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Cost: about £5000
Insurance: about £700 p.a. (ouch!) comprehensive
Economy: about 42 mpg on long runs; much less around town
Good points: raw, fast, mad
Bad points: as above
When my Triumph Trophy was brutally murded by a Ford Sierra driver, I decided
to get something rather different, rather less of an armchair. I almost went to so far as to consider a
motorcycle with an engine smaller than 1000cc, but I couldn't quite bring
myself to go that far. I'm not really keen on sports bikes, and in any event my leg length makes most of
them impractical. I did test-drive a couple of trail-style bikes; the Honda Transalp (600cc) is
physically large, but compared to
what I was used to it was rather like driving a car (open the throttle; is
anything happening? Hello? Oh, I think we're going a bit faster...)
What I wanted was a large bike with a large engine, with a minimum of luxuries.
My (very) shortlist of contenders was: Yamaha XJR1200 or 1300, another VMax, Kawashaki ZRX1100,
Honda X11 or X4, Triumph Thunderbird or Sprint ST, and a few others that I'm
too embarrased to mention. In the end I went for the Yamaha largely because the others were too
expensive to insure, and Yamaha run a discounted insurance scheme for new bikes.
The Yamaha XJR1300 is, apart from size, a very different machine to the
Trophy in almost all respects. Where the Trophy is mild and understated, the
XJR is brutal and outrageous (perhaps not to the same extent as the VMax, but not far
off). Where the Trophy is soft and comfortable the XJR is harsh and devoid of
luxury. While the Trophy rider is protected from the elements by the enormous
screen and fairing, and heated grips, the rider of the XJR faces the wheather boldly and square-on,
in a way that says `do your worst!' While the Trophy's throttle effect is
smooth and progressive, the XJR's engine is only losely coupled to the rider's
intentions. It has a mind of its own. Opening the throttle sees a random selection of brief accelerations
and decelerations, followed by a sudden wild lurch that tries to pull the
rider's arms from their sockets. It doesn't even make any difference what gear
it's in, so there's no real point worrying about that. I believe this kind of
behaviour is called `character'. In any event, it's quite entertaining.
The XJR is a large bike, in a very immediate, obvious sense. The enormous,
exposed engine dominates the appearance and makes the rest of the machine an
irrelevance, at least as far as first impressions are concerned. To see it is
to be left with
no doubt that this is an engine, first and foremost, with minor appurtenances
like wheels tacked on where necessary.
In reality, at 232 kg it weighs almost exactly the same as the Triumph Trophy
and it's only half an inch longer. I believe its the outrageous exposed engine
that makes it look more imposing.
The 21-litre fuel tank means it can get over 160 miles between fill-ups in
ideal conditions, which
is a huge improvement on the miniscule joke that the VMax kept its petrol in.
And (oh bliss!) there's a fuel guage, a rare thing on this kind of bike. In
practice, I have found that fuel consumption depends dramatically on the riding
conditions, more than is the case with other bikes. On long motorway journeys it can
provide better than 40 miles per gallon; around town it can be as little as 20
miles per gallon.
The XJR has firm suspension, and doesn't dive or wallow under hard braking.
Apparently the brakes are the same as those used on the R1 sportsbike, on which
they are considered very effective. However, the R1 weighs about 40% less than
the XJR and on the ZJR the brakes, although effective, are not fierce.
The firm suspension and reasonable ground clearance mean that the cornering
and general handling are tolerably good for a bike of this size and weight.
Some adjustment is provided in both the front and rear suspension, but I
haven't tried this yet.
In very cold wheather (cold, that is, for London, i.e., below freezing) there
is occasional stuttering and misfiring from the engine; this may suggest
a touch of carburettor icing -- I understand that the XJR1200 has a carburettor
heater to avoid this problem; on the 1300 the carburettors are always freezing
cold in winter, however hot the engine. This problem is only evident during
low-speed riding, for the first few miles, so it's not that troublesome.
One point that caught me out: the fuel guage appears to show the state of the
whole tank, including reserve. When the needle enters the red zone, that means
that it's time to fill up very soon, or turn the reserve tap on. On
other bikes I have owned that have fuel guages, the guage shows
the state of the main tank only. When the needle
enters the red, you've still got some fuel left in the main tank.
I discovered this difference when the fuel ran out on a
roundabout and the bike stopped dead, but the fuel guage still read about a
quarter full. Oops.
The XJR appears to be similar in many respects to Kawasaki's ZRX1100, and also
to the new Honda X11, which may well be its main competitors. The X11 is
essentially a stripped-down version of the Blackbird, and the speedometer is
marked up to 180 mph. The X11 is a very nice-looking bike, and is generally
well thought of (except, apparently, the linked brakes) by poeple who have ridden one, but
you'd need 50 years' no-claims bonus to afford the insurance (my best quote: a
hair under £1300!) Honda also make a thing called the X4 which is similar in
size and appearance, but is not officially imported into the UK so it's not
widely available.
On the whole the XJR is interesting and pleasant to ride at sensible speeds over
moderate distances. You wouldn't want to use it for long treks, or for
sustained high speeds, but for most day-to-day riding it's perfectly sound.
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