2015 Yamaha R1 rumoured to make 230hp

[FJRider]

Yamaha is on a roll!

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-new-bikes/2015-yamaha-r1-rumoured-to-make-230hp/25296.html

[Sport-Touring]

[DosEquis00]

Those are impressive numbers and with the slow sales in the sport bike market there will be more high end expensive machines making their way to dealerships.

[Silverbird]

They forgot to mention annual re-builds and no pump gas

[FJRider]

They forgot to mention annual re-builds and no pump gas

 

[veefer800canuck]

And the forthcoming ban on sportbikes.

Remember Senator Danforth from the 1980's?


http://www.allaboutbikes.com/feature-articles/motorcycle-safety/4793-motorcycle-safety-act-of-1987

[garry]

Hopefully the "racing version" means a return to WSBK.

[Cobalt]

More machines that are moving at breakneck pace into the realm of "ludicrous, bordering on idiotic."

[garry]

More machines that are moving at breakneck pace into the realm of "ludicrous, bordering on idiotic."

Unless you're racing them. Seems the full-on, race rep bikes have basically been street legal track bikes for about 10 years now.

[camaroz1985]

Hello new donor motor for Formula 1000

[Cobalt]

Unless you're racing them. Seems the full-on, race rep bikes have basically been street legal track bikes for about 10 years now.

Exactly. Putting those on the street is nuts, IMO. For lots of reasons.

For me, it was always a matter of ergonomics. Rider vision is pretty limited thanks to the tucked position. I owned two full on sport bikes and never felt like I was in any kind of a bubble of awareness and confidence due to that. Adding way mo' power just exacerbates the diminishing cushion for error.

$.02

[Silverbird]

Not very likely the street-going version will make any more power than the BWM. Sounds like a lot of hot air to me.

The race version maybe, but probably something like Ducati does that cost 50K.

[Cobalt]

Well my point was the absolute power and the power to weight ratio of these modern RR bikes is getting (more and more) insane.

[Volfy]

Ludicrous?  Depends on your POV.  Personally, I find 700 lbs 1200cc adv tourers loaded to the gills with gear and bling ludicrous.  OTOH, I find bikes like  Panigale, S1000RR and RSV4 aboslutely beautiful.  The Big Four needs bikes like this to compete with Euro hardware, which have been flying out of showrooms, in more sense than one.  Litresport is where the sales are for sportbikes these days.  600SS is about dead.

I don't find adv tourers appealing, but I also appreciate tons of folks love that genre and enjoy riding them for what they are.  Same with sportbikes.  If they aren't your bag, then well...

For those who enjoy this sort of machine, they are the pantheon of performance riding.

[Cobalt]

Ludicrous?  Depends on your POV.  Personally, I find 700 lbs 1200cc adv tourers loaded to the gills with gear and bling ludicrous.  OTOH, I find bikes like  Panigale, S1000RR and RSV4 aboslutely beautiful.  The Big Four needs bikes like this to compete with Euro hardware, which have been flying out of showrooms, in more sense than one.  Litresport is where the sales are for sportbikes these days.  600SS is about dead.

I don't find adv tourers appealing, but I also appreciate tons of folks love that genre and enjoy riding them for what they are.  Same with sportbikes.  If they aren't your bag, then well...

For those who enjoy this sort of machine, they are the pantheon of performance riding.

You're thinking too literal.

Yes, all the machines that are the -est extension of initial intent are approaching ludicrous. Not necessarily "bad", but over the top and proportionally silly? Hell yes.

lu·di·crous
adjective

    so foolish, unreasonable, or out of place as to be amusing; ridiculous.

[Blue is Best]

In a different direction, Yamaha has been behind in the HP game for a number of years. In the litre bike arena that is. As noted, the 230 hp version will never hit the streets but I hope the street version is in the game against the competition.

[tomek]

Well my point was the absolute power and the power to weight ratio of these modern RR bikes is getting (more and more) insane.

It is not mandatory to buy one. It seems you have personal issues with those kind of bikes. Your comments about ergonomics are ridiculous, it the end of the day your head is still much higher then on average car and many smaller SUVs .  
Anyway, there are plenty of milder offerings from Yamaha and others manufacturers.

