Yamaha's XJ600 (Yamaha Motorcycles in General)

Member Name: FiscusFish

Product:	Yamaha Motorcycles in General
Date:	03/10/00 (2079 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bulletproof engine, good all-round bike

Disadvantages: Getting on a bit, tall, quite heavy

I had my XJ600 for about 3 years in which time it did over 120,000 miles on a variety of roads. In that time, other than the usual consumables, the only things that needed replacing were the clutch plates, one of the coils and the voltage regulator. Not bad going for a bike that was used day in, day out, come rain, sun and snow.....The engine was still healthy when I finally got sold it, with only a little smoke when cold. The smoke soon disappeared once the engine warmed up.

At about 70,000 miles I discovered a crack in the frame by the bottom shock absorber mounting, but that was easily welded by a local bike dealer. Chances are it was caused by the vast amounts of luggage the XJ was regularly asked to carry on its two up trips around Europe.

The bike wouldn't cut it as a sports bike in these days of 160 mph 600's but its 130 mph top end was more than a match for bikes of its day. It actually had its own race series in the States where it was known as the FJ600. It still handles reasonably well, if a little slowly due to its length, frame geometry and wheel size.

The frame mounted fairing does a surprisingly good job of keeping the elements at bay and the bike is roomy with a comfortable seat too. It's ideal for people of average size and above, although because of the seat height you'd have problems if you only have little legs.

XJ600's can be picked up remarkably cheaply nowadays, often going for well under £1000. For a winter hack or a first bike after passing your test they'd prove ideal.

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