DYNO VIDEO: 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1

It works as great as it sounds.

We recently took delivery of a 2015 YZF-R1. Naturally, we felt an immediate need to test Yamaha's new street-legal superbike on our Dynojet dyno. While it's a treat to hear that super-trick Crossplane-crank engine with fracture-split titanium connecting rods scream at high rpm, the numbers and shapes of the power curves interest us most.

First, the numbers: At the rear wheel, this new Yamaha puts out 167.4 horsepower at 12,270 rpm, which is complemented by 77 pound-feet of torque at 8,810 rpm. That's 0.3 more horsepower than the 2013 Ducati Panigale we tested, but eight fewer pound-feet of torque than is produced by the Italian V-twin.

Now check out those curves. At around 7,000 rpm, note how the horsepower and torque both ramp up real quickly. "The step in power feels like the engine is being unleashed," says Editor-in-Chief Mark Hoyer. And Don Canet, our Road Test Editor, says the R1 powerplant may be the smoothest liter-class motor on the market today.

Impressive. Look for our test of the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 to appear in our July issue. As always, turn it up!