Of course that 230 hp will never see showrooms, but Yamaha needs to dump 20-30 pounds from current model and give the engine 20-30 hp boost.
Bigger bang R1 is embarrassingly slow on the straightaways, old long stroke 98-01 models are faster, I won`t even mention ultra high revving short stroke 04-08 machines.  

[Cobalt]

It is not mandatory to buy one. It seems you have personal issues with those kind of bikes. Your comments about ergonomics are ridiculous, it the end of the day your head is still much higher then on average car and many smaller SUVs . 
Anyway, there are plenty of milder offerings from Yamaha and others manufacturers.

Of course that 230 hp will never see showrooms, but Yamaha needs to dump 20-30 pounds from current model and give the engine 20-30 hp boost.
Bigger bang R1 is embarrassingly slow on the straightaways, old long stroke 98-01 models are faster, I won`t even mention ultra high revving short stroke 04-08 machines.

Differing opinions than yours are not ridiculous or having problems with anything. They're just differing opinions. I do think full on RR bikes are less useful and not as safe on the street. That's my opinion based on ownership of a lot of different bikes, including rr bikes, over the last 30 years of riding.

[st ryder]

... I find bikes like  Panigale, S1000RR and RSV4 aboslutely beautiful.  The Big Four needs bikes like this to compete with Euro hardware, which have been flying out of showrooms, in more sense than one.  Litresport is where the sales are for sportbikes these days.  600SS is about dead....

Considering all the owners of the above mentioned bikes could have easily purchased a RR bike from any of the big four and chose not to, I doubt any new Yamaha R1, no matter how much friggin power you give it will have any more appeal. Horsepower will not trump brand power. These new R1's or zx/gsxr/cbr etc and so on, will still appeal mostly to the same target who buys them now, and those ready to move up from a 600SS. I doubt Ducati or Aprillia or BMW will lose many sales because a bike that buyers of their products don't want has more power. Yamaha will need to do better than that, and quite frankly, they never will. They tried to make themselves over with "Star"cruisers and I don't think HD hurt any. Some riders want more from a ride than stat sheets and bang for buck or success on the track.  Many times, those are the "Been there, done that" former in-line four Japanese bike owners, left feeling flat and unispired from the same old thing, even when it was more of the same old thing.  The Growler/long bang R1's holds more appeal for me than the short stroke R1's, because of the sound. Couldn't give a crap about the top end or acceleration inferiority because the differences are meaningless in the real world. Bring out a growler based, tuned for torque ST, and Yammie has my attention. Another mass produced, squid specialty that can be had for a dime a dozen at the local bone yard in a few years, really isn't a step forward. It's just more of the same.

Well, that's my ridiculous opinion anyway.

[Volfy]

That is true to a large extent, especially on the higher end of the MSRP spectrum.  The Japanese brands do not have any litresport approaching $20k.  Honda just came out with their SP version of their aging CBR1000RR, but no amount of Brembo and Ohlins blingblings can disguise a platform going on 8-9yrs old.  I agree Euro brands will still own the esoteric territory for many moons to come.  And I doubt the Big 4 want in on that piece of pie anyhow.  Overall, that market segment is relatively tiny and not where the sales growth is.  But they do wonders to boost the brand image... and that's what the Japanese lack, halo bikes that showcase the brand's engineering prowess.

Still, with S1000RR and RSV4 sticker prices starting around $15k and sometimes selling for even less, I do think there is some cross shopping at the lower end of the litresport segment.  I know of many sport riders that have gone euro because Japanese haven't had anything appealing for quite some time now.  Some of them still own other Japanese bikes and don't particularly have any brand loyalty or snobbery.  I had an RSVR Factory and now have an S3R in my garage, among other Japanese bikes.  Some of us buy on feature and performance, regardless of brand.

For sure HP numbers alone don't sell bikes, neither does brand caché.  The Euro litresports are killing the Big 4 because they have better overall packages: electronics, handling, brakes, styling, instrumentation, and... HP & brand caché.

[VFRob]

I like the fact that boundaries are pushed, eventually the technology trickles down and improves something that I want to play with.