Yamaha XJ900: Prime Meat

This guy had owned the XJ from new, 13 years worth of tender loving care, 47000 miles on the clock. He was the kind of character who likes everything just right, looked a bit like Les Dawson in drag mode and would go all aflutter when someone moved his garden gnomes out of their correct alignment. Easy to take the piss out of him, but the XJ was as close to immaculate as such an old bike could get!

Mine for 800 notes. Being rather large, the XJ900 fitted me quite well and it wasn't too much of a struggle with its 480lbs. The major intrusion was the churning shaft drive that had the back end twitching away unless I was very gently on the throttle during take-offs. The throttle itself was rather loose and imprecise, I'd move it and there would be a slight hesitation before anything happened. Until I became used to it, I lurched along like a rank amateur.

The five speed gearbox was crunchy and the clutch heavy - up to Norton standards, boy - but the gearchange wasn't intrinsically nasty, just took a couple of days to become used to. The bike had just been serviced (never stripped down, though), the 90 horses didn't take much effort to unleash, the XJ turning very fierce once 6000 revs were dialled in. The front wheel actually went light when I rolled the throttle open in third gear.

Getting the ton on the clock took absolutely no effort; neither did the ton-twenty. 135mph came up eventually but the bars began to shake in my hands above 130mph. Back off pronto. The little handlebar fairing was infamous for catching the airstream and making the bike do a high speed wobble. Initial impressions on the handling were pretty good - the forks were modded to tauter than stock, anti-dive disabled, and a pair of Koni shocks sorted out the back end. True, it felt a bit top heavy and unwieldy at town speeds but it wasn't any worse than other UJM's I'd owned in the past - the nastiest handling bike I'd ever owned was a Honda CB750K7, which didn't even have that much power to twist up its chassis.

The triple discs were a weak spot. Despite an attentive owner they were quite heavily scored, made odd noises and would sometimes need an inordinate amount of pressure to pull up pronto. The pads were newish EBC's, which at least meant there wasn't much of a wet weather lag. Occasionally, the front wheel would lock up under mild pressure, causing a screeching, squealing noise that made me think the front wheel was about to fall out. Nearby ped's jumped out of their skins! One screamed abuse at me but I rode off rapidly.

The starter motor was also on the way out. It whirled away loudly, graunching as the gears tried to engage and barely turning the engine over when it was cold - I'd bought the bike when it was already warmed up. It kept going for about 1200 miles. A jaunt around the breakers revealed that there were plenty of XJ900 engines on offer and a replacement starter motor only cost twenty notes. It wasn't very easy to replace but I figured the engine wouldn't object to an oil change at the same time, so I killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The new starter motor was still a bit on the weak side. I attached the bike to a car battery, found that it turned over at about twice the rate. I had a look at the bike's battery, a bit of white gunge in the bottom of the casing. The Yamaha dealer wanted 65 notes for a replacement, the breaker gave me one for a tenner. I went to put the battery back in, found myself clutching some wiring that had come adrift. Looking closely, I found that the insulation was peeling off! Panic! I looked a bit closer at things, worked out that acid must've been blowing off the battery, attacking the nearby wiring rather than the whole loom. A pleasant couple of hours were spent replacing the ruined wiring - both the starter and the lights were stronger!

This is typical of dealing with old bikes. Replace one component and it can lead to a series of revelations - the one thing not to do is put the machine into the hands of a dealer because a simple job will end up costing more than the machine is worth by the time they have finished fixing stuff, both real and imagined. Just be prepared to spend a bit more than you at first expected.

With these things fixed and myself used to the bike's ways, I was all set for a pleasant summer's riding. Nothing like a bit of sun, a powerful bike between your legs and the open road ahead. Apart from the minor fact that every family in the country decided to head for the sea, many with huge caravans attached. Soon had me in killer mode - running the XJ in third and fourth, using maximum revs to charge through minimal gaps that appeared in the highway. Playing a bit of chicken with on-coming cars to make spaces where there were none. The XJ thrived on such abuse, if you didn't mind the secondary vibes - I didn't, having grown up on old UJM's such as CB750's and Z1000's.

Handling was precise enough on smooth roads but throw in some bumps the whole bike would shimmy, shudder and slide all over the shop. Tyres were prime Metz's, suspension was taut, so it couldn't be down to any obvious defects. The worn shaft drive obviously played its part, never quite sure how it was going to react to inputs but I think it was the cast wheels and discs that were the main culprit. These are incredibly heavy, adding up to unsprung mass, along with the shaft drive, that is very difficult for the suspension to control. Having said that, it more or less went where it was supposed to even on bumpy roads.

Bumpy roads also set off the speed wobble, but more than 100mph was needed on the clock before that happened, easy enough to avoid. Save that some GTi hero decided to race me along a, for once, deserted A5. The VW was good for 120mph on the straights and I felt honour bound to overtake him. No doubt he was highly amused to find the bike that had just shot past him suddenly falling apart before his eyes. As the bars banged from lock to lock, the XJ leapt from one side of the road to the other, I thought I was going to find out if there was life after death. The road smoothed out and the wildness died down! Still, I didn't try to take the GTi when he roared past - my hands were still shaking for hours afterwards.

At first glance, the XJ900's just your average UJM. Ride one, it has none of the blandness you might expect. As well as the sometimes vile handling, there's always a certain direct connection to the road that sends back loads of stimuli. Similarly, there's hardly any need to look at the tacho; a change in engine note, a sudden pouring out of power, a blitz of secondary vibes - all indicate what kind of revs it's pulling. The brakes are naff, the finish good and the comfort passable. It's not cheap to run - 35mpg, 6000 miles from the tyres and the front EBC's last less than 4000 miles but that might be the scored discs.

They are cheap, fast and furious. No need to pay more than a grand for something usable. Signs of age are found in the gearchange, shaft drive and braking system, but also check over the electrical system for rotten insulation. Make sure the suspension's been upgraded, a whole front end off something newer might be worth paying a bit extra for. Loads of XJ's on offer, masses of cheap spares in breakers. Engine life varies between 40,000 miles and over a 100,000 miles - depending on how the owner treats them and how regularly they are serviced (top ends can be a weak spot if oil changes are neglected). I would happily trade mine for a newer one.

Mike Lansing