You wouldn’t be alien to rumours that the Yamaha YZF-R1 is about to hang up its hat, and the debut of the 2025 version only confirms that. The new YZF-R1 and R1M are available in street-legal guise only in the US market. And for everyone else, there’s the R1 GYTR version that’s intended for track use only.
The most obvious change in the Yamaha YZF-R1 series are the new winglets, borrowed from the YZF-M1 MotoGP machine. So far, Yamaha hasn’t revealed the amount of downforce generated by these winglets. That said, this is not the only update for Team Blue’s flagship supersport.
The standard R1 receives an updated KYB fork while the R1M continues with the Öhlins unit. Even the brakes have been upgraded to Brembo Stylema units. Yamaha has made no changes to the 999cc, liquid-cooled inline-four engine that puts out 198 bhp and 11.5 kgm. Of course, there’s a comprehensive electronics suite to manage that level of performance.
The GYTR model flaunts carbon-reinforced front fairing, adjustable footrests and handlebars. And of course, this is meant to meet the FIM Superstock 1000 regulations, so it comes racing ECU, Akrapovic exhaust, racing chain and in fact, Yamaha can add/change anything as per the customer’s requirement.
Unfortunately, the road-legal R1 and R1M will not go on sale in India. This could very well be the last hoorah of the R1, and maybe the next-gen R1 will have a V4 powerhouse.
