I ordered an R6 after demo'ing one in January 2001. My FZR 600 had a persistant over-heating problem and I was having trouble keeping up with mates on bigger bikes so I took an R6 out for a blast. Within 5 minutes my grin was so wide I thought the top of my head would fall off! And I haven't stopped yet! The combination of lightweight, power and handling combines into an insurance friendly package that has the capability of beating any other bike through the twisties and only loses out to bigger bikes on top end speed and torque out of corners. I bought a 2000 model in March 2001 for just over 5000 pounds and have covered 4000 miles on it and nearly all of that is scratching around the twisties of A & B roads in the north of England. I've been to Donnington Park once and Oulton Park twice on track days and each time I've been as fast as people on 750's, 'blades, R1's and Gixers (Not a 'pub boast' - I have video to back this up....) The R6 feels completely planted in the corners. It is supremely
easy to get your knee down and the riding position screams for you to ride aggressively. I find the bike to be a bit uncomfortable after a few hours riding but it wasn't built to tour, it was built to race - can you say 15,500rpm redline? Admittedly it can chew tyres pretty quickly if you thrash it and the standard D207's are not that cheap but who said biking was easy on the pocket? The brakes are super, (stoppies are easy) and I'm told it wheeiles okay too although I'm still getting around to lOkayearning those..... The R6 looks great, (even better when you take the mirrors off!), it handles brilliantly and the acceleration is like being strapped to a missile! The only niggle I have had so far is that the standard exhaust is a bit ugly (get a Micron!) and obviously Ducatis sound better but overall I have to say I'm 'chuffed to bits' with my R6. My girlfriend loves being on the back too, even though the pillion tends to be a bit exposed. So if you want a safe, sedate, long distance bike the R6 is not for you. And, yes, I now have no problem staying with my mates on their 750's and 900's. In fact, I kick their R's! R6 - Buy one and Smile!
Nov 04 - It's now 3 and a half years since I bought my R6 so I thought it's about time to update this review. So whats changed from those early, heady days of ownership? Nothing really. I never got round to changing the end can. The only thing I did was to change the front springs for stiffer ones to help with heavy braking on the track. I was feeling the forks bottom out when stopping hard from high speed but the stiffer internals seemed to have sorted this out ok. I've ridden the R6 at lots of different tracks now (Donnington (6), Oulton Park (4), Silverstone (3), Brands Hatch, Rockingham, Nurburgring) and even went to the 2002 Valencia Moto GP on it. Thats a couple of thousand miles each way! So what have I found out about the R6 after 22000 miles in the saddle? Firstly, its great! It hasn't let me down once. I've caned this bike all over this place, banging it off the rev limiter, pulling naff wheelies (yep I learnt) and I even chucked it at the scenery during a high speed get-off at Oulton Park last year. The bike survived the accident with only cosmetic damage which was solved with a few replacement fairing panels. I was in hospital for 3 days, had to have surgery on my wrist and was off work for 8 months. 100mph headfirst through a hay-bale hurts haha! I spent a total of 9 days riding it to southern Spain and back and after the 3rd day I was starting to feel the pain in my shoulder blades and wrists. This was after 7 hours riding each day! It's hard to get comfortable so I don't recommend long journeys on this bike. Also the luggagecarrying capacity is not huge so I only carried the bare neccesities: A set of street clothes, shoes, passport, credit card, parachute, map, chunky chain and a mobile phone.
Anyway, basically what it comes down to is this: I've owned the bike for nearly 4 years now, I've ridden it in all manner of weather, abused it thoroughly, slung it down the road and it is still sitting happily in my garage waiting for my return. No dramas, no major bills beyond the usual servicing costs and it still holds its own against bigger bikes. I've found the best tyres for it are Metzeler Rennsports but I think these are being discontinued now - shame
I still have my license and surprisingly it is still clean - but for how much longer?
(I If you're wondering why I took a parachute strapped to the pillion on my trip to Spain, well, it's because I stayed at a Drop Zone in the Bay if Girona and went skydiving while I was there - obvious really!)
JANUARY 2009 UPDATE:
I still have my R6. It has done nearly 40,000 miles including lots of track days and foriegn trips. It isn't as clean as I would like but it is still a wicked bike. I've put stainless brake hoses on to sharpen up the stopping and a new chain recently. It is still a match for most people out there and even though I was tempted to buy a new 08 bike and even test rode the 07 to get a feel of it, I've decided to stick with my 01 bike for another year. R6! They're brilliant!
Still laughing after all these years!
April 09 UPDATE:
Okay, Okay, I know I said I was sticking with it for another year, but that was before I saw the 09 model in Black & Gold. It really is a very sexy looking machine! I emailed almost 150 dealers around the country asking for their best deals on a new bike and eventually settled on Petite & France up in Redcar. They offered me the bike I wanted, £800 below RRP, brand new, with PDI, Reg, 12 months tax, 24 months warranty, 12 months RAC cover, free delivery and 1500 quid part ex for my bike. It works out around £250 a month for 2 years on the Yamaha 0% finance deal. Bargain! It arrives the day after I get home from sea in May so I'll be writing a new review on the latest model R6 once I've ridden it for a while. Expectations are high!
Pictures of Yamaha YZF-R6
First Day grins
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Its light, it goes, it stops, it looks great and it scores an A+ in all these categories!! Disadvantages: Its total race position, so if you want to do a lot of miles, you're gonna get wrist ache, and they dont like to go slow either!!
Rosbird1 22.05.2004 (22.05.2004)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Yamaha YZF-R6
very helpful by (78%):
helpful by (22%):
