Hi all, newbie here so hola!

I'm thinking about chopping in my Kawasaki Z1000 for something a little more dedicated, and have always wanted an R1 so just wanted a bit more info really.

What I really want is the best road-going R1, so which is the comfiest, most supple, spacious model year to go for? I quite fancy a 2001-2002 carb model as they look great and I've heard they're pretty good 'all-rounder' - well, for a litre sportsbike at least. But are they much different to the earlier 1998/9 bikes?

I do also enjoy the odd trackday, but any model R1 should be more than capable of this - more capable than me I'm sure!

The other model year was a 2004 underseat exhaust model - I've neard the first FI bikes (2002/3) were quite snatchy on the throttle. Any truth in this? And which would suit my needs better, a 2001/2 or 2004/5 bike? I'm 6ft tall and prefer quite a spacious bike to the latest tiny crotch rockets!

Any opinions, info, etc welcome!

Hi Mike,

just my 2pence, whichever R1 you get i will be jealous! What i would say is that you may be better off with injection than with with carbs. The reason is that lots of big yams with carbs tend to suffer with wear of the needle jets and making them run right can be a real headache. Injection should be okay, and if you can find one with a power commander then hopefully any glitches will have been dialled out.

Other than that check the usual stuff, due to the bikes pedigree.