Yamaha R1 - TURBO - 250BHP - BST - OHLINS - PFM

Welcome to the advert for my Yamaha R1 Turbo.

The bike has been a labor of love over the last 4 years. The reason I am selling it is because I fancy something different and I can't justify having 6 bikes in the garage.

The bike was published in Performance bikes in a 6 page article including the centerfold.

The idea of building the turbo charged R1 stemmed from seeing a Moto GP replica in performance bikes magazine. I thought it would be an interesting idea to make one similar. but with the correct amount of horsepower! The bodywork didn't materialize. but I always liked the 2004 shape R1. so I decided to continue with the ultimate R1 project.

The initial turbo work was carried out over a period of a year by a renowned turbo expert. on picking the bike up I found it to be of substandard quality and decided to enlist the help from my friend who is a bike mechanic and engineer. He and his right hand man stripped the R1 back to basics and started the rebuild from scratch. It was at this time that I was hunting around for all the smart bits. like wheels and suspension.

The engine was completely rebuilt using JE turbo pistons. arrow rods. vernier cams etc. This mates the turbo to the engine perfectly and the two work very well together. The turbo was rebalanced and a tial dump valve fitted to stop the turbo from stalling. A new plenum chamber was fabricated and is braced to the frame to prevent it blowing off under pressure.

The turbo wastegate is controlled by a programmable boost controller and is currently set to give around 10psi boost. This is estimated to give around 250bhp. although the dyno didn't appreciate having such a powerful bike on it and wouldn't give a valid figure. Having owned full blown sports bikes and hyper bikes for the last ten years I would not be surprised to find that the R1 is more than 250bhp. It is unbelievably quick.

Handling was of upmost importance. it had to go round a corner! (Hence the reason a Busa was not chosen for this project. I decided that you could get an R1 to be quicker. but you couldn't really get a Busa to go down a tight and twisty lane.)
To make the R1 even better it has Ohlins suspension. with Road and Track forks up front and a Fully adjustable Ohlins at the rear.
The standard wheels were removed in favour of super lightweight carbon fibre BST wheels with full titanium bolts fitted for the disks. These are mated with Michelin Pilot Power 2CT tyres. which are a very stable and decent all round road tyre. The steering damper has been upgraded to an adjustable sprint item with Harris fork clamp.

To help to slow things down better brakes were sourced. Up front are some fully floating cast iron disks with PFM 6 pot radial calipers. this is mated to a 19x18 Brembo radial race master cylinder. The back brake has a fully floating braketech disk with Brembo red pads and the standard caliper. All the brake lines have been upgraded to braided lines.

The riding position is fully adjustable with PP tuning rear sets and raised PP Tuning clip-ons. The raised clip-ons are around 1 inch higher than standard. which just makes it more comfortable for me. The clutch lever has been upgraded to a fully adjustable supersport item from CRG.

Riding the bike is surprising. When riding slowly the bike is extremely docile around town and will easily obey all speed limits when not on boost. You could ride it daily and it would be fine in the wet too. The turbo starts to spool up at around 5k revs and is on full boost at around 6.5k revs. Throttle adjustments have to be fine and you can only really start to give it the beans in 4th gear and higher. The acceleration is unbelievable. You have to recalibrate your brain. having a bike that accelerates in 5th and 6th gear like a Hayabusa in 2nd gear really does take your breath away!

The bike condition is very clean. it is not mint though. It has a few scratches here and there. The bike has just been taxed and tested and the mileage will go up whilst the nice weather is here.

It is extremely difficult to put a value on such a machine. I know how much it cost me to build it. a price that is well above the amount I have it listed for. I am open to sensible offers. but I am not in a desperate hurry to sell it. I am also not interested in swapping it for anything else.

I will only let the bike be test ridden if I have the full amount in my hand.

The R1 is available to view in the Fareham area in Hampshire.