1980 saw me flush with cash for once and I’d decided to go upmarket to something just under the 900cc insurance limit. The contenders were a BMW R80, Yam XS850 and possibly a Guzzi Spada or Suzuki GS850.
Off I went to try a BMW R80. I didn’t then realise that a few weeks acquaintance were required to fully appreciate the charms of the BMW. A trip around the block merely convinced me that my old Triumph had more guts and felt more modern. I wasn’t really happy and my wife said that for £2000 plus I should be bloody ecstatic.
I knew a nearby Yam dealer was giving XS850 test rides. A blast down the road, the sound of those lovely whispering exhausts; I ordered a black one there and then. The dealer tried to sell one of his showroom full of CB900s but I remained firm.
A couple of weeks later I took delivery. I ran her in as per the book and took her back for the first 500 mile service. The bike went in sounding great but when I took her up the M62 heading for Leeds, I wasn’t so happy with the way the motor ran. On my return the bike went slower and slower, refused to run in top gear and then fourth. Luckily, the dealers was on the way home so I went in to complain.
After a few minutes I learnt that the chief mechanic had left his pet monkey to play with the spark plugs, setting them down to around three thou. After much apologies, honour and performance restored, I eventually made my way home, cursing the so-called professionals.
Was the money well spent? I thought so at the time. MCN had road tested one at 129mph and it was hailed as light years ahead of the GS850, being lighter and faster and only slightly slower than the Honda 900. It was easy to manoeuvre, easy on juice (50mpg minimum, up to 60mpg on a 70mph run), although the dealer did say that another owner had complained about getting only 38mpg.
The bike was also very comfortable, fitting me like the proverbial glove. But, I found I had to leave a bit of extra space for wet weather braking. The bike sat up a bit on take off (but I quite liked this feeling) and gearchanges had to be taken slowly. But, all in all, I was very pleased.
The XS was used every day for work, always starting first time, a 20 mile round trip. In the first year there were no breakdowns at all, but just as the guarantee was about to expire one cylinder started cutting out - I popped it back to the dealer who found one of the ignition pick-ups was duff, replaced under warranty, but only just. No so lucky with the exhausts, they fell to bits just out of warranty. I fitted a Dunstall three into one, it ruined the lovely whispering, making the XS sound like a flat Bonnie giving off wind below 80mph. However, beyond 4000rpm it came on song like a Ray Petty Manx — a pity really, it should have been the other way around. One side effect was a flat spot at 60mph caused by the 3-1, but I learned to live with it by revving the head off it at the top of the scale; more YPVS than tourer.
The Yam was the fastest bike I‘d ever had, so I soon found myself at 90mph thinking I was doing a mere 70mph. It took me a week or so to really appreciate the difference in performance between the Yam and the Bonnie (god help them today on ZX-10s).
During the next five years the bike did over 20,000 miles and never let me down. Probably helped by the fact that I did very frequent routine maintenance, because I’m a great believer in doing it in the comfort of one’s garage rather than at the side of the road.
Front pads lasted 8000 miles and, strangely, the back ones only 6000 miles. The front tyres went about 8-9000 miles and the rear 8000. The brake caliper pistons started to seize up after 4 to 6 months, tending to bind on - it became so regular that I began to regard it as just routine. The battery lasted five years.
But when are the Japs going to learn how to paint frames? After five years the tank and side-panels were still excellent, so where did all the frame paint go? When I first bought it I sprayed WD40 all over the electrics and found no paint at all inside the frame gusseting — they don’t even dip the frames. First task was to buy a tin of black paint to do the job myself - should that really be necessary on a new bike? The black engine was a terrible job to keep clean and the frame paint seemed to evaporate before my eyes - thank god for Hammerite.
The one thing that the bike did need was a proper fairing. That led me to a distant moorland farmhouse, there, in a barn, under a pile of hay, was an early sixties Peel full dustbin fairing. It was blue in colour, painted in Dulux, but I couldn’t part with my cash fast enough.
A mate, who’s an ace welder, knocked up some brackets and the whole thing was soon fitted. I really wanted an Avon Streamliner type dustbin fairing but beggars can’t be choosers. I had a DMD one on a Bonnie 25 years ago so I knew what to expect.
Talk about turning heads. At one of the Leeds bike shows I was surrounded by a mob and my wife became quite scared. The one thing everyone asks is, 'Don’t these things suffer from sidewinds?’ What a load of crap. It would take a force 9 gale twice over to shift a bike weighing 530lbs plus. For all the uninitiated, I can say that I’ve never been blown all over the road as many lighter and smaller bikes have.
The fairing suited the bike well. One day I actually saw 125mph on the clock. I’d rubber mounted the fairing, so apart from a little crazing it never gave any trouble. Only problem was that the lack of lock meant three point turns were not an uncommon experience.
By 1985 she was still running quite well and was still reliable, but it began to be a little difficult to engage first gear. My job had just changed, so I didn’t need a bike for commuting. I sold the bike to a young man at the right price, with the stated fault and l was a little sorry to see her go.
Was it a good buy? Yes and no. She was soon outclassed by the newer, faster models. However, she gave me five years reliable running. I lost nearly £200 per year in depreciation, but like most Jap bikes it’d become a dog after five years. I now own a BMW R80, which I think I should have given a chance in the first place - I’d probably have kept it a lot longer for the build quality is much better.
P. Toybe