Yamaha releases a teaser of its new sportsbike for the EICMA

Kawasaki’s advertising or rather teasing campaign for the Ninja H2R seems to have motivated Yamaha into starting its own series of teasers for its upcoming superbike. The Japanese manufacturer has released the first episode of a series previewing the silhouette and a few racetrack action shots of the new superbike, which will be unveiled at the 2014 EICMA Show, in Milan.

The video shows several sketches of motorcycles and few glimpses of the on-track footage of the motorcycle being put through its paces. At one point, you can also notice a single-sided swingarm as well as its Ohlins forks. The silhouette of the motorcycle bears an uncanny resemblance to the Ninja H2R. 

While internet chatter suggests that the new motorcycle is the new YZF-R1, the company has so far decided to hide the identity of the new motorcycle. Last month, Japanese media had reported that a new Yamaha R1 is due to be launched later this year and this video seems to confirm these reports. However, one thing worth noticing is that the sketches do not show the motorcycle with an underseat exhaust, a design feature which has been a part of the Yamaha YZF-R1 for a really long time.

Both the YZF-R1 and the YZF-R6 are long due for an update and the video might be a tease of either of these. Yesterday, Kawasaki revealed a new teaser on its YouTube channel giving us the first look of the road-legal version of the Ninja H2R. This supercharged motorcycle will be toned down from its track-focussed version to make it suitable for road use. If the motorcycle being teased by Yamaha indeed turns out to be the new YZF-R1, then two Japanese manufacturers will fight out the litre-class battle to hog the limelight at the EICMA Show in November.