Yamaha Introduces Low-Cost YZF-R1S on its US Website

The renowned Japanese two-wheeler major - Yamaha has silently revealed the one-down version of its flagship supersports bike - YZF-R1 and has updated it on their US website. Christened as the Yamaha YZF-R1S, the bike cuts down on many elements in order to bring down the cost. With this, the company eyes a wider audience as it believes it would further boost up their sales.

Now the question is what elements have been removed in order to lower the cost. Firstly, Yamaha has replaced the titanium conrods and exhaust headers with steel ones. Secondly, the use of aluminium has been implemented on the wheels, engine covers and sump instead of magnesium. As a result, the new edition of R1 weighs 4 kg more than the original version. The R1S also misses out on quick-shifter but retains the traction control unit with Inertia Measurement Unit (IMU). Interestingly, the bike doesn’t carry a ‘S’ badge to avoid any embarrassment for its buyer for this budgeted version.

Talking of engine specifications, the manufacturer has not yet revealed the figures but we expect the bike to come with the same power and torque outputs like the standard version. Yamaha has priced the YZF-R1S at USD 14,990 (Rs. 9.8 lacs) which is nearly $2000 cheaper than the standard version. The bike will go on sale officially from February 2016 and will come in two interesting colours namely matte grey and intensity white.

Lets hope that the budgeted R1 make its entry to India as well, as it will definitely show some good sales here as this country is famous for its price sensitive economy and there are many buyers who always crave for a complete value for money package.