in the bush also Strengths: Great handling, great brakes, ABS and traction control work perfectly, traction control and the excellent linked brakes can be turned off easily, plenty of power and torque, relaxed high speed riding, very comfortable, very stable

In short:Cross-plane crank R1 gets slight restyling and traction control coco5940: Absolute gem of a bike, extremely well suited to fast road riding, outstanding engine with acres of grunt! Strengths: Engine, engine...engine & the most gorgeous

Metallic, BMW Motorrad Motorsport TeamFORAwesome engineAmazing traction controlRed/white/blue colour schemeAGAINSTFront brake fadeFront end feedbackGreen/grey colour schemesRating: 4/5 Engine spec: Engine: 999cc, 16v, liquid-cooled, in-line four

. Which all means you get the same power as before but now with more control. This is good news, but for die-hard R1 aficionados this motor won't feel as mad as the last one.The gearbox is still pretty heavy too. Yamaha are claiming a new finish

In short:Yamaha jumps the gun and launches the 2006 R1 before the competition. Over-confidence, or are the small changes enough to make a big difference? Engine capacity: 998cc Power: 175bhp Torque: 78.6lb ft Weight: 173kg Seat height: 835mm Fuel

mudguard on this model were aftermarket additions. Not so, late in its life Yamaha actually produced the bike with this slightly tacky look. But this is a bike from a different age, in the late ‘90s carbon-effect was all the rage.Turning the key

controllable and less scary than the original model - an outstanding bike that was perhaps a bit too mad and bad for its own good. The even better news, after a day and a half of thrashing it around one of the most spectacular tracks I've ridden on

pulled stronger, but only slightly from what I can remember with a tad more top end, while the Yamaha is weaker in the middle but stronger on top – especially at speed with the effective ram air induction. The engine sound isn’t as peaky as the R6

Road 2CT's fitted - very happy with them so far. Home servicing is feasible, but a little time-consuming to get at the plugs! Overall: This could be the beginning of a long and happy relationship! I've looked closely at a 2010, apart from the traction

.When the Blade was first launched in 1992, original designer Baba-san’s philosophy was to build an uncomplicated motorcycle with sharp handling and a good power to weight ratio. Recently the other three Japanese manufacturers have introduced the likes of traction