AND THEN THERE’S THE OTHER R7…
ou’ve maybe heard about the V&M R71 and naturally assumed it was the love child of an R1 and R7? Well, err…sorry to explode the myth but there wasn’t actually a single part from the R7 used on the fabled V&M R71 – not one. It was 100% pure R1, but that’s not to say it wasn’t heavily influenced by the R7, in particular the taller, wider and smoother bodywork which, given the high-speed nature of the TT and the size of the R71’s star rider, David Jefferies, was an area that V&M went looking for some small gains to improve on the 1999 bike that DJ had already made history on. So, in the absence of any great technical feature to share on how the R1 engine was
