It’s rare to find a brand-new bike in a crate. If you do, you’d better jump on it.

I was browsing the motorcycle classifieds online when I came across an ad for a blue 2004 Yamaha R1. This R1 looked like it was stock and in pretty good shape. I could tell because it was still in the Yamaha shipping crate, unopened, from 2004. Yes, a brand new 20-year-old bike just waiting to be started up — and it was in Ottawa, where I live. Needless to say I got a little excited.

You see, in 2000, I bought a brand-new blue Yamaha R1. My first new bike. In 1998, I had only had my engineering degree for a few years and was getting over the sticker shock of house payments, which meant a new R1 was not in the cards. But, two years later, my wife gave me permission to buy a brand new 2000 model. At that moment I knew my wife was a keeper. 

However, in 2004, Yamaha modified the R1. They made it better, as they often do. I didn’t really care about the massive horsepower improvements or more refined handling, but the sculpting was of interest. The curved nose with ram air intakes, the sexy rear end with twin pipes under the tail section — it was absolutely beautiful. I admired it from afar and kept my 2000 model for 16 years until a friend persuaded me to sell it to him. The R1 was my version of a Ducati Superbike: A beautiful sculpture with on-demand acceleration and Yamaha reliability. Of course, what bike now doesn’t have that level of acceleration? But that 2004 look, for me, was the pinnacle of desireability.

I had visited three used 2004 R1 models that looked interesting over the years to buy but there was always something that turned me off — too many scratches, faded paint, and why the heck do the turn signals keep disappearing? I like things stock and a stock R1 just didn’t exist.

Original in the Crate

That is, until I saw this ad for the crated R1. The ad was two hours old. I fired over a question asking if the engine had ever been started. No reply, but an hour, later the ad was gone. An hour after that I got a reply: “Sorry, taking lots of offers at present.” The next day, I had to reach out again with congratulations on the quick sale and I inquired if I could do a little story on this bike as I found it fascinating that something like that could still exist in Ottawa. 

The seller, John, replied “For sure” and shared with me that he had…