Yamaha R1 Engine Specs

• The Yamaha R1 has become a popular bike for its power and agility. With a new engine introduced in 2009, the R1 has become the leader for top-of-the-line engines in the industry. The Yamaha R1 is one of the the most sought-after sportbikes on the market.

The Basics

• The Yamaha R1 engine is a fuel-injected, liquid-cooled 998cc four-stroke engine. This engine is a 16-valve engine with intake valves made of light-weight titanium. The bore of this engine is 78mm and the stroke is 52.2mm, while the compression ratio is 12.7 to one. The transmission that drives this engine is a six-speed with a multi-plate slipper clutch. The final drive is an O-ring chain.

Crankshaft

• The 2009 Yamaha R1 was the first motorcycle to be produced with a cross plane crankshaft, technology derived from the M1 MotoGP race bike. This new crankshaft creates uneven firing intervals between the connecting rods, compared to the paired firing in other bike engines. This creates a steady building of torque rather than torque fluctuations typical with other engines. This allows linear power to be delivered to the bike while accelerating out of corners.

Yamaha Chip Control

• The Yamaha R1 is equipped with "Chip Controlled Throttle," which uses sensors to control the volume of fuel injected into the engine. The rider's throttle determines the size of the throttle valve opening which, in turn, controls the amount of air pushed into the engine. The regulation of the opening of the throttle valve creates maximum engine response for all rpms and speeds.The other chip controlled component is Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake. This system can widen the power spread by being able to switch the position of the velocity stacks, which move the intake tract between 65mm and 144mm. This maximizes power output based on the needs of the engine. Also notable is Yamaha D-Mode, a driving mode selector that is controlled by the rider to get the best throttle responses for the type of riding they want. The D-Mode has both a sport-response and a sharp-response mode that controls the Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle for optimal performance in differing riding conditions.

Power

• The 2009 Yamaha R1 engine produces 180 horsepower at 12,500 rpm and 85 foot-pounds of torque at 10,000rpm.The previous engine for the 2008 R1 produced 178 horsepower and 83 foot-pounds of torque. Top speeds of these bikes are 179.9 mph for the 2008 and 182.1 mph for the 2009 model.