RoadVitals

2001 Yamaha Yzf-R1 Owner Complaints

Reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers, shown in full

Data refreshed

Complaints on fileComplaints are reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Volume is influenced by how many of a vehicle were sold, how long it has been on the road, and how much attention an issue has received.
1
Latest Dec 11, 2025
Crash or fire reportedComplaints whose submitter recorded that a crash or a fire occurred. These are the reporter's own answers on the NHTSA form, not verified findings.
0
Filed in the last 12 monthsReports filed with NHTSA in the trailing 365 days. Recent volume reflects attention and vehicle age as much as anything else.
1
Reports on file since Dec 11, 2025

What this page shows

Our database holds 1 NHTSA owner-reported complaint for the 2001 Yamaha Yzf-R1. Each one is a report filed by an owner or driver and published by NHTSA without most of them being verified. A complaint is not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. Narratives are shown exactly as filed.

Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.

Complaints, most recent first

Showing 1–1 of 1

Engine
Filed Dec 11, 2025

The problem is the oil pump has a chain that stretches over time and gets stuck causing the motor and back tire to seize. ON or about 12/31/2012 I was riding my 2001 Yamaha r1 down the 10 freeway by the 10/57 incherchange. The oil pump chain had about 20k miles on it and stretched getting stuck on the gear teeth and causing the motor and rear tire on the Yamaha r1 to seize. Luckily I heard a voice in my head to pull over to the right lane and be prepared. So I locked up the rear tire and motor and then slid on my tires to the shoulder with out being struck by the vehicles behind me luckily. (there was a huge semi behind me at the time) I looked up this design and I found that all Japanese and some Europe bikes have this design flaw in their motor. The Ducati has a gear to gear oil pump so its better and safer than the Japanese sport bikes. I also did some research on the Porsche Panamera and that has a similar design chain driven oil pump but it has a tensioner on it to prevent stretching and lock up

NHTSA ID
11704392
Incident
Dec 31, 2012

Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.

Data sources

Data on this page last refreshed .