While the styling does make the bike look like a true race-track refugee , I do have a few doubts about the tiny headlight for night riding . Past experience has shown me these small styling-exercise lights look cool , but just don ’ t cut it in the night riding stakes . I only did a small amount of night riding on the 900GP , so won ’ t give a definitive review on the lighting , but it seems to lack a decent spread and penetration . If this bike is something for you to go out for a Sunday hoon on , then it won ’ t bother you in the slightest .
THE LOW DOWN Yamaha ’ s XSR900GP is a welcome splash of retro-cool in a market that ’ s going in two directions - either increasingly angular design or ever more homogenous styling . There are two colour schemes , the Marlboro race team insipired colourway and this more understated , but still cool on-the-down-low , two-tone grey . The 900GP takes one of the styling superstars of Yamaha ’ s 1980s and 90s cool and blends it with their lovely , creamy , very useable and torquey three cylinder , crossplane crank 900 . It looks cool , does everything
super well and goes extremely well too . I ’ m sure all ages will love the retro styling and the old boys will enjoy the nostalgia of what was possibly the greatest era in Grand Prix racing . Okay , so the lean angles were not so great as today , but 500cc two-strokes with no TC or aero BS were the business . It , more or less , can ’ t be faulted , other than the fact the GP-inspired package might have you expecting a two-stroke style power delivery . But no matter how great that 900 triple is , it ’ s never going to match the GPsound the styling obviously evokes . On the plus side , there ’ s no pre-mix oil to play around with at every fuel stop and no jetting to ever worry about like we used to . I think the 900GP is perhaps so polished in its delivery as to lack a little soul and personality when compared to its evocative looks . It ’ s just a little too refined , a bit too good ; which is probably the biggest compliment there is . And on the track I think the 900GP will truly enthrall .
KIWI RIDER 39