Dealer built World Superbike tribute Yamaha R1s offer huge trackday spec for £29,995

Crescent Yamaha, home to the official Pata Prometeon Yamaha World Superbike team, have launched two special-edition R1 road bikes to mark six-time champion Jonathan Rea joining the squad for 2024.

Priced at £29,995 on the road, just 65 bikes will be available through Crescent’s Verwood, Dorset, store, with the production run chosen as a nod to Rea’s race number.

“It’s very difficult to judge the demand for any of these limited edition things, but the attention to detail and the finish are really first class,” Crescent Racing Team Principal and MD of Crescent Motorcycles, Paul Denning told MCN last week.

“The componentry is the stuff you’d really want if you’re wanting to upgrade your R1 but keep it reliable and within sensible means.”

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Each build is based around the standard £18,810 R1 and will take between four and six weeks to complete. The bike is powered by a 998cc crossplane crank four-cylinder engine, producing a claimed 197bhp as standard.

The tricked-up versions will be available in either a stealthy black and white winter test livery, or as a deep blue WorldSBK racing tribute, all painted by Dream Machine.

“I think if you’re going to make a replica bike of any sort, clearly the quality of the paintwork is paramount,” Denning continued. “The Yamaha R1M is a limited edition in itself and it’s a special bike, plus on the World Superbike we do use the R1 as a base and not the R1M.

“Using the more genuine race bike as the base made sense.”

Alongside paint, each bike will be kitted out with an impressive array of extras – designed to make it the perfect bike for road use as well as boosting its skills for serious trackday antics.

Parts include a full GYTR (Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing) Akrapovič exhaust system, Öhlins NIX front cartridge kit and TTX 36 rear shock, Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP tyres, HEL Performance brake lines, Marchesini M7RS wheels, a carbon tank extender, and more.

All the bikes will come with a certificate of authenticity, as well as a Jonathan Rea inspired tank graphic denoting each R1’s number out of 65 on the production line. If you were to spec your own 2024 R1 with all of these parts, it would cost in excess of £33,000.

“The performance of the R1 and the way it delivers its power is just so linear and so user friendly that for most riders who enjoy riding on road or on trackdays, it’s a better balanced package than some [other] bikes with slightly higher peak horsepower numbers,” Denning (a former British Superbike rider in his own right) continued.

“And, with the upgrades to suspension, brakes, and overall performance, I think that bike has got enough – certainly for me and for most trackday riders.

“I think when you’re looking for anything more, it’s on the basis that you can get it, rather than you really need to get it.”

Alongside kit that comes as standard, two additional accessory packs are available to take things further. The first is the £2300 Braking Upgrade Pack with different HEL lines, Brembo GP4RX calipers, Brembo T-Drive Discs, a titanium caliper fitting kit, and titanium front disc bolts.

There’s also a £700 Paddock Pack featuring front and rear GYTR paddock stands, a GYTR garage mat, and an exclusive cover produced by Capit. For more information, and to order your own machine, go to crescentyamahaproshop.co.uk today.

Alternatively, you’ll be able to see the bikes alongside Jonathan Rea himself at an open day at Crescent Yamaha’s Southampton store on Saturday, April 13. An exclusive Q&A will be taking place the night before, with booking essential thanks to numbers being strictly limited.

Full spec sheet

• GYTR full Akrapovič exhaust
• Öhlins NIX cartridge kit
• Öhlins TTX36 rear shock
• Öhlins steering damper
• Brembo 19 RCS master cylinder
• Ferodo brake fluid
• Gandini sprockets
• GBRacing covers
• HEL brake lines
• Marchesini M7RS Genesi aluminium wheels
• Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SPs
• Dream Machine race paint
• Race seat with Jonathan Rea details
• Pro Bolt top yoke nut with Yamaha emblem
• Carbon tank extender
• Pillion seat cowl
• Belly pan extender
• Evotech Performance tail tidy
• Evotech Performance radiator guard 

Reasons behind the R1 special edition

The reasons behind the Jonathan Rea Limited Edition Replica R1s are two-fold, with the team drawing inspiration from JR’s move to the squad, as well as backing from Yamaha.

“First of all, a six-time world champion coming to your team when essentially, he’s mid-contract with another manufacturer and shows enough motivation and desire after all that success he’s already had, to make a new start and to try to achieve the goal of another world championship is just such an iconic moment for us as a team, and for Yamaha, and for World Superbike,” Crescent’s Paul Denning said.

“On top of that, we were standing in the garage at the first test in Jerez with one of Yamaha’s very senior marketing and motorsports directors who had supported us when we did the previous Toprak replica after we won the championship in 2021. 

“He said: ‘Guys you should really be thinking about doing a team replica’ and that was in the winter test livery. We didn’t want to create a bike that was unachievable in terms of its cost, and we wanted it to be a bike that could be used as a really nice trackday bike, or a road bike – especially in this last year of the R1 in the UK as a road bike. 

“That’s how it came about. It became a natural consequence of those influences really.”

R1 goes track-only in Europe

In late February, Yamaha announced that the R1 would not be updated for Euro5+ emissions rules and would subsequently become track-only in the UK and Europe from 2025.

“I think from a dealer point of view, we will be looking to satisfy as many customers as possible who want an R1 to use on the road this year and even into next year – depending on stock of course,” said Crescent’s Paul Denning.

“There are still a decent number of those customers, however the ethos to sell the bike in the future is really not a bad thing, because it will allow Yamaha to develop the bike from an investment point of view, rather than to meet emissions, but to add performance,” he continued.

“So, it will be interesting to see how the numbers balance out in future, but I think hopefully if we can continue to offer the R1 both in its standard form, and upgraded versions as a compelling trackday bike, it will still be a popular bike and a good bike for us as Crescent Yamaha to sell.”