The Yamaha R1 Limited Edition was Yamaha’s celebration of its 50th anniversary. Taking their incredibly popular 1000cc sportbike as a platform, Yamaha produced a very limited run of only 500 bikes that were full of incredible extras and turning them into near-production racers.
Specific changes made for the Yamaha R1 Limited Edition include an homage to Kenny Roberts and the original Yamaha racing colors with the lovely yellow/black/white paint, custom front and rear Ohlins suspensions – developed by the same team that took care of the Yamaha MotoGP bike of the time, Marchesini aluminum wheels designed specifically for this bike, a slipper clutch, and an integrated lap timer.
This specific Yamaha R1 Limited Edition has an immediately noticeable visual change that might be a dealbreaker for some – the factory decals have been removed. Here at bike-urious we think it almost ruins the look of the bike, though decals can be sourced or re-created, and opportunities to buy a bike with a production run of 500 are scant.
The owner of this Yamaha R1 Limited Edition refers to it as his baby, though it seems he’s only owned it for a year. You can see the old listing here where he purchased this bike for around $7,000, so I’d be curious to know what’s changed in a year and why he’s asking for nearly $9,000 now. In addition to the factory extras, this bike has gained a fender eliminator, double bubble windscreen, frame and clutch sliders, and it comes with the original Limited Edition toolkit (numbered to match the bike)
Find it here on Ducati.ms for $8,900 in Houston, Texas.