2015 YAMAHA YZF-R1

Of all the latest sportbikes, the new-generation Yamaha YZF-R1 released in 2015 was the one I was most curious about. While the Japanese manufacturers continued to clean up in MotoGP racing, proving they had the technology, they were seemingly lollygagging behind the highertech production offerings from BMW, Ducati, et al. Then came this R1—and the even racier R1M—which promised to right that wrong.

Unfortunately my chance to spend time with the R1 came at the expense of Blake Conner. Just as I had inherited, the Triumph due to its three-cylinder engine and the Yamaha because of its crossplane crankshaft. Both growl down low and howl up high, but the bigger four’s basso profundo is so sinister that if you didn’t know better, you’d swear it was a Ducati twin.