Superbike takes on its naked brother
We lap the MCN250 on Yamaha’s R1M and MT-10 SP to see which rules the road
Yamaha R1M and MT-10 SP tackle MCN’s tough test route
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but for a sportsbike nut like me, nothing makes me drool like a superbike. And few make me sizzle like the R1. Yamaha’s latest-generation superbike has been with us since 2015 and drips with MotoGPaping electronics, styling and chassis tech. A fiery short-stroke inline four crossplane crank motor makes 197bhp and its soundtrack could be used for Rossi’s on-board footage. This stubby-nosed R1 signalled the return of the Japanese, after the dominance of BMW’s
S1000RR, and it won MCN’s 2015 superbike shootout. I ran one that year, hoovering up as many trackdays as I could.
Each year Yamaha have produced a special, limited-edition (around 750 to 1000) R1. Badged the R1M, it has magnesium wheels, a lacquered aluminium fuel tank and swingarm, semi-active Öhlins, a datalogger, Bridgestone RS10 rubber and a carbon fibre fairing, front mudguard and rear seat cover.
Filling up in bright early morning sunshine I can’t take my eyes off this latest £20,199 R1M, tweaked for 2018 with uprated anti-wheelie suspension electronics and an auto-blipper. I could stare at it all day, drinking in its squat, racebikelike proportions, ogling its fat rear tyre, shiny brake calipers, gold suspension and carbon weavage. But it doesn’t take long for the grubby knuckles of reality to knock on the door of my dreams. With the colour dash showing air temperature of just 4°c I soon realise that track-focused tyres, brakes and suspension don’t do cold. The R1M feels wooden and clumsy, and the thought of dealing with this handsdown-bum-up position for the coming miles, fills me with dread. With the low sun in my eyes and excitement quickly fading, the R1M feels out of place on the A45. I’m just glad it’s half term, so rush hour roads are eerily quiet. Filtering on a superbike and delicately balancing clutch and throttle in the straitjacket of my warm riding gear wouldn’t have been fun.
That’s the thing with modern superbikes: everything from riding positions to the power of their big bhp engines has become more extreme. They’re perfect on a sunny morning blast or sticky-tyred trackday, but for the rest of the time they’re a bit clumsy and pointless, especially when you’re older and creakier. Granted, there are slightly friendlier, comfier superbikes out there, such as the new GSX-R1000 and Blade, but they’re still more of the same and get to you in the end. Superbike prices have rocketed, too, which is why even a race replica-loving nation like ours is leaving them to gather dust on showroom floors. This is where super-nakeds come in. Straightbarred superbikes, bursting with naughtiness, their rough track edges smoothed off to make them