New Bike! '98 Yamaha YZF-R1

So, late last summer I sold my 1990 Honda Hawk GT, mainly because it wasn't getting ridden. Well, that and the fact that my Ducati 900SS/SP does everything the Honda does only with 35 more horsepower ;-) It was a great bike and to my eyes, very pretty too - but I rode it once a year at most and couldn't justify keeping it.

BUT... this did clear space in the garage for something different. The Ducati was my first taste of "liter-bike" ownership (albeit at only 85hp) but I love it because it's just so easy to ride. Highway speeds are no effort at all and any traffic in town can easily be dispatched with a quarter turn of the throttle. So my thinking was leaning towards adding a "modern" (i.e. not-air-cooled) liter-class superbike to the modest stable.

I thought about another Honda twin, specifically the RC51. That machine has lots going for it. Race heritage in World Superbikes and AMA Superbike racing piloted by, among others, my favourite Canadian rider, Miguel Duhamel. Rugged good looks. Honda reliability and fuel injection. It has some minuses too though. I'd want the SP2 version which had some significant improvements, but is harder to find and more expensive. The bike also wasn't reputed to be very good around town, and is heavy. It's also a big twin which overlaps with the Ducati's mission statement, and lastly, there aren't that many around locally to choose from.

One of the other machines that made a huge impression on me as a younger enthusiast was Yamaha's original YZF-R1. This was "the Daddy" back in the late '90s - the bike that picked up where the Honda CBR900RR left off and put every other liter superbike firmly back on the trailer. A hunnerd-fifty horsepower and 419 pounds, and the only "rider aid" is your right wrist. This was the last fully analog superbike, it even had carburetors for Pete's sake! I looked at a 2001 model last Fall, the seller had it on kijiji and I drove almost two hours to see it. The bike looked decent, but the seller hadn't bothered even to wash the bugs off it before storing it two years before. When I drove up to the yardsite the seller's buddy was desperately trying to start it up and failing miserably due to bad gas having gummed up the carbs. Not cool. I sat on it at least, though, and it seemed to fit me well.

So the search resumed - but narrowed somewhat as I wanted to find a stock first-year-production machine in the blue colour scheme. Not an easy proposition, as these bikes have been enthusiastically modified and even more enthusiastically crashed over the years! But idly searching on eBay one day in early summer I came across a listing - a 1998 R1, less than 10K miles, colour blue, in stock condition. It even had stock turnsignals and reflectors - usually the first things binned by squids. Bingo!

So I called the seller in Texas and we talked a couple times. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the deal. Great cosmetics, recent shop bill for almost $1K sorting the bike out after long-term storage... all sounded in order. I fired in a bid. I was the only bidder and won the auction.

Then the games began... well not "games" exactly, maybe "flakiness" is a better word. Hard to get ahold of, travelling for work, trouble receiving money, impossible to schedule pickup... etc. Finally we got the deal done - he was paid in full - pickup scheduled... then I got an email: "sorry I dropped the bike in the driveway putting it on the truck." Grrr...

Finally the machine arrived at the parcel service just across the border in North Dakota. I'd arranged to go pick it up with my Dad in the car, we were just about to leave on our annual bike trip the next day. We left for the border in the afternoon, but after a stop or two it was after 5pm before we were truly on the way.

I remembered when we were 40 minutes down the highway that I'd failed to get a temporary registration for the bike I intended to ride back home. Dammit. Cue emergency stop in Emerson (pop. 655) at the Bigway grocery store to use their phone/fax to call an insurance agent in Winnipeg to arrange a permit... with that done, on to Pembina and the parcel place...

...which of course closed at 6pm, 10 minutes before we got there. After some more desperate minutes at the Fas Gas with directory assistance, we got ahold of Mike, proprietor of the eponymous parcel service, who kindly agreed to come back and open...

...whereupon I wheeled out my new bike, started it up and found it wouldn't rev or take any throttle over idle...

...so, having a cunning plan, I rode it the two long blocks to the gas station at 2mph and filled it with the best quality gas they had...

...and Eureka!! it revved up at least. Back on the highway headed home. While the bike wouldn't run super smoothly it sure ripped in the upper register - saw 1XXmph on the digital speedo (closed road of course), no problems there. And so we made it home. I dropped it off at Wildwood Sports and found out the rear shock was blown (suspected as much from the bouncy ride) and forks were toast... thanks salt air!! In any event the seller eventually refunded me $1K on the purchase price on account of the misrepresented condition, so that's cool.

Semi-nude (bottomless) photo with stock exhaust back on

But it's cleaned up mostly and on the road now. After a carb cleaning and service at Wildwood it's running well and the handling is... telepathic! I'm trying to keep it mostly stock (I've changed back to the stock exhaust can from the Micron it was running) but couldn't resist some blingy levers. Next is repairing the scrape on the lower and replacing all the crusty fairing hardware with new.

Thanks to:

• Emerson Bigway for letting me use their fax machine and phone
• MIG Insurance for arranging a temporary permit on the fly
• Mike's Parcel Service, Pembina ND for staying open late for me
• eBay sellers who saved me with inexpensive forks and shock

No thanks to:

• Ebay seller whose idea of "serviced and ready to ride" was gummed up carbs and blown forks and rear shock
• Oh yeah, he also dropped the bike in his driveway when the truck came to get it :-(
• Canada Border Services Agency for charging GST on shipping charges
• Manitoba Public Insurance for charging PST on shipping charges

So that's it for the new bike for now. I'll be posting more beauty shots when the bodywork's done - likely next Spring!