Decked out in full carbon, and with a list of upgrades a mile long, the 2019 Yamaha YZF-R1 GYTR "20th Anniversary" will be assembled by the Yamaha Racing Team crew for the 20 riders lucky enough to get their hands on one.
It's now been 20 years, believe it or not, since Yamaha let the first R1 out of its cage to terrorize the beige and thrill the worthy. The bike became so iconic that its name became shorthand for superbikes, even among those who knew nothing about motorcycles.
Such things are to be celebrated, and Yamaha has chosen to do so with an extremely limited edition track special for hardcore fans, which as close as possible to a factory race bike out of the crate.
The fairings are carbon, front to back, including the fenders, tank cover and ram air ducting. The seat's a race pad, the screen's the one Yamaha uses for endurance racing, and the tank filler is keyless.
The radiator, handlebars, switchgear and steering stoppers are all race-spec. The bolts are lock-wired, the top yoke is a CNC-milled special edition unit, and the chain and sprockets are lightweight 520 gear.
Suspension, of course, is track-spec Ohlins, in this case a set of FGRT 219 forks, a TTX36 shock and a steering damper. If you make it to the Yamaha Racing Experience in 2019, the on-site crew will do a personal setup for you.
The exhaust is a full Evo 2 Titanium system from Akrapovic, while the brakes are completely overhauled with top-spec Brembo gear, with a GP4-RX caliper set, Z04 pads, T-Drive 320mm discs and a 19RCS Corsa Corta master cylinder. There's a remote adjuster, too, as well as a nice Brembo clutch lever to balance things out.
The tires are Bridgestone V02 slicks, soft compound, and the valves are 90-degree angled, which is always a nice touch.
Performance-wise, Yamaha isn't quoting any specs. But the company will do a full dyno run-in for you, and the bike comes with GYTR-spec spark plugs, a racing-spec wiring harness, ECU and CCU, as well as a communication cable for datalogging.
You get a quarter turn throttle, axle protection kits, brake lever guard, billet rearsets and crankcase protectors, as well as a pit mat, a pair of race stands and rear race stand pickups.
What we're trying to get at here is that it's a pretty comprehensive kit, ready to rock and roll on any roadracing circuit you care to name. And it'd want to be, for the price of €39,500 (US$44,900).
It's a fair old ask, but they're not asking it of many. Only 20 will be built, and if more people than that want to buy it, Yamaha's reserving the right to hand-pick who gets them. So, probably not you and definitely not me.
Enjoy a short video below, or plenty of photos in the gallery.
Source: Yamaha
