XSR900GP

[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

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.

Nopes not in the slightest. That's like saying the GSXS1000 is something it's not designed to be... or the KTM 990SMT etc etc.... Just because they've thrown a fairing on it doesn't mean they've designed (or not) a race bike.

[Potter]

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

You're comparing bikes with 40yrs of time apart, it's hardly apples to apples.

And anyway, the old bikes I've got were the best you could get at the time, in 1936 my Rudge was literally state of the art, right on the cutting edge, you could win a TT on it if you were good enough, my 350LC perhaps wasn't as cutting edge but it was still about as good as you could get for a 350 road bike, the frame was as good as any race bike and the engine was tuned for reliability, so it lost out on something like a TZ350 but that's just practicality.

Whereas this XSR is a budget bike with cheap parts and a nice frock, it could have very easily been so much better without a lot of effort.
And I'd be fine with what it is, if it wasn't priced at the top end, with the exhaust and fairing it's over £15k.

[KungFooBob]

They still sell a shed load of them regardless, just not to Potter.

Which I'm sure will really bother Yamaha.

[Potter]

They still sell a shed load of them regardless, just not to Potter.

Which I'm sure will really bother Yamaha.

They won't, they'll sell relatively few of them compared with the amount of bikes that used to get sold 40yrs ago, and that I suppose is the problem, not enough money to justify R&D, so they get a basic platform and rip the arse out of it with as many iterations as they can, this particular example is at the extreme end of it, a basic bike dressed up like an expensive one.

[KungFooBob]

They'll sell shed loads in comparison to proper cutting edge sports bikes... There's only really Ducati still making them.

[Potter]

They'll sell shed loads in comparison to proper cutting edge sports bikes... There's only really Ducati still making them.

I don't know about the numbers, it would be interesting to see how many 900GPs they sell compared to Panigales.
I wouldn't be surprised if they don't sell more Panigales than 900GPs, especially when the finance deals means it's not that much more a month to own a Panigale, compared to a tarted up XSR that's not far off the same price.

I actually really like this 900GP, I think it looks great and it's probably a decent road bike, I'm just disappointed that they haven't made a proper sports bike, rather than pretending to look like one and being as expensive as one.

[KungFooBob]

It's £1200 more than a council spec MT9.

They're £12,500. You mention a pipe and the fairing, but no one bothers with loud pipes anymore and I suspect the Yamaha dealers will start doing the fairings at a decent price when no one buys them.

I dunno, it just doesn't seem that expensive for what it is.

The council spec Panigale V2 is £17.5k.

[Potter]

It looks rubbish without the exhaust and fairing, and that takes it over £15k.
I'd definitely rather have a Panigale V2.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

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

Trust me owning said shit Kwacker and a YPVS 350 have firmly removed my rose tinted glasses about old bikes, I still think they look better than modern bikes, but that's purely an age thing, they're lovely to have in the garage to look at and fiddle with, but I've no desire to ride them.

Now to email Honda again about that CB1000R that looked like a CB900F.

[ChrisW]

Looking forward to having a go on one, looks alright.

[Potter]

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

Trust me owning said shit Kwacker and a YPVS 350 have firmly removed my rose tinted glasses about old bikes, I still think they look better than modern bikes, but that's purely an age thing, they're lovely to have in the garage to look at and fiddle with, but I've no desire to ride them.

Now to email Honda again about that CB1000R that looked like a CB900F.

If you ride them for what they are then frankly they’re amazing, my 350LC will at least equal anything modern of the same capacity and it’ll still be doing it in 40yrs when the new one has long been forgotten about and fallen apart.

New 400s make less power and weigh 30% more.
And the quality isn’t there.

Certain old classic bikes have stuck around because they’re good, they were exceptional back in the day and they’re still decent now. Not much made today will still be getting ridden in 40yrs.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

There's nothing exceptional about Z1000Js and their offspring apart from very strong engines, the same age Suzuki is a better bike, and a tuned 350LC is quicker than a standard Z1000.

My memory of LCs is that they were good for 1980, but the 83 power valve is better handling and any of the 1990 JDM 400 sports bikes are faster, handle better and are easier to ride, it's progress.

All of which has little to do with XSR900s, and the only reason I wouldn't buy an XSR900 is the looks, if Yamaha had styled it like an 86 FZ750 I'd probably buy one.

[Potter]

The power valve is a better bike in every way, except it doesn’t feel like an LC and I prefer the LC.

Dunno about Zeds.

You’re right though, none of them have much to do with the 900GP although there is TZR styling in there and the TZR was a premium bike, again right at the cutting edge at the time and sadly the XSR just isn’t.

[Bustaspoke]

All of which has little to do with XSR900s, and the only reason I wouldn't buy an XSR900 is the looks, if Yamaha had styled it like an 86 FZ750 I'd probably buy one.

^^^ THIS^^^


I'll take one styled like King Ted's Daytona winning bike

[Couchy]

They'll sell shed loads in comparison to proper cutting edge sports bikes... There's only really Ducati still making them.

I think they’ll sell the first batch and then struggle, all us oldies don’t want lower bars we want adv bikes as they’re comfy. It’ll go the same way as the rninet racer and triumph thruxton. If I want this engine as it’s superb I’d get the MT09 and accept it’s a good road bike but rubbish on track which tbh wasn’t its design brief. However lots of non sports bikes work on track whereas the MT for me just didn’t.

[Potter]

My mate has the Kenny Robert’s XSR and that’s comfortable - well I think it is, I don’t think he’s actually ridden it apart from home from the dealers since he bought it six months ago, but he’s enjoyed looking at it so far.

[weeksy]

My mate has the Kenny Robert’s XSR and that’s comfortable - well I think it is, I don’t think he’s actually ridden it apart from home from the dealers since he bought it six months ago, but he’s enjoyed looking at it so far.

The XSR was honestly really really good. I couldn't fault it at all. If i were ever to get on a bike again, it would be top of my list of options to buy. I don't honestly see it happening but yeah one of those... Unlike most of you lot, I'd pick the newish blue one with the weird seat

[Sadlonelygit]

When I rode the gen 2 xsr, my impression of it was a street fighter.
So now they've dressed it up in some clothes, and lowered the bars, perhaps it will be the bike it was designed to be.

[Potter]

My mate has the Kenny Robert’s XSR and that’s comfortable - well I think it is, I don’t think he’s actually ridden it apart from home from the dealers since he bought it six months ago, but he’s enjoyed looking at it so far.

The XSR was honestly really really good. I couldn't fault it at all. If i were ever to get on a bike again, it would be top of my list of options to buy. I don't honestly see it happening but yeah one of those... Unlike most of you lot, I'd pick the newish blue one with the weird seat

My mate had a really horrible life changing accident and this XSR is his first time back on a bike in over a decade, he's physically capable now but he's taking it steady and so far he seems to really rate it - and he was a diehard sports bike rider before the accident.

I probably come across like I have a massive downer on it and I don't really in terms of accepting it for what it is, it seems to be the Mondeo of the bike world and there is definitely nothing wrong with a Mondeo if that's what you need, but my gripe was that this GP version could have been the bike of the decade if they'd have made it more high end with a fancy frame and suspension. This GP with something like a modern version of the DeltaBox and decent Ohlins on it, that would have been epic.

Although you're also right that 99% of us probably can't use it to it's limit anyway, so arguably anything more than it has now would have been wasted anyway, but I think when you start to look at £15k+ you need it to feel special, and I don't think it did really, definitely nowhere near how my Dragster RC felt when I got that.

[weeksy]

TBH fella if it came how you wanted it, it'd be £20k and no-one would buy it.