Yamaha Xjr1200
YAMAHA XJR1200
CYCLE WORLD EXCLUSIVE
SEVENTIES STYLE, TIMELESS APPEAL
YAMAHA'S XJR1200 IS A REMINDER OF days in the late '70s and early '80s when big-bore beasts freight-trained down America's highways and tore up its backroads. It is a modern rendition of the UJM—the Universal Japanese Motorcycle. It takes its
styling cues and equipment list from the street-racers that hard-riding Americans once built in backyards and garages all across the county, a history lesson on wheels.
Air-cooled inline-Fours of the 1970s ran hot at times, so oil-coolers were a popular aftermarket accessory. There’s one on the XJR. Back then, brakes faded alarmingly, so sporting types often went stopper-shopping. Yamaha took care of that, fitting dinnerplate-sized twin discs at the front of the big XJR. Stouter dampers sold well in the days before monoshocks and remote reservoirs; Yamaha selected a pair of piggyback-reservoir Öhlins for the 1200. Comer-cravers used to buy lighter, stiffer swingarms that accommodated wider rear tires; this machine sports a rigid, expansive aluminum ami. Skinny wheels and those old, 90-series tires often got pitched as riders sought more traction and better handling. Yamaha went wide with XJR, choosing a 3.5-inch front rim and a 5.5-inch rear.
We’d seen XJR photos in European and Japanese magazines. Built around one of Cycle World's all-time favorite powerplants—the air-cooled FJ1200 motor—it looked to be a slick, stump-puller of a superbike. Unfortunately, Yamaha declined to bring the 1200 to the U.S. for 1995, citing the poor sales performance of Kawasaki’s now-discontinued ZR1100 and Honda’s CB1000, both retro-bikes in the 1970s style. In the interest of market research, CW persuaded Yamaha USA to import a Japanese-market XJR 1200 for an exclusive test.
This is a substantial piece. If you’re not at least 5-foot-10, both feet won’t be flat on the ground when you settle into on the 1200’s broad, spacious seat. Seating position cants the rider forward slightly, and lower legs are vertical. Short-armed types may find it a bit of a stretch reaching over the long, broad, 5.5-gallon tank to a handlebar that’s swept back just a little, but for all others, the XJR’s ergos strike a good compromise between repli-racer crouch and cruiser sit-up-and-beg. At high speed, of course, there is the wind blast to the chest and head typical of unfaired bikes. A rider has to hold on tight at even mildly illegal highway speeds, or anytime the bank of four 36mm Mikunis is romped open with vigor.
Suspension, led by a beefy, 43mm non-adjustable fork, is set for the middle ground, thankfully devoid of the buckboard harshness 1970s superbikes were infamous for. Around town, the XJR sucks up ripples and potholes. Even two-up, the ride is plush, not wallowy. Wick it up in the twisties, and the XJR is a willing conspirator, especially in fast sweepers, where it feels ultra-stable. Remember, though, that this is an old-style, 561-pound motorcycle with built-in limitations. Footpegs touch the ground in moderately aggressive cornering. Steering is a shade slow (though the leverage provided by the wide handlebar helps). Rear shocks, built in Japan under license from Öhlins, could use more rebound damping.
No real complaints about the transplanted FJ1200 motor, except that it’s been given the politically correct treatment, knocked down in horsepower to comply with the “voluntary” 100-pony limit in effect in many countries. Still, 95 rear-wheel horsepower is pretty impressive, especially allied to the XJR’s 70 foot-pounds of torque. It’s a relentless torque curve, too; levels vary less than 10 percent from 4000 rpm through 7500 rpm. For comparison, Honda’s liquid-cooled CB1000 makes a couple more ponies, but the Yamaha out-torques the CB, which tops out at 66 footpounds. Kawasaki’s ZR1100 made 87 horsepower and 65 foot-pounds of torque.
All this low-end power means the 1200 is a motorcycle that pulls very strongly from as low as 30 mph in top gear, making downshifts an option reserved for quick passes. That’s a good thing, because Yamaha’s five-speed gearbox is not the smoothest operator. Our testbike had been ridden less than 500 miles, so shifting feel might improve as the transmission is broken-in, but early in its life there’s a clunky feel. The hydraulic clutch is smooth and progressive; lever-pull easy. The 16-valve, 1188cc engine, with front rubber mounts, is unusually smooth through the first twothirds of its rev range. Moderate vibration becomes noticeable through the footpegs at 6000 rpm up to the 9500-rpm redline, but this is so mild it’s never bothersome.
Reaching redline in top gear is out of the question on the Japanese-market XJR 1200, at least in stock trim. Top-speed is electronically limited to 112 mph-PC strikes again. Think defeating that is as easy as disconnecting the speedometer? Yamaha’s engineers thought of that. Undo the speedo cable and a rev limiter says “hello” at 6200 rpm, regardless of what gear you’re in.
A little educated electronic fiddling will apparently unlock more speed, though. At the XJR’s press introduction in Japan (where standard, retro-style motorcycles are called “naked bikes”), Yamaha testers whispered to a Cycle World source that unrestricted 1200s have seen 145 mph on the company’s proving track. That figure sounds reasonable, given that the ZR11 reached 141 mph, and the CB1000 tops out at 138.
