Regressive Theory

Mark Forsyth samples the sublime 1998 Yamaha YZF-R1 asks the question: when sportsbike design start going backwards?

- Mark Forsyth

Racing, so they say, improves the breed and back in 1998 this cliché was certainly true. So was ‘race it Sunday sell it on Monday’.

Exactly 20 years ago, Yamaha’s mighty R1 screwed up the rule book, burned all the evidence and wrote a totally new edition.

Compared to the long, heavy and unwieldy Thunderace that preceded it, the 1998 R1 was inexplicably light, lithe and incredibly powerful. The R1 pretty much dominated production-based pure road and circuit racing for the next couple of years, proving its adaptability as not only a potent track tool but also as a bike equally adept at tackling the uneven surfaces of real roads.

Time has been kind to this original R1 4XV: kind in terms of its looks, certainly. If it wasn’t for the very ‘1990s’ font of the YZF graphic on the fairing side panels and obviously the date related registration plate, it’d be hard for the untrained eye to spot that it’s as old as it is. And that Yamaha Motor France trademark blue paint, I think, sets off the shiny alloy parts with better contrast than the alternative red-white, slightly shell-suity option. Eye of the beholder, I suppose, as I hear Niall Mackenzie actually wants a red and white one (see page 118.)

Time has also been kind in the way this 20-year old super bike rides and feels on the road. As the last of the carburetor generation, the 4XV’s bank of four CV carbs give an uncannily direct connection between the rider’s right wrist and the 180 section Pirelli rear tyre. Strange though that Yamaha didn’t take a leaf out of Kawasaki’s book and treat it to a pressurised air-box?