R1. Must be better.

 

[Metric]

removing emission controls can result in a hefty fine if someone wants to get nasty about it.

That won't worry 99% of the guys that want to remove a Cat. However, it looks like simply putting a new slip on voids the warranty on the whole bike if you are dealing with Kawasaki now. Its in the paperwork for the ZX14's anyway. I haven't heard if any of the other manufacturers are following suit on that yet or not. That will bother more people then the possible fine from the government.

 

[Flyguy]

Metric wrote:

That won't worry 99% of the guys that want to remove a Cat. However, it looks like simply putting a new slip on voids the warranty on the whole bike if you are dealing with Kawasaki now. Its in the paperwork for the ZX14's anyway.

How sure are you of this? With a bike that is so obviously geared for the 1/4 mile set it could be another of many (especially style) reasons the Busa still outsells it 3:1,

 

[Flyguy]

The R1, or for that matter any modern literbike, have gotten so track biased that they are a fish out of water on public roads. The FZ is so much better suited to real urban riding - and Yamaha will tell you so but track results sell units. Not just literbikes but sales of the whole line are affected. The old addage of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" has never been more true. The buying public drives the direction of developement, not the manufacturers. Yamaha builds a tire shredding torque monster SST with more power than can reasonably be used anywhere in the realm of sanity. Does Kaw say "thats enough power, now we will match that but do it with better fuel efficientcy"? No, that would be too useful. The public wants more power they can't use. The mfg's don't have the balls to challange what they perceive is the musical chairs game of customer demand until one is left standing. Then there is a sea change of "new market direction".

 

[Metric]

Metric wrote:

That won't worry 99% of the guys that want to remove a Cat. However, it looks like simply putting a new slip on voids the warranty on the whole bike if you are dealing with Kawasaki now. Its in the paperwork for the ZX14's anyway.

How sure are you of this? With a bike that is so obviously geared for the 1/4 mile set it could be another of many (especially style) reasons the Busa still outsells it 3:1,

I've done a little work to an '06 ZX14 lately. The kid that brought it to me took me to his favorite forum to show me a couple of things he wanted me to do. In one of the threads we looked at one of the members brought up the new warranty restrictions. It basically hijacked the tread, but with good reason. A lot of the owners had not noticed this to include the owner of the bike I was to work on. So my customer when home and got out his manual and read what it said. When he came back he told me that the thread on the forum was absolutely correct. He had only had the bike a couple of weeks at this point (left over), so he had to think about it for a couple of days. In the end it now has the restrictor plates removed, new full exhaust, GIPro (TRE), and a power commander complete with an Ivan map.....and no more warranty on a bike that is only 6 weeks from the show room floor!

He just recently found out that there are a few stealerships out there that are willing to honor warranty repairs on modified bikes IF they do all the modifications to include selling the parts.....go figure.

 

[Flyguy]

If it is the same with the new Concours, that's going to upset some people who didn't like the big can.

 

[Metric]

If it is the same with the new Concours, that's going to upset some people who didn't like the big can.

Unknown. I would say that might be a good question for anyone that is looking to buy a Concours. My guess is that if Kawi is doing that for one bike, they are probably doing it for others if not all of them.