What do you get for your money?

“The chassis is designed to be used as a race bike” A lot of engineering that you can’t see. Crossplane cranks aren’t actually anything new - they’re used in V8 car engines, for example, and there have been various racing versions over the years. But making a reliable crossplane crank for a high-revving, lightweight four-cylinder bike engine is far more difficult (and expensive) than producing a conventional crank. Maybe that’s why the R1 always looked expensive next to its competitors - £10,999 in 2009, when the Blade and ZX-10R were £1500 cheaper and the GSX-R was overpriced but still less than 10 grand. Other posh engine internals include conrods made in one piece and freeze-cracked at the big end for a perfect bearing fit, titanium valves and ceramic cylinder plating. Fuel is…

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RiDE United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2017

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