How is this engine showing up with regards to reliability, gearbox, etc especially in comparision to the earlier R1's

Also, I believe but I'm not sure I saw a picture somewhere with the outline of the old and new R1 engine superimpossed into one picture, anyone have a link?

Cheers
David

hiya matey,

just as a general biker, most modern supersports bikes (anything in the last 10 years) have amazingly reliable engines, considering the power output and redlines versus capacity...

Ducati's have a die hard reputation for dodgy electricals and this was posted on another forum I'm a regular on: http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=122570 - but apart from that, the newer dukes (anything in the last 3-4 years) are meant to be much better....

http://www.motorcyclesurvey.com/reviews/yamaha/yzf-r1/ has owner reviews for r1's from 1998, 2002 - 2005

I ride a suzuki sv650 (v-twin) which is considered as a middleweight engine with lots of character. There's a guy on our forums who's engine has covered 150,000 miles, simply because he changed the oil & filter often, and stuck to the service schedule like glue. And that's just an indication of what a well looked after middleweight engine can do, then the supersports engines can provide years of reliability.

Also, I've read numerous reviews about how this years r1 has improved so much over last years, where last years was lightyears ahead of the previous years.... and so on...

They even did a review of a 1998 r1 with 30k miles on the clock and said it was still a great bike with amazing performance and reliability 10 years down the line...

Afterall, the engines come from bikes which are designed to be ridden fast and hard without any regular reliability issues... the supersports market wouldn't (and don't) stand an unreliable/shit engine

[Edited on 15/12/08 by paul the 6th]