CONCLUSION
So if you want to time-warp your garage, what do you choose? Well, considerations for buying the bikes now would be the same as they were back in the day – are you a two-stroke bloke, or maybe a Yamaha nut? For many it will be as simple as that. And there will be plenty of folk out there who fancy a bit of a doer-upper as a project to relive their youth. It’s worth bearing in mind though that parts are often hard to get hold of for most 90s models (bodywork and original exhausts especially). If all manufacturers followed Suzuki’s lead with their Vintage Parts Programme, all would be rosier…
Really the decision has to be based on what you want from the bike. If it’s an investment you’re after, simply find the best one you can, with the fewest miles on the clocks and don’t ride it. But where’s the fun in that? If you want a green four-stroke, go for the ZXR, you might have to rev it a little bit but it will definitely make you smile. If you want a two-stroke take your pick but make sure you get something as mechanically sound as you can; you could do a lot worse than an RGV VJ22 like the one on our test. It might have been a bit awkward in the bends but with a bit of fettling its bound to be a decent dancer. And it’s fair to say the twostrokes have a premium attached to them perhaps for nostalgia reasons, but well looked-after VFRs in original colours are also in demand, and we loved our time razzing around on the sporty little Honda. And as far as the FZR goes, well if you want something that will make you smile and don’t mind fixing (or binning) EXUP valves it might be just up your street.
We really enjoyed our blast from the past; in fact every time I ride bikes from when I was a kid it reinforces the fact that you don’t need traction control, ABS, launch control, blah blah blah, to enjoy riding your bike. You just need an engine and two wheels, it doesn’t even seem to matter what size it is (okay, I draw the line at Monkey bikes and Pan Europeans), if it’s got a throttle that works it’ll probably make you smile. These four 90s supersports bikes sure as heck made us smile!