I still don't think it's a game changer. I also don't think it's the best bike FOR ME, for street use at least.
But it might be the best bike for my next track setup, because of the aforementioned. Hard to say yet.
What I can say is that MCN's review of the bikes is as suspect as anything else MCN reviews.
And FYI, the "aprilia love" is because that's where I have read an unbiased review from an owner of the R1M. His experience with the bike and bikes I also have experience with says alot about the bike to me, and what it says is that Yamaha is now at least on par with the other manufacturers. The hype is so strong around the R1 that I was very much turned off by it until I read positive reviews from actual owners with a perspective I can put some trust in.
Just remember when it comes to magazines... first year of a bike that has a LOT of advertising money behind it is often pretty ... subjective. Remember the 2009 R1 that was lauded as the best bike ever built, and then the
same year they were already saying that it was too fat, too slow, and suspiciously unlike the test bikes they'd ridden at the release (which they later blamed on wonky quality control where there were "good" and "not so good" production bikes). The year after that, it didn't even rate comparison with other bikes, in terms of performance at least. Then the original BMW S1000RR which again was the fastest, best handling bike ever built, and to be fair it got continued good reviews, but then in 2012 when the second-generation bike came out, the "old" bike apparently handled so badly that everyone should upgrade to the 2012 immediately... I think at least one magazine went so far as to say that the original S1000RR handled "like a garbage scow," even. Yet Brett McCormick's Calabogie lap of 2:00.xx still stands, and he set it on the original. How to make sense of this sort of talk?
So. There's my thoughts on the hype, etc.
Edit: If I was buying a street bike right now, it would hurt but I'd have to walk away from the Tuono 1100 (which early indications are ... incredible) and get a Ducati Multistrada with the new DVT motor. It ticks all my current boxes for a street bike (including the nerd appeal), and these roads are getting worse every year; full-fat sportbikes are starting to look less appealing.
