Re: Yamaha YZF R1 (2009-14)

Thread approved.

Re: Yamaha YZF R1 (2009-14)

Although i'm not an expert, heck never even ridden a liter bike in my life but i think you should evaluate this yourself. Every one has different skill set. How many times did you manage to engage front ABS on your CBR 650F? Did you ever feel that you were lucky that ABS saved the day for you?

My biking journey started from FZ16 (non ABS), CBR250R ABS and now at CBR650F. I asked myself the same question and answer came from a few incidents where I was doing good ~80kph speeds and suddenly came an unmarked speedbreaker (enough to throw me off the bike), I didn't panic and applied brakes progressively with two fingers as usual. ABS engaged immediately, reason? fine dust and gravel due to constant movement of trucks on that road. There are a few such incidents that made it very clear that I will never buy a bike without ABS for sure. Else probably would've picked a 2006-08 R1 instead of 650F. Our roads that're full of unmarked speed breakers, dust and gravel, dogs, animals and people jumping in the middle of the road. I feel unsafe without ABS. If the bike is being purchased for Trackdays only, That'd be something different and a Non ABS bike will also do, but not for the streets.

Evaluate your skill set and previous heart in mouth incidents and answer the question yourself.

Re: Yamaha YZF R1 (2009-14)

Keep your face facing the sun, and darkness will fall behind you the impossible quiz full.

Re: Yamaha YZF R1 (2009-14)

Liter class or not. I would never buy a bike without ABS.

Hey AbhiTK,

I guess nobody would be able to give you a dorect answer here but let me tell you my experience. Owned many bikes, but the first big one was 2015 N650 and let me be very honest..i never felt the need of ABS during my 2 yrs of short ownership. Never. And then I got 2018 N650, primarily because of its sports character, light weight. And my initial many months were horrible with abs. I felt its too intrusive. Every now and then it used to kick in. But eventually we got to understand each other and in last 2 years it actually rarely kicked in.

And I recently got a 2012 yamaha r1, TCS model. I was apprehensive too but so far so good. Never felt that need. Bike's brakes are designed that way. Can't predict when it would be needed but if it had one, I guess it wouldn't be setup for everyone's taste for sure. Infact, majority of the 2015+ r1 owner delete the function with ecu flash.

Hope it brings some perspective in your buying decision.