Kunihiko Miwa, the man behind the R-series, had just been promoted project leader of "a new supersport machine”. Mario Inumaru, senior product planner and responsible for the whole European market, favoured the idea of a really radical machine. His vision was to rejuvenate the race-bred supersport class. Sales of race-oriented bikes had slowed down in the middle of the nineties, but Europe was always a strong market for real supersport machines. The planners in Yamaha Motor Europe’s office in Amsterdam believed in this segment, and were more than happy to have an engineering team in Japan that supported their ideas.
No compromise
So while the world’s top motorcycle journalists were out testing the Thunderace, the little group of engineers and planners in the paddock building next to them were already thinking of their next, more extreme concept! Mr. Miwa told the planners that he had already started a design for a brand new 4 cylinder engine, and he wanted to integrate its chassis and engine into one unit in order to make this new bike the lightest and most compact in the class. He took his pencil and scribbled his basic technical idea on the white sheet of paper. The planners looked at it. Someone took a pen and added the words "NO COMPROMISE”. This later became the key concept for the whole development of R1. Miwa-san had a heavy burden put on his shoulders when they laid down the basic parameters: 150 HP, under 180 kg and handling like 600 cc sportbikes at that time!
New layout still valid today
Mr. Miwa and his team worked hard for about a year. Not much free time was left for sushi and sake. (for those not familiar with Japanese cuisine: these are raw fish and rice-wine). The basic layout the engineers came up with is still valid today, and it still sets the standards by which other supersport machines are judged:
- Ultra-short 4-cylinder engine with a triangular crankshaft and gearbox shaft layout
- Deltabox II chassis with the slant-block engine as stressed member to ensure high rigidity and low weight
- Ultra-long swingarm combined with a short wheelbase for superb handling together with excellent stability
- Rider position in the centre of the bike to ensure best weight distribution
Careful attention to details
Never has a high-volume production machine like the R1 received so much attention to even the smallest detail, and Mr. Miwa was soon called "Mr. No Compromise”.
Here are just some examples of his search for perfection: in order to make a straight shift linkage from the R1’s gear lever to the gearbox shaft, a hole was designed in the frame section over the swingarm pivot shaft. This innovative solution resulted in a better shift feeling, because of no bending moments on the shaft. The handlebars are bonded aluminium, and are 46% lighter than their welded counterparts. These are just two examples of how Yamaha’s attention to detail makes the R1 one of the most advanced supersport machines on the market.
