R1 —Upmanship

R1 —Upmanship

The Harris boys tweak Yamaha's YZF

EXITING THE LONG, FAST RIGHT-HANDER, I PIN THE THROTTLE and drift onto the paint at the track's edge. The tach needle blurs as the engine screams toward redline. Down two gears, skim the brakes. Set up for a fast right followed by an uphill left. Apply the throttle. The rear Michelin slips, then grips again. Brake markers flash past. Wait...wait... drop anchor! Barely enough speed scrubbed off, I pitch the Yamaha into the high-curbed hairpin. It rails through, no complaints.

Session over, I pull into pit lane, flip down the bike's sidestand and make a mental note of the glowing low-fuel-warning light. Curious onlookers surround the street-legal machine. "How much?" one solicits. "Is the engine stock?" asks another. A bone-stock Yamaha YZF-Rl is an absolute gas. In fact, it's as close to a factory racebike as most folks will ever get. This particular Ri, however, is special. It's modified by England's Harris Performance-you know, the guys who a few years ago were building frames for Yamaha's 500cc Grand Prix bikes. Steve and Lester Harris have been in the chassis biz for nearly two decades. Yamaha's fearsome four cylinder TZ700/750 was their first project. More recently, the brothers headed Suzuki's World Superbike team. These days, they turn out

"Magnum" streetfighter frames, plus a range of exhaust sys tems, billet brackets and other bits. As for the Ri, no motor mods were made (save for a high-rise exhaust system that retains the stock EXUP unit), but the chassis was thoroughly reworked. The frame was powdercoated black to mimic Noriyuki Haga's works YZF R7, then fitted with a single-sided swingarm, itself an engi

neering masterpiece. Billet tripleclamps (adjustable for both rake and trail) are mated to an Ohlins fork, with an Ohlins "Type Four" shock out back. Italian-made Marchesini wheels reduce unsprung weight and high speed gyroscopic effect. Uprated brakes-six-pot AP calipers and full floating 320mm rotors up front, an exotic twin-piston-caliper/245mmrotor combo at the rear-provide short, sure stops.

Enough already, right? Not quite. The stock bodywork is gone, supplant ed with carbon-fiber and kevlar pieces. Harris clip-ons and rearset footpegs fine-tune the Ri `s already-racy ergos. Piece de resistance? An MV Agusta F4-style chainguard.

While there are lots of hop-up shops willing to bore and stroke, port and polish, paint and pipe, there's usually something missing. Not here. Forget Bimota's SB8R and Ducati's 996 SPS, a Harris-fettled YZF-Rl is two wheeled utopia. Jim Yeardly