There's been a lot of talk this year about the cross plane crankshaft in Yahama's new R1. The primary benefit of the cross plane design is that it allows the bike to accelerate out of corners faster than conventional inline fours. Bikes with a 90 degree V-twin engine have always been able to accelerate out of corners faster than conventional fours, but the cross plane design has closed that gap. Here's a technical explanation of the cross plane crankshaft:Here's Yamaha's video explanation:
