Yamaha XSR900
Mind-blowing engine, beautiful handling and decidedly average styling. It’s a head scratcher…
BLOODY HELL. THIS XSR is part of Yamaha’s Sport Heritage range, but there’s nothing Heritage about the ride. Pin the throttle in first and the front wheel merrily flings itself up over your piss-potted head. Tap neatly into second and the same thing happens. Only in third does the front stay planted, but that just serves to show exactly how much surging, gut-ripping thrust the XSR has on tap. Bags of the stuff. In the country it lays about the other three bikes, overtaking the Ducati and BMW mid-corner and blasting past the four-cylinder Kawasaki on the exit. At 847cc, this engine’s the smallest of the four, but beats the Z900RS on peak power, spins up faster than the R ninet, and comes from a different universe to the detuned Scrambler. Nothing the other three bikes can muster comes close to the immediate acceleration that 847cc triple engine produces. And it’s not just the engine that stands above the others. Handling is similarly brilliant. The space between each tyre’s contact patch is just 1440mm (30mm shorter than the Kawasaki’s), plus there’s a respectably precise 25° rake and 103mm trail. Add in a wide handlebar and the thing turns with supersonic speed… when the front wheel isn’t airborne, that is. Paul Lang can’t stop gushing about the Yamaha’s ride. ‘It’s so nimble that cutting through traffic couldn’t be easier.’ Everyone else agrees: the Yamaha’s the bike we’d choose for despatch work. ‘That dash is so easy to read,’ continues Paul, who avoids glasses despite failing eyesight. ‘It’s circular like the Ducati’s, but with a much simpler layout. Gear indicator at the top, mph and riding mode settings in the middle, fuel level underneath. Brilliant. Give me the digital speedos on the Ducati and Yamaha over the old-school clocks on the other two any day.’ Those traction control and riding modes are controlled from the switchgear: the rocker on the left switches TC, and the right’s mode button swaps between A, Std, and B. In this laid-back crowd, B feels best. There’s no power reduction, but throttle response becomes buttery smooth. The controls, though, feel cheap and plasticky when compared with the BMW or Ducati. There’s no Scrambler plushness to the tall seat, either. Paul again: ‘The engine is phenomenal, it turns lovely, but it’s too easy to pick holes in the finish and design. I wouldn’t pull up the garage door and think ooh that’s my lovely motorbike.’ Stacked up next to the brushed ally Ducati and sparkly BMW the Yam looks, well, boring. Normal. It’s blown away by the Kawasaki, too, but in a different way. The Z900RS is full of subtle homages to the classic Z1; the XSR boasts no classic references, not one. Unless you count classic paint jobs, but Yamaha don’t sell XSRS in Speedblock any more. With its alloy headlight mount and subframe cover, it’s simply a modern bike retro styled. Like the Ducati and the BMW, but with much less attention to detail. But then the Yamaha is the cheapest bike here. Compared with a standard £12,300 R ninet, the XSR900 is £8839 otr. That’s £1996 cheaper than the Scrambler and £1503 less than a Z900RS in Z1 paint. Drop £2000 on a PCP and the XSR is £105 per month. That accessory Akrapovic costs £1332 extra, but is optional. It doesn’t even change the noise of the engine… which sounds pants. We’ve swapped keys and are gunning the bikes before the next relaxed pootle across middle England. I’ve got the Yamaha. Any noise from the urgent, fizzing triple is drowned by the Ducati’s grumbles or the long farts from BMW’S boxer. Even the Kawasaki’s inline-four sounds more edgy. Raw, even. Steve agrees: ‘I want my motorbike to sound like a proper motorbike, not a Singer sewing machine. Is that too much to ask?’ Mounting up, I recognise the firm, tall seat and cheap switchgear. Here’s the disappointing engine note. And, bloody hell, that’s the utterly fantastic engine. I’m amazed how quickly my appreciation of the XSR shifts from deep disappointment to complete adoration in the time it takes to hit 60mph. This is the only bike here that makes me grin so hard it hurts. If the Yamaha didn’t have its engine and handling there’d be nothing to stop it coming last in this test. Apart from that low, low price. Because it does have them, it might even come out on top. Talk about a trump card. Last word to Hugo. ‘If I owned the BMW R ninet I would have to polish it and put it away clean after every single ride. The XSR? I would just get on and use it. I would rather love a motorbike for how it rides than how it looks.’
‘I’d rather love a motorbike for how it rides than how it looks’