Word of Warning on the 4C8 dude I had one that blew it's engine after just 3k miles and it wasn't due to lack of oil or anything like that it was caused by two exhaust valves failing that then proceeded to snap one of the pistons in half. Give the bike it's due it didn't lock the back wheel on me and kept running sounded like sh*t but it kept running long enough for me to safely pull over. After a wrangle with the dealer I bought it from it was sent back and the engine was removed and sent back to Japan for Yamaha themselves to take a look. I will say that Yamaha took a keen interest in the exact failure of this engine and it turned out to be one of a faulty batch of 400 engines (all of them for the R1) that slipped through quality checking and made it over here to the UK. I got upgraded to a cross plane after that and really enjoyed it but wouldn't take anything away from the 4c8 for the little time that I had it I really enjoyed riding it. Just be sure if you do get one to thumb through it's history and have a look over any engine work carried out.
I ride one most weekends (Its my sons; we swap a lot). I prefer it to the blade tbh, with the exception of the engine; the Blade has much more torque.
^^^ never heard that. Nice one. Usually they are bullet proof in my experience. My little r6 had 22k hard miles on it, current 04 r1 46k on it, both never missed a beat. Blade is awesome and a better all round package and earlier to go fast on. My yams always make me smile and encourage the naughty side in ya. Totally diff power delivery, have to work it, all over 9/10k but feck me they go bonkers in the high revs.....
Hehe they are cracking bikes to ride make no mistake and as already said after 9k they go mega bonkers but that is all part of the thrill and they do have a sweet sound to them too. I forget the name of the exhausts that I had on mine but they were jet black looked similar to the OEM exhausts except that you could hear me coming from 4 miles away lol was loads of fun through the tunnels...
Mine was flash tuned which got ride of all the restriction which meant it was crazy fast, i could easily wheelie at 140mph in 5th..... My baby before some rat stole her....
Had a couple of R1's before getting the Blade the 04 R1 was fantastic, I changed to 08 R1 (last one before the big bang) she looked fantastic just wished it handled as well as it looked. Never ever felt as confident on it as much as I did on the 04, I took it to a suspension set up company they recco'd I should eat 'more meat pies' being a light weight of 9.5 stone the suspension was too harsh for me. After 2 years and 13,000 miles it went, and bought the RR9
Looks great and I very nearly bought the same one that was in Hunts last September ....But as I was ignored outside the shop I did one straight to Millenium.
I've got an 08 4C8. Love it! I concur that it doesn't handle as well as the 2011 Blade I had though. The Blade seems to turn by telepathy! So little input. It is however still excellent.
I maybe tempted to jump ship for the 2015 model R1 , if it's gunna be like what I've seen on here the other day
I do like the look of the 2015 R1, if that's what it's going to look like anyway. BUT I've told myself no more bikes for the next couple of years. I'll see how that pans out
