{"id":12227,"date":"2015-04-21T08:14:13","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T22:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeme.tv\/?p=12227"},"modified":"2015-04-21T08:48:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T22:48:57","slug":"2015-yamaha-r1-borrie-custodian-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/2015-yamaha-r1-borrie-custodian-farewell\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 YAMAHA R1 \u2013 BORRIE THE CUSTODIAN \u2013 AND SO FAREWELL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"_32A9670\"

Coming onto the Cahill Expressway…yes, I’m lying.<\/p><\/div>\n

As the rain lashed me like an angry wife\u2019s tongue, I made my way to Yamaha HQ in Sydney\u2019s outer west. The time had come for the R1 to return to its nest \u2013 whereupon it would be doubtlessly handed to some fourth-tier \u201cracer\u201d for his worthless opinions.<\/p>\n

I was sad. Not because of such opinions, for they are legion and it is pointless to lament the coming tsunami of poorly-written and irrelevant motorcycle media blargh that attends each new bike launch; but because I have truly come to love the R1.<\/p>\n

Which is amazing.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t normally have a boner for sportsbikes.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a chore to commute on and they make demands upon my body and my licence that furrow my brow and make me whimper a little.<\/p>\n

This was not the case with the R1.<\/p>\n

Sure, I whimpered a bit in the first few days as my body remoulded itself to suit \u2013 but it really is a lot more roomy and comfortable than any previous version, and certainly miles away from the torture racks and spanking paddles offered by other manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Of course, my licence would still shriek in abject terror on every ride, but it\u2019s been yelling for so long I don\u2019t pay it any mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut-up, plastic-swine,\u201d I would say, and briefly admire the stupid numbers on the Yamaha\u2019s dash. \u201cCan you not see that Daddy is working here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"11173348_1571476129807087_3210100297426872273_n\"

Sad panda is sad.<\/p><\/div>\n

I made my way quickly, despite the rain, because I had electronics. They warded me against the vagaries and insults of the road, and my own hamfistedness.<\/p>\n

I could do, and was doing, things on this bike in the pouring rain, that I was simply not game to try on many other bikes.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, I know. All of you are superb riders of matchless skill and require no such technical bullshit to contest the podium.<\/p>\n

I am not such a rider. I thought I was once. But I was deluding myself. The electric sorcery only has to save your shit one time, and you\u2019ll come to believe in it as I have.<\/p>\n

If the ECUs help me ride faster, smoother and harder, I\u2019m a fan.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is true that such technical marvels do compromise you when you\u2019re riding bikes that don\u2019t have it. But that\u2019s a problem for people who jump from bike to bike like me. Most people have one bike, and that\u2019s the bike they ride.<\/p>\n

Make your peace with electronics, pilgrims. They\u2019re here and there\u2019s more of them coming.<\/p>\n

My time on the R1 had been split fairly evenly between rain and dry, so the computers got a fair working out.<\/p>\n

In the dry, it is incomparable.<\/p>\n

In the wet it is not of this earth.<\/p>\n

It was sporting the new Dunlops. I do not know much about these tyres, yet. At least in terms of technical specs, because I am still waiting for them to be provided to me. But I know this:<\/p>\n

Bridgestone invented a new tyre for the R1. Dunlop immediately produced its own version, and rubber technology has taken a big step forward. It is the new Dunlop Alpha 13Z. It\u2019s made in Japan and it features \u2018MT5 Technology\u2019, which means the tyre is split into five different sections with a different compound for each bit.<\/p>\n

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I have brought honour to the rubber.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"11012906_1571476196473747_5981951106667764012_n\"

Yellow lettering. This makes other people know it’s special.<\/p><\/div>\n

I shall write a more comprehensive test on the rubber soon, but until then do consider these new offerings if you\u2019re in the market for tyres. They are pretty special.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019ve probably gathered I reckon the YZF-R1 is pretty special, too.<\/p>\n

Of course, I do not have a racer\u2019s view of it.<\/p>\n

I have a hefty 53-year-old bloke\u2019s view of it.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m a bloke who rides every day, in all kinds of shit and on all kinds of roads \u2013 and have done so for 37 years. I know what I know.<\/p>\n

And I know that I don\u2019t care that it flays pillions.<\/p>\n

I do not care that it is thirsty.<\/p>\n

I do not care that you would struggle to strap luggage to it.<\/p>\n

I care only that it fulfills its stated design brief and it does so with sheer brilliance.<\/p>\n

This is a motorcycle designed to be raced.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it. That\u2019s what the YZF-R1 is all about.<\/p>\n

It just so happens you can register it and ride it on the road.<\/p>\n

And you should.<\/p>\n

See our beaut family fun videos of my time with the R1 HERE<\/a> and HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The comprehensive ride review is HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the rain lashed me like an angry wife\u2019s tongue, I made my way to Yamaha HQ in Sydney\u2019s outer west. The time had come for the R1 to return to its nest \u2013 whereupon it would be doubtlessly handed to some fourth-tier \u201cracer\u201d for his worthless opinions. I was sad. Not because of such [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4,67,80,78,106,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12227"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12233,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12227\/revisions\/12233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}