Rivalries are fierce in the superbike segment, and the pride is high, but when it comes to supremacy and hierarchies, the stopwatch readings at the track are the only thing that matters. The all-new 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M was launched in early November 2014, and is represents a huge leap forward for a model which had been sort of stagnant for quite some time. Watching the YZF-R1M documentary will show you that the new machine was well worth the wait… and will also leave you sighing for one.
Each maker who is involved in road racing in a way or another is developing their own technologies and adapts it to the road going motorcycles to some degree. Some say that the more successful a brand is on the track, the better their street bikes are. While this is arguably a true statement, Yamaha decided to up the ante and blur some of the lines between MotoGP and your daily uber-commuter and delivered the R1M, an R1 on steroids and on so many more mind-boggling, addictive things.
A bike that’s lighter and smarter
We won’t detail each of the technologies present in the YZF-R1M because it would just mean repeating the story in the video. However, we must stress out several features which are not exactly common treats with production motorcycles, and which are aimed at leaving the competition in a trail of dust, so to speak.
The 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M takes off where the R1 left off and introduces lighter material used for engine and frame parts, as well as carbon fiber bodywork elements, shedding off some weight, a critical edge in the on-track fight. The house of Iwata has also equipped the R1M with a heap of electronic systems, some of which are a direct derivative of the ones used in MotoGP.
This includes state-of-the-art engine management linked to a generous array of sensors for pretty much anything that moves on the bike. Traction control, wheelie control, launch control, slide control, power modes, active suspensions, and racing ABS are only a few of them, and what even nicer is the fact that the rider can tweak these settings and save the profile.
Finally, the icing on the cake is represented by the on-board GPS and communication module which can wirelessly send data to a phone or tablet via the dedicated app. The pit team will receive detailed info on lap times, performance and bike status, allowing a technician to revise the settings and later upload them to the bike.
Follow the link for 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M live photos from EICMA 2014. You will be able to get the R1M for around $21,990 in the US, while European riders must fork out €22,995, whereas riders in the UK need £18,499 to take it home.
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