This stability made the R1 an absolute blast to ride around Laguna, a track I feel suits the R1 very well. Laguna is a very flowing track unlike many point and shoot tracks here in the U.S. The flow of the track lets you keep the R1 in its sweet spot above 8,000 RPM. Drop below that and I'm afraid the new R1 is still a little lacking in the low end department. This wasn't really a big problem as long as you kept it on the pipe but it was definitely noticeable exiting the turn 2 area in second gear. If I didn't keep the RPM's up exiting the corner, I definitely paid for it all the way to turn three. Fuel injection seemed very smooth though with no noticeable glitches, and keeping the R1 in the higher RPM's rewards you greatly. The top end rush of this bike let's you know, this is one seriously fast motorcycle!
Slam on the anchors and your world slows down in a hurry. The new six-piston calipers up front do an excellent job with great feel and stopping power and the slipper clutch helps everything stay composed out back. I seriously can't imagine riding a bike without a slipper again, and it is definitely the cat's meow. Braking into turn 2 at Laguna is a perfect place to test the performance of the R1's slipper and it was definitely up to the task. No matter how bad I botched my downshifts the R1's slipper seemed to take care of it.
The handling of the R1 has always been a strong point and this year is no different. It still changes direction with ease but where it really impresses is mid-corner. It was rock solid once leaned over and very stable going over turn 1, an ultra fast blind left-hander. The only issue I had with the R1 chassis was on turn in. The bike seemed to have some trouble settling down when being thrown into a corner, taking just that instant longer to settle into the corner. We were able to tune most of the issue out but it just never felt 100% planted when turning in. When going for a few hot laps it became a little more apparent and had me running wide on corner entry on a few occasions. According to some of the Yamaha reps this was something that they tried to improve on the '07 model with the changes in geometry but I still didn't feel totally confident.
Watching the MotoGP races this year at Laguna I couldn't help but notice the nice set of whoops they put in after the corkscrew going into Rainey curve. After seeing the way the factory bikes were bouncing through that area I was prepared to lose some dental work on a bike with stock suspension. I am happy to say I still have all of my fillings. You would have thought I was on Yamaha's YZ450F the way this bike handled the whoop section. The bike felt very plush without feeling too soft as is often the case on stock suspension. The R1 felt very composed and the rear shock gave excellent feedback and traction was never a problem with the rear hooking up excellent.
The Yamaha R1 came equipped with the Pirelli Diablo Corsa. Sizes are a 120/70 ZR 17 up front and a 190/50 ZR 17 in the back. I've got to be honest and say I was a little concerned when I saw we were going to be riding a bike with this much power on what is basically a street tire. These tires may have been the biggest surprise of the test. The Pirelli's were able to handle all of my ham-fisted maneuvers on the day and never gave me any scary moments. After riding most of the day on one set of tires the rear started to look pretty shagged but still offered excellent grip. The front barely looked scrubbed in! The weather was pretty chilly when we first got on the track and a bit damp but the tires came up to temperature nicely with no hairball cold tire slides to be reported. Pirelli markets the Diablo Corsa as a "Racing & Street" tire and I must say they are more than up to the task for both duties.
