XSR900GP

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Sounds like the right thing to do

[Yorick]

For that price you can get a proper sports bike rather than one tarted up to pretend to be one.

I’m genuinely not being sarcastic here, because it’s probably a decent debate actually, but I don’t know what constitutes a sports bike, other than looks?

As I see it, a sports bike has proper suspension, brakes, handling and light weight etc.

This thing seems to be a budget bike with bling added. Not designed from the ground up like a true sports bike.

[weeksy]

For that price you can get a proper sports bike rather than one tarted up to pretend to be one.

I’m genuinely not being sarcastic here, because it’s probably a decent debate actually, but I don’t know what constitutes a sports bike, other than looks?

As I see it, a sports bike has proper suspension, brakes, handling and light weight etc.

This thing seems to be a budget bike with bling added. Not designed from the ground up like a true sports bike.

But unless you're trying to go sportsbike speeds, then does it matter ? I've ridden anything and everything on track, i've enjoyed all of them. But over in the UK a sportsbike is utterly pointless on the road here, like utterly utterly pointless.

[Potter]

As I see it, a sports bike has proper suspension, brakes, handling and light weight etc.

This thing seems to be a budget bike with bling added. Not designed from the ground up like a true sports bike.

Fair enough, I can't argue with that, but as Weeksy says I don't think it matters much if you intend to use it as a road bike and it's often the case that a sports bike designed for the track probably doesn't make a great road bike.

I'd be happy to see a great frame/engine combo, and then you can add parts depending on budget, so if the XSR900 had a brilliant lightweight frame (and the engine is apparently a good one anyway) and then you get to decide whether you want Ohlins, carbon wheels, etc, or the bog standard stuff that comes on the budget one - basically an SP version but custom so you can pick and choose - but based on prices I've seen so far then adding Ohlins would take it well over £20k and that's spicy enough that it needs to be able to mix it with stuff like the Panigale V4.

[Bustaspoke]

Why anyone would want to ride a sportsbike on UK roads these days baffles me,& I doubt the manufacturers sell many.
If you want a sporty triple have a look at a Triumph Street Triple & see what they look like decked out in Supersport bodywork,or see how much it would cost to bring a MT09/XSR09 up to spec.

[Supermofo]

It's £12285 vs a base model at £107900 i mean does it really really matter ?

Well I'm back to how you pay for it really, if you pay on the drip then it's probably an extra £20 a month and it hardly raises an eyebrow, and that's how they get you. But if you're paying cash then it's a few grand extra and it's a big deal, well it is for me, even if I was sat on a lottery win I'd still appreciate the value of money and I'd still wince at paying a few grand extra for something that I don't feel is worth it.

Bottom line though is I don't want it badly enough, my biking mojo is pretty much rock bottom at the moment and I've got a full plate in terms of work and family stuff to keep me occupied, so another bike would sit there alongside the ones I have and not get used, so I might as well wait until I feel more of an urge and then try to pick up a low milage used one when people start trading them in on their PCP deals.

Leave it a while and pick one up with a discount nearly new 2nd hand, especially in winter just before plate changes.

[Potter]

Leave it a while and pick one up with a discount nearly new 2nd hand, especially in winter just before plate changes.

Yeah I reckon that's the most sensible option, wait for someone like me to buy one, hardly use it, and then they trade it back in at the end of the finance deal on it.

[Potter]

I wonder if a really special version would actually sell, an Ohlins and carbon wheel blinged up version, it will probably make a cracking road bike.
I'd be tempted but not at Panigale prices.

[Sadlonelygit]

And the colours keep on coming!

XSR900-GP-2024-Ys-Gear-11.jpg (163.62 KiB) Viewed 387 times

As Yamaha themselves say, this isn't a sports bike, but a retro homage.

[KungFooBob]

I like it.

