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We can thank Honda for the ground breaking R1. Although the ‘Thunder Ace’ gave more power than the Fire Blade, the short compact dimensions of the Honda allowed it to run rings around the larger Yamaha in the handling stakes.
Yamaha redesigned the old powerful but bulky Genesis engine by offsetting the crankshaft, gearbox input and output shafts compacting the engine, allowing a much shorter wheel base, and lower centre of gravity giving much faster handling, and making the overnight making the previous class leading ‘Blade’ seem rather ordinary!
Its 150 BHP engine in a machine weighing a little over 170kg made for a superb package, that handled better than anything else on the road at that time.
Now with the old five valve genesis layout abandoned for a more conventional four valve layout, the latest R1’s exceed 180BHP, and with the slipper clutch and other Moto GP derived technologies still continue to be the machine of choice for the rider that demands the best (ie the fastest!) available.