Yamaha

Introduced to the public by Yamaha at the IFMA motorcycle show in Cologne, Germany, on September 18th 1986, the FZR 1000 Genesis was created to build upon the successful reputation established by its predecessors in the super sport category, the RD 350 and RD 500 models. The FZR 1000 also marked a major change of engine type being used by Yamaha, the company switching to four-stroke power plants for its new generation of high-performance superbikes and ditching the previous two-stroke units. This book contains 28 internal articles that tell the story of the Yamaha FZR 1000 which was introduced in 1986 and became a 'superbike' from the start.

Yamaha introduced the YZF-R1 in 1988. The launch model was available in white, red or blue. In Europe the blue proved to be the most popular and was in very short supply. In 2000, Yamaha introduced a series of improvements, but in 2001 it was beaten in performance numbers by the Suzuki GSX-R. One major change for the 2002-2003 period was a new fuel injection system, which worked like a carburetor slide and the engine was developed to rev higher, faster and for longer. In 2004, with the competition advancing, Yamaha took to major developments including style updates and performance upgrades. In 2006, the 50th anniversary of Yamaha racing in the US, Yamaha released a Limited Edition yellow/white/black bike in original Yamaha racing colors. They also made a Special edition model featuring black paint, front and rear custom Ohlins suspension units developed by the people who work on the YZR-M1 MotoGP bike. Only 500 units were made for the United States.