Yamaha R1 adventure bike

Every now and then you see something wild, something a little left of centre in the two-wheeled world, and six-time Dakar Rally champion Stephane Peterhansel has given us something special to cast our eyes over this week.

With a little help from Yamaha, Michelin and two good photographers (François Rophé & Alain Lecorre), Peterhansel has thrashed a 180hp (132kW) Yamaha YZF-R1 sports bike through the deserts of Morocco.

The images come from French magazine L'Integral, whose Editorial Director happens to be Peterhansel, but the R1 in question is not stock standard. Far from it.

In order to tear around the sand dunes of Merzouga in Morocco, the Yamaha was fitted with upgraded flat bars, possibly had a few tweaks on the rear preload, and as you can see from the photos the tyres are very special.

Michelin created these hand-cut sand tyres specifically to match the power output of the Yamaha R1 in the dunes, which appear to have given the bike a lot of freedom.

Though the Yamaha R1 was clearly not designed for riding in the desert, Peterhansel has proven that with a bit of ingenuity the boundaries of what can be achieved on a sports bike are becoming blurred.

For more unorthodox insanity, check out these images of an R1 racing a Porsche - on ice...