Compare first impressions: Honda VTR1000 SP-1, Honda CBR900RR Fireblade, Yamaha R1

Our English colleague Roland Brown, who rode the first motorcycles, and his feelings were fine, since he also drove successfully in four-stroke cars, pulled himself together like a peasant bride at an indecent invitation. Comparison? Yes good idea.

However, it will be difficult to give a final assessment, all three engines should be placed on the racetrack and on the road at the same time, switch from one to the other and thus see what the differences are. If you drive one today and another in a week. . for there are no major differences that would immediately remain on the surface.

In addition to all the problems, you need to know which engine specification someone will get. Allegedly, God no longer knows how many horses the engines have in any of the countries. And the engines with reduced power behave as if they were comparing bell peppers to chili. In short, no long journeys and no serious measurements, but no beer counting, there is no good answer.

The Honda VTR1000 SP-1 will form the basis of the machine that will be measured at this year's Superbike World Championship. So you expect in advance that everything will be fine with the motorcycle. But I did not expect that this machine will remember my soul. Character is not the attribute you would associate with a Honda. However, this two-cylinder engine is enough.

The original experience begins the moment you turn on the ignition. The fuel injection system screeches and a very high-tech dashboard wakes up: the curved tachometer line bounces into the red field and back, the digital speedometer flashes at 300 km / h before zeroing.

The engine starts cold even without the aid of the choke button, which is somewhere near the left knee. The engine comes to life in the pulsing rhythm of a twin-cylinder engine, a sound emitting from the suction port in the armor, intertwining with the mechanical sound of the engine.

The racing nature is evident even before you leave. The bike is compact and the two-piece handlebars are low. It is screwed under the fork cross, from which the fork legs protrude and where the adjustment buttons are located. The pedals are high and the seat is soft. Of course, I'm only talking about the driver's seat, because it can be somehow fixed for the passenger on the back of the motorcycle.

The finish is standard, according to Honda criteria: decals are not varnished, wires are visible. And the front pair of 320mm discs have their jaws bolted to the forks via aluminum inserts to make it easier to handle brakes with racing equipment brakes.

If that still doesn't convince you that the car is more like a racer than a road user, release the clutch. The SP-1 flies away confidently, although the first gear is very long - up to about 110 km per hour, if it is raped on a red field! It was raining in London that day, and on back roads filled with water, it was the elasticity of the two-cylinder engine and the willingness to pull at very low revs that helped me drive the car quickly and easily. Fuel injection by two nozzles per cylinder is expressed. In lower gears and at evenly open throttle, the motorcycle reacts slightly to starting off.

However, when I sprayed on the highway at 130 km / h, the engine in top gear hummed pleasantly at four thousandths and worked relaxed. This is the soft side of the VCR. However, when the road dried up, the engine tended to turn. There, at 10.000 RPM, the rocket spins so pretty that the left leg can barely handle the gearbox. However, this is a pleasure, not an effort. Because the short-speed transmission runs perfectly smoothly.

On busy roads, hitting the upper limit is risky, so I only drove 230 km / h in fifth gear and the engine hasn't started yet. With a power of 136 hp and weighing less than 200 kg, it should accelerate to 270 km per hour. Less fascinating is the thirst for a two-cylinder engine, which is also serious by superbike standards. Pressing hard on the gas, you can barely squeeze 18 miles out of 150 gallons of fuel! ?

Did you stop at a weight of 200 kg? In fact, the motorcycle supposedly weighs 196 kilograms, which is of course monstrously more than the CBR900RR. With it, the scale supposedly stops at 170 kg. At Honda, they explain that the FireBlade is lighter simply because they will make it in a larger series, allowing the use of lighter and more exotic materials. And yet, the SP-1 has a magnesium clutch cover. VTR is not easy by today's standards, but it is not felt on the road. Certainly due to the rather conservative geometry of the rather rigid aluminum frame, which measures as much as 24 degrees as the head and 3 mm as the ancestor.

Honda explains this restraint in geometry by simply explaining that they didn't want to use a shock absorber on the handlebars to dampen the front end instability. This means that on the SP-1, it is not as agile around corners as one would expect from an athlete. Of course, Honda has several accessory packages that transform a production bike into a superbike sports car.

