WHILE many of the 1000cc sportsbikes on the market have traction control, the new generation YZF-R1 hasn't been one of them, until now...

With six stages of traction control, and three power modes the 2012 R1 has 21 engine set up options. As traction control development generally improves with each model, the new R1 hasn't been left behind. It's seamless in its operation, giving the R1 rider an unprecedented level of confidence and control.

Before 2012
When Yamaha's Crossplane generation YZF-R1 was released in 2009 the Crossplane crankshaft design gave it an edge on the competition, a marketing edge maybe rather than a technical one, but an edge all the same. You could argue every bike on the market has something to set it apart from others but at the world launch of the ’09 R1 at Eastern Creek you could see the assembled journalists were keen to sample the new design, a design born from Valentino Rossi's M1 MotoGP racer. A road going M1 if you like.

To those uninitiated, the Crossplane crankshaft R1 has an inline four cylinder engine but the crankshaft design makes the bike sound and feel similar to a V4. This in itself gave the bike better traction than the average inline four cylinder 1000cc sportsbike with a screaming top end.
The Crossplane crank is much heavier than the previous design and this may have played a big part in why the 2009 R1 wasn't a resounding success on the race track in Australia, as a superbike at least.

Despite that, a heavily modified R1 won the World Superbike title in 2009 in the hands of Ben Spies. Since then the R1 has won lots of races in the hands of Yamaha Australia's Kevin Curtain so it can't be a bad thing.
On the road this heavy crank made the ’09 - ’11 R1 a delight to ride, despite the extremely sporty riding position. It had the lot – great brakes, pin sharp handling, attractive styling, but the best thing about it was the engine.

2012 model
A quick overview of the engine – besides the Crossplane crank – shows it has titanium valves, 183 ponies, 115Nm of torque, six-speed ’box and a slipper clutch. The only real thing new on the 2012 engine are revised primary injectors in the fuel injection system, and different mapping on the ECU which gives better low and mid range performance. It does also have a revised air intake via a different grille shape on the fairing. Yamaha doesn't say this gives any performance benefits at high revs though.

Before we delve into the traction control let's look at what other changes there are. The rear shock has a lighter spring rate to better cope with our Third World roads, and a bottom link redesign to give better traction, while the MotoGP derived 43mm forks seem to be essentially unchanged from the 2011 model, with the left fork controlling the compression damping, and the right one controlling rebound.

It's the same with the Deltabox frame, and the swingarm, they are unchanged.
Styling is a little different, mainly around the headlight area but there are a plethora of other styling updates, like muffler covers and end caps, and a new instrument panel to include the traction control information.

Brakes are the same as before too, with big rotors and massive radial 4-piston calipers so not much need to muck around with them anyway.
There are three colours, matt black, blue, white, and the limited edition red/white which looks fantastic. The limited edition model has a numbered plaque on the triple clamp and really is coming to Australia in limited numbers. My guess is they've all been snapped up by dealers and customers now but you could be lucky.

The Ride
In reality bikes like this don't make good road bikes. Good track bikes yes, road, no. The revised rear spring rate is better at coping with bumps but bikes like this are not designed for our roads. Am I stating the obvious? Probably. You can play with stuff like handlebar height and ’peg position if you go aftermarket.

The new R1 has redesigned footpegs but although I liked the fact they were grippier than before I found the brake and gear levers too narrow for my feet. Many a time I couldn't find them and had to go searching, on the road that is. On the track it was less of a problem but still there nonetheless.
On the track this bike is a real hoot. It's got tons of horsepower – it may have less than the BMW S 1000 RR and Kawasaki's ZX-10R for example, but in the real world for the average riders it makes little difference in my mind.

This thing is very bloody fast, and likes to loft its front wheel out of corners.
There are three power modes to play; Standard, A Mode (fast) and B Mode (smooth). For me standard is where most riders will be. I reckon A Mode makes the bike too snappy off the bottom and can unsettle the bike a bit.

Fine for racers but everyday riders will be better off in Standard Mode, on the road and on the track. B Mode is for rain or dodgy conditions.
Handling is up there with the best, it tips in nice, is settled mid corner and drives out of corners nicely. The brakes are potent too, but not too potent at first grab. Yamaha has got these right, never once did I find that the initial bite was too aggressive. You would expect this on the track but even on the road I liked the feel of the brakes.
There's an electronic steering damper which self adjusts on the fly. Plenty of times I was mucking around pulling wheelies or even kicking the front wheel sideways under hard acceleration. Never once did I get a major twitch back through the ’bars so it obviously works well.

The Final Say
I like the R1, have always done so. Sure it's a race bike for the street and I would probably rather own something else for road work but for track work I'd have one any day.
It has a beautiful engine, and with a set of pipes sounds glorious.

As for the traction control, it's hard to fault, and in fact I can't fault it. I've sampled most of the current sportsbikes with traction control and have found them all great at that job. The 2012 R1 is as good as any.
It will cost you $19,999 for the regular version which is good value, and $21,499 for the limited edition WGP 50th Anniversary model, if you can get one. Warranty is two years unlimited kilometres.

Traction Attraction
Front and rear wheel sensors measure the slip between both wheels and combine with the ECU, ride-by-wire system which combines to alter both fuel injection and ignition settings to improve forward drive. Yamaha reckons the system is that good it can recognise wheel slippage before the rider can, and after riding it I can't argue with that. There are six traction control settings, or seven if you count turning it off.

Even though it doesn't actually have wheelie control, the most intrusive two levels are basically this. It will allow the front wheel to lift off slightly but only just before the system rings the wheel back to earth. At the launch it was pissing down with rain so what better way to test the traction control.

Out of corners you could slam the throttle open in levels five and six and the bike would suffer no wheelspin whatsoever. In levels three and four you could even wheelstand out of corners in the rain without the back wheel spinning. Less than that you could feel the rear wheel slip a bit but then I was at the limit of my confidence and not prepared to push harder on a wet track with someone else's motorcycle.
On the road in the dry the only time I felt it kick in was on level three with me slamming the throttle hard open from a standing start and feeling the system quickly cut power.

Later we were to revisit the test arena in the dry and with the traction control set to its minimum I couldn't feel it working, even though I could see the light shine up on the dash every now and then telling me it was. It truly is as seamless as it gets.