2009 - Yamaha YZF-R1.

During an interview with the Eurosport TV station, former 500GP star Randy Mamola said, "I know a little bit about the next R1 and I think it's going to be something pretty special. I know the factory is working on making the bike tiny, around the size of the R6 or something similar. Plus they have a lot of information coming to them from Valentino Rossi and the FIAT team right now which I think they would like to use." We expect the 2009 Yamaha R1 to attempt to regain performance superiority in the liter class, focusing on making it as small and light as possible is a good a start as any. The 2008 R6 weighs just 366lbs dry.

French motorcycle magazine MotoRevue commissioned this image to show what it thinks the 2009 Yamaha R1 will look like, also reporting that factory sources have revealed the bike may use an M1-style big bang engine. While we don’t think Yamaha will alter the R1 brand's look to such a radical degree, this illustration does highlight the M1-influence that is allegedly making its way into the new machine.

Yamaha are expected to launch an all-new R1 next year, to take on the ZX-10R, Fireblade and GSX-R1000, all of which now make the current R1 look a bit dated. According to a report on Motociclismo, the 2009 Yamaha R1 is already under development, with extensive test sessions being conducted on various racing circuits in Europe.

According to Motociclismo, Yamaha are working on a super-lightweight R1, which will make extensive use of magnesium for many of its components. Also, the bike’s styling is expected to be an evolution of the current R6, with twin underseat exhausts finally making way for a single, short-and-stubby R6-style item.

Coming back to the ‘lightweight’ bit, the 2009 R1 could be as much as 10 kilos lighter than the current model, which would partly be possible due to the use of various magnesium bits. Magnesium can corrode quickly, so Yamaha will use a special electrolysis process that will protect the bike’s magnesium parts and also provide an excellent finish.

The 2009 R1’s chassis will be all-new and the bike’s extensively reworked (perhaps all-new) inline-four will use learnings from Yamaha’s M1 MotoGP bike. And finally, the bike is expected to have a traction-control system that’s more advanced and sophisticated than any other system currently available. Watch out for more details soon...