On the road, the VTR responds reliably - of course, as the components are also good. Only at sharp acceleration did the front part occasionally twist slightly here and there and immediately straighten itself. Well, no doubt: Honda built this machine with a decision to confirm the tradition of making the fastest motorcycles in the world. Because the SP-1 is considered the successor to the RC45 with a V4 engine that did not fully meet expectations. The VTR1000 SP-1 combines a high level of technology, build quality and the character of a V-two-cylinder that Du has. . , well, you know who I mean. For a very competitive price.

I drove the Hondo CBR900RR FireBlade at the redesigned Estoril Portuguese racetrack. I had five trips on the program, and after the fourth I was still not sure about the new FireBlade. This is the fifth version of the motorcycle, which is famous for its light weight, great power and high maneuverability. It satisfied me, it gives me pleasure. But with my 90-pound seat, the suspension was too soft and when I adjusted the preload and damping it wasn't as sharp in corners as I expected. Before the last ride, I asked the mechanic to slightly loosen the front spring preload with a T-wrench. And the bike's behavior has improved to, say, perfection.

Would you believe that the latest revision of the Honda CBR900RR two years ago allegedly brought in just 3hp? However, this time he increased the power to 150 hp, that is, by 22 hp. We are talking about a weight of 170 kg, which is 10 kg less than the scales showed in previous years. This increase in performance was fueled by the arrival of the Yamaha R1, over which Honda now has a 2bhp advantage. and 5 kg.

The new FireBlade is truly new: a completely redesigned aluminum frame (see Am 4 for details!), Inverted Fork (USD), 17-inch front wheel, fuel injection, exhaust valve. Tadao Baba, the designer of a generation of nine hundred, argues that weight loss and gain in strength are equally important factors. That is why it has remained at 929 cubic meters, because the increase to 1000 cubic meters will entail weight: "Our engine has good performance, power and weight are perfectly combined with each other."

A slight increase in volume by 918 cubic meters was obtained by changing the barrel diameter and mechanism from 71 × 58 mm to 74 × 54 mm. Thus, they were able to use larger valves, forged pistons, hollow camshafts, and even slightly increased compression. Keihin carburettors have been replaced with electronics that also operate a kind of variable valve in the intake air chamber. However, in the exhaust system, the valve is similar to the Yamaha EXUP.

After the renovation Estoril was an "unknown" racetrack, so I drove the first laps of the guys. Electronic injection responds perfectly, and this lightweight bike is easy enough to ride, even if you miss the correct gear in one of the tricky corners. It pulls smoothly and decisively even below 5000 rpm and spins sharply to the 11.500 rpm limit. The plain is almost a kilometer long, and you can pick up speed on it a moment before the asphalt turns to the right. Brakes, front disc size 330 mm, good traction, smooth running of the transmission allows you to instantly downshift four gears. I read on the digital counter 258 km per hour, the one with stronger nerves has 260 km per hour.

When we edited the softly tuned suspension, the FireBlade showed that it was good enough in every way. Some people will like it better because it has a less aggressive character than the Yamaha R1. If they just forced me, I would put myself on the Yamaha, which has a more sporty look and responds more sharply. But before I sign the check, I'd like the FireBlade and R1 to be together on the road and on the race track. Let the comparative trip decide.

The Yamaha YZF-R1 is taking place in Spain this year. I put the engine on, and then I got a fever of speed. You know, on rather empty country roads I took a break, I didn't look at the meter, I just turned the throttle to the end, in some places I just let go so much that I cut through, bent over and brutally shot myself into the armor with my head tightly chained to the next plane. The scene flew by in a blurry pattern.

In the distance, I spot an engine—another prey that I'll kill in a second. When I fly after him like lightning, I realize with horror that he is a policeman there. I'm falling very obviously, holding on to very effective brakes, with my heart in my pants. How do I pronounce myself? Who would have thought that I had to evaluate the difference between this year's R250, corrected in 1 detail, and the one that was two years ago? Well, he didn't stop me.

These changes do not really matter because such a good motorcycle does not require major surgery after just two years of life. The appearance has practically not changed, the engine too, the data is similar to last year, with a slight change in weight. So: 150 hp, 177 kg, wheelbase 1395 mm. However, the head of design Kunihiko Miwa and his team thought about "more flexibility in the turn."