A lot of the reviews mention the 'wristy' riding position as a negative. Which was also a thing for the BMW RT9 Racer, which was a bit of a flop.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Shame the tank stripe doesn't line up with the fairing stripe

[Potter]

A lot of the reviews mention the 'wristy' riding position as a negative. Which was also a thing for the BMW RT9 Racer, which was a bit of a flop.

That's what I noticed when I was sitting on it at the NEC.
The black one next to it with bar risers was very noticeably more comfortable.

I think it's probably the best looking bike to leave any factory in the last decade, it's the bike I would have dreamed about back in the day, but the riding position might not be great for the blokes my age who think that - although having said that, a lot of us are happy enough to bend ourselves onto various old two strokes that are the same shape, so it might be a compromise people are happy with.

[weeksy]

https://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-xsr900-gp-review

Fair to say, he thought it was brilliant.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Most of that is waffle and it sounds like he barely rode it, he must be being paid by the word.

[Potter]

As tempting as an aluminum steering shaft is, I’m still struggling to get enthusiastic about parting with £15k+ for one.

It would be just an expensive ornament.
I’m much more inclined to put the money in the 930 Turbo fund.

[Couchy]

If it’s as shit as my MT09SP was on track then no thanks. Up close it looks cheap, the engine is superb but it’s crying out for a proper chassis not one from a budget roadster that has never been great handling when pushed. None of the reviews are raving about it tbh. Retro just means you’re longing for your youth back not the shit bikes you were riding

[Potter]

If it’s as shit as my MT09SP was on track then no thanks. Up close it looks cheap, the engine is superb but it’s crying out for a proper chassis not one from a budget roadster that has never been great handling when pushed. None of the reviews are raving about it tbh. Retro just means you’re longing for your youth back not the shit bikes you were riding

I've got no problem admitting that I'm longing for my youth back, I've got a great life but I'd be quite happy to be nineteen again.

In general though I agree, this could have been epic, but they've dressed up a mid-range bike and although I think it looks really good, I also feel like it's trying to be something it isn't, for a price that it shouldn't be. As I posted before, a decent frame and some nice suspenders and it would have been the bike of the decade.

[Yorick]

If it’s as shit as my MT09SP was on track then no thanks. Up close it looks cheap, the engine is superb but it’s crying out for a proper chassis not one from a budget roadster that has never been great handling when pushed. None of the reviews are raving about it tbh. Retro just means you’re longing for your youth back not the shit bikes you were riding

I've got no problem admitting that I'm longing for my youth back, I've got a great life but I'd be quite happy to be nineteen again.

In general though I agree, this could have been epic, but they've dressed up a mid-range bike and although I think it looks really good, I also feel like it's trying to be something it isn't, for a price that it shouldn't be. As I posted before, a decent frame and some nice suspenders and it would have been the bike of the decade.

That's what I said way back up there

[weeksy]

But why would they ? It's not a track bike, it's not a race series bike, the same as the RD from your your or the LC or the piece of shit Kwaks that Fromage loves, they would all be destroyed by the XSR900GP everyhwere, power, brakes, handling, absolutely fucking destroyed.

You're all sitting there full of rose tinted glasses about how epic the bikes of your youth were, in reality they were fucking rubbish, but you were in the complete love of motorbikes and speed, therefore felt great.

The XSR is an incredible bike that would run rings round every rider on here, possibly apart from a racetrack... which it was never actually designed for

[Yorick]

But why would they ? It's not a track bike, it's not a race series bike, the same as the RD from your your or the LC or the piece of shit Kwaks that Fromage loves, they would all be destroyed by the XSR900GP everyhwere, power, brakes, handling, absolutely fucking destroyed.

You're all sitting there full of rose tinted glasses about how epic the bikes of your youth were, in reality they were fucking rubbish, but you were in the complete love of motorbikes and speed, therefore felt great.

The XSR is an incredible bike that would run rings round every rider on here, possibly apart from a racetrack... which it was never actually designed for

Yes. The bikes from our youth were shit. But here they are trying to polish a turd. Tarting up to be something it wasn't initially designed to be.