In Japan, racers are seeing speeds well beyond that on naked bikes. Models displacing 400cc dominate naked sales and comprise the most popular racing class, but the XJR 1200, ZR1100 and CB1000 have a class of their own in the NK1 series (see “Getting Naked,” page 66), and Suzuki is expected to join the fray with a 1200cc version of its 400 Impulse.
All this retro-madness started in 1989. At that time, repliracers, with premium technology and dizzying prices, were the mounts of choice in Japan. Then Kawasaki introduced its 40ÜCC Zephyr just as the Japanese economy softened, and just as all things from the 1970s-especially Americanbecame popular with Japanese youth. Maybe Kawasaki officials excel at economic forecasting and the predicting of popular trends; maybe they just got lucky. Either way, the Zephyr was a runaway hit. Yamaha stylists have picked up on the theme with the XJR and nailed the look, rightly describing the XJR 1200 as “emphatically styled like a Seventies Superbike.”
Yamaha engineers can recreate and even improve upon the past, but there are some things they can’t bring back-a reasonable suggested retail price being one of them. Today, it takes only a glance at any Japanese motorcycle’s price tag to see the effect of the yen’s increasing value relative to the dollar. Yamaha says its XJR1200 would carry a $9000 price if it were sold here, and while the company isn’t ruling out the XJR joining the U.S. model line, saying it will evaluate enthusiasts’ feedback, we would be very surprised to see XJRs reach these shores.
Cycle World has received a bushel-basket full of letters calling for neo-standards-not a retro and not a sportbike, but something in between-something like Yamaha’s Diversion 900, tested elsewhere in this issue. And even in Japan, there are rumblings that the ’70s retro-bike fad may have run its course. “These bikes are only looking backwards at the oldies-but-goodies. It’s a dead culture and will be passed by,” opines Satoshi Kogure, editor of Young Machine, a popular Japanese motorcycle magazine.
For now, though, retro bikes-in Japan at least-remain as hot as August asphalt. Sure, there are bikes with later, greater technology, but our short time with the XJR 1200 shows that far from being dead, the ’70s-style motorcycle is timeless. This is a powerful, classy, user-friendly machine that, in its own way, is as much fun to ride as anything we can buy today. E3
YAMAHA
XJR1200
EDITORS' NOTES
SOMEBODY ONCE SAID THAT THE ONLY things found in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead animals.
The XJR 1200-half-retro, half-modem-finds itself in a strange situation. In function, this is the neo-standard that many riders-and this magazine-have been asking for. In form, though, it’s as outdated as Englebert Humperdink. I’d like to see the XJR shed its 1970s
clothing like a bad pair of bell-bottoms and slip into something more modern, something like the single-shock spaceframe of the dearly departed Suzuki Bandit 400.
Regardless of how you feel about retro styling, the XJR is a bonafide blast to ride. This thing is an express ticket to Wheelie City, with torque that launches the bike out of corners and yanks it up hills.
That’s a moot point, though, because it appears unlikely Yamaha will import the 1200. For all this motorcycle’s appeal, you might as well follow the yellow brick road as expect to see one for sale at the local Yamaha shop.
-Robert Hough, News Editor
As EVIDENCED BY THE STACK OF FOReign motorcycle magazines that passes through the CW offices each month, standards-retro and otherwise-are blossoming in popularity, particularly in Japan. This is no surprise, given those bikes’ impressive performance and sensible ergonomics.
If I were in the market for such a motorcycle, one that satisfied most of
my two-wheeled needs, the XJR1200 would not be at the top of my list, even if it were available stateside. That spot would be reserved for one of the new-style standards, a BMW RI 100R, say, or a Ducati Monster.
The XJR is a competent motorcycle, no doubt. With 70 foot-pounds of torque available at 4000 rpm, its smooth, FJ1200-based Four will vault you into the next county with the flick of a wrist. The upright riding position, compliant suspension and monster brakes are equally effective. What is missing, in my opinion, is that critical ingredient known as character, something that the BMW and Ducati have in spades. -Matthew Miles, Managing Editor
NOTE TO YAMAHA: LIKED YOUR NEW XJR 1200. Torque-monster motor; great seating position; good brakes; exceptional build-quality.
Suggested improvements: Flush that silly speed governor and jack up the horsepower; this is America, dammit, and we want the full-rip 1200 installed (besides, it’s even torquier). Update the styling-I rode bikes that looked like
this 15 years ago, my tastes are a little more sophisticated today. Trash-can the dual rear shocks, too, I’m sold on single shocks and rising-rate linkages, and don't want to go back. More ground clearance please-I may be getting older, but I still know my way around a decreasing radius. And how' about a nice, wind-cheating fairing? Something to knock the edge off those 85-mph air blasts (nothing too big, though, I still w'ant to see that big of motor). Finally, try to sticker it below $9000.
Conclusion: Bring back the FJ1200.
-David Edwards, Editor-in-Chief