In translation: to make the intimidating four-cylinder engine sharper than its driving characteristics, without compromising the “no-compromise” philosophy on which the R generation was born. For the same purpose, they have softened the way the engine's power is transmitted to make life easier for the driver.

Two days of testing at the Valencia race track and nearby roads proved that the R1 is the best production bike I have ever ridden. But I don't know how much better it is than the previous one.

Technical information

Honda VTR1000 SP-1

engine: 2-cylinder V90 degrees - 4-stroke - liquid-cooled - 2 overhead camshafts (DOHC), gear - 8 valves - fuel injection

Hole diameter x: 100 × 63 mm

Volume: 999 cm3

Compression: 10 8: 1

Energy transfer: oil bath multi-plate clutch - 6-speed gearbox - chain

Frame: double aluminum box - wheelbase 1409 mm - head angle 24 degrees - ancestor 3 mm

Suspension: fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 43 mm, 130 mm travel - rear aluminum swivel fork, central gas damper, 120 mm travel

Tires: front 120/70 ZR 17 - rear 190/50 ZR 17

brakes: front 2 × disc f 320 mm with 4-piston caliper - rear disc f 220 mm with 2-piston caliper.

Wholesale apples: seat height from the ground 813 mm - fuel tank 18 liters - weight (dry, factory) 196 kg

Honda CBR900RR FireBlade

engine: 4-cylinder in-line - 4-stroke - liquid-cooled - 2 overhead camshafts (DOHC) - 16 valves - fuel injection

Hole diameter x: mm × 74 54

Volume: 929 cm3

Compression: 11 3: 1

Energy transfer: oil bath multi-plate clutch - 6-speed gearbox - chain

Frame: double aluminum box - 1400mm wheelbase - 23 degree head angle - 45mm front

Suspension: fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 43 mm, 120 mm travel - rear aluminum swivel fork, central gas damper, 135 mm travel

Tires: front 120/70 ZR 17 - rear 190/50 ZR 17

brakes: front 2 × disc f 330 mm with 4-piston caliper – rear disc f 220 mm with 2-piston caliper

Wholesale apples: seat height from the ground 815 mm - fuel tank 18 liters - weight (dry, factory) 170 kg

Yamaha YZF-R1

engine: 4-cylinder in-line - 4-stroke - liquid-cooled - 2 overhead camshafts (DOHC) - 16 valves - 4 × 40mm carburettors

Hole diameter x: mm × 74 58

Volume: 998 cm3

Compression: 11 8: 1

Energy transfer: oil bath multi-plate clutch - 6-speed gearbox - chain

Frame: double aluminum box - wheelbase 1395mm - head angle 24 degrees - ancestor 92mm

Suspension: fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 41 mm, 135 mm travel - rear aluminum swivel fork, central gas damper, 130 mm travel

Tires: front 120/70 ZR 17 - rear 190/50 ZR 17

brakes: front 2 × disc f 298 mm with 4-piston caliper – rear disc f 245 mm with 2-piston caliper

Wholesale apples: length mm - width mm - seat height from the ground 815 mm - fuel tank 18 liters - weight (dry, factory) 175 kg

Text: Roland Brown, Mitya Gustincic

Photo: Jason Critchell, Gold & Goose

• Technical information

  engine: 4-cylinder in-line - 4-stroke - liquid-cooled - 2 overhead camshafts (DOHC) - 16 valves - 4 × 40mm carburettors

  Energy transfer: oil bath multi-plate clutch - 6-speed gearbox - chain

  Frame: double aluminum box - wheelbase 1395mm - head angle 24 degrees - ancestor 92mm

  brakes: front 2 × disc f 298 mm with 4-piston caliper – rear disc f 245 mm with 2-piston caliper

  Suspension: fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 43 mm, 130 mm travel - rear aluminum swivel fork, central gas damper, 120 mm travel / fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 43mm, 120mm travel - aluminum rear swingarm, central gas damper, 135mm travel / fully adjustable; USD telescopic front fork f 41mm, 135mm travel - aluminum rear swingarm, central gas damper, 130mm travel

  Weight: length mm - width mm - seat height from the ground 815 mm - fuel tank 18 liters - weight (dry, factory) 175 kg