Yamaha XJ900

The ultimate UJM – Agree with all the 4 & 5 star reviews; the XJ900 is just a fabulous all rounder. Touring, commuting, scratching, cruising - this does it all with ease. Not the fastest, but doesn't give much away either. In fact, wind it up and it wails magnificently and the horizon approaches at a great pace. Ride it gently and it's a big ol' softy. Low center of… Read more

gravity makes it a breeze to potter along. Same if you need to go off the bitumen - stable and easy to manage. Load it up and it carries on completely unaffected. Big days - up to 1000 kliks - are no problem, and the tank range will exceed even the toughest of butts. The seat is fine too - mine came with a Corbin seat fitted, but I found the OEM unit to be superior. Same with the front screen - came with an Eagle screen, but the original is far superior for my purposes. Yamaha got it just right with the XJ900 - any wonder it continued on (in two versions) as an air cooled carburettored "dinosaur" long after its competition was liquid cooled and fuel injected. This, along with the shaft drive, makes it a dream to operate and maintain: 91RON fuel, mineral oil, and no chain lube/adjustments required. Front bake action is a little soft (braided lines would fix it) but it will still bring you to a controlled halt with no drama should the inevitable emergency braking event arise. Overall, an outstanding example of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle.

It's an unsung Hero of the biker world – I've had tonnes of bikes, old and new of all types. Brand new MV Agustas, trail bikes, superbikes. So I'm not exaggerating when I say that the XJ900S is most definitely be worthy of a 4.5-star rating. Air cooled 8V motor should be rubbish on paper, but on the road this thing howls with a lovely induction note, accelerates harder then everything… Read more

on four wheels.

To maintain it is like mechano. Nothing to go wrong, air cooled motor with oil cooler, so basic and yet so fantastically well made. perfect bike for the mechanically inept as well as home mechanics. Shaft drive is indestructible. We toured about 4500kms on the east coast of Australia with a '94 XJ900S that had 150,000kms on the clocks. It did not even use a drop of oil. Machines are not made like this any more, maximum respect to Yamaha and the Japanese of the '90's.

It handles sweet on modern touring tyres. Quiet exhaust note is great for touring. Front forks felt spongey to start with, but it turns out that a simple oil change was enough to get them taught and nimble again. Rear brake is superb, front brake is good, but aged master cylinder had a fair bit of travel. SO although it stops well, it takes a fair bit of lever travel to get it to grab. You get used to it quick. You also get used to the styling very quickly. it's actually very easy on the eye as a 90's muscle bike styling. Tours with a passenger nicely, although dives a lot more with the passenger, so certainly not a 5-star 2-up touring bike, more for the solo rider if on a long ride.

SO why no 5-star rating if it's so good?

1) Needs a 6-gear so bad. You'll always be trying to grab the next 6th gear that isn't there when touring. So it revs a bit too high and hence economy and comfort is affected negatively.

2) Wind protection is useless. The standard screen is useless. In my opinion, if a bike has a screen, it should be at least reasonably effective, this one does hardly anything to reduce wind noise or stop you getting drenched.

3) The sender on the fuel guage is either broken, or going to break. dodgy design, so get used to no fuel guage.

That's pretty much it. it's a great bike in the disguise of an ancient work-horse. But most bikers know how good they really are, so you'll still get positive comments and some lustful looks at your bike.

Legendary road bike fit it's age – I owned this bike for about three years or so in Tasmania and never had trouble starting her nor had her on a charger. Once the battery died overnight and I had a short in the high beam circuitry, probably due to shoddy workmanship.my indicators stopped working probably for the same short. But apart from that I loved this bike. Kept up with my… Read more

mates modern 1000cc+ warriors and had a great note to it. Very comfortable, slightly bigger than other road bikes and reasonable mileage. Only used bike maybe 10 days a year, but it had 90k kms on the clock (previous owner commuted around Brisbane). Had to sell her as I couldn't afford it really - I'm a pensioner. Was a super fun bike.

.

A very reliable bike, still nimble through tight rds and comfortable ride – I have owned a 1994 XJ900 Diversion model for 2.5 years. Have travelled across Australia and back from WA and racked up many short trips. This bike has never let me down, just a quick service of oil, filter and shaft drive oil in NSW then returned to WA no probs. bike has done 155,000 kays and runs beautifully!  Show details

Economic Bike with enough power for sane riders – Bought it only a few months ago,updated horn, heated grips and will upgrade lighting and brakes. A mate had a new one back about 97 and it impressed me. Then I was riding a gpz1100 great bike but pits camshafts. Had a gtr1000 same problem. Several other bikes in between then and the xj900s 2 VFR800s only sold due to a crook neck. They are… Read more

expensive to service, Just sold a st1300 great bike, but the headers burnt out the wiring to the knock sensors and to add salt to the wound the heat in the wires spiked the ECU, Hey got $2000.00 for the ECU oh but then you have to buy the whole ignition system because the HISS system is linked to the ECU!!

When I bought this bike the owner said oh by the way here is a spare ECU, got it from the UK for AUD $79.00!!!

These bikes are simple if you have a bit of nouse you can literally do about 75/80 percent of the maintenance yourself and avoid $1000.00 to $1300.00 major service costs which is common on modern bikes, And you need the most expensive tool kit for them., Called a Credit card. This 2001 xj900s will do me.

A sure to be classic – Covered 150,000mls with 5of them throughout the past 18 years. The most usefull ,practical and dependable bikes I've riden and I've owned about 40 bikes since 1988. Nice old air cooled engine,

Only 5 months into ownership, already racked up 5000km, and only every other weekend riding – Prior to purchasing I was concerned about everyones mention of it being heavy. When I finally got mine, I found it to be 20kg more than my previous bike (and at least 3x power) [1983 GSX550]. Lots of power, which makes it fuel efficient because it doesn't work very hard to do anything. No need to shift gears to overtake, or to change speeds (5th… Read more

gear anywhere from 30km/h-200ish). Shaft drive is nice for lack of regular service/tightening/chain-lube/cleaning etc. Larger fuel tank would be nicer, but happily getting 300km+ from a tank, if taken smoothly.Factory rear vision mirrors (convex) allow full view behind you (very small blindspot if at all).

Very happy with bike overall. Intend to keep it 5-10years. Very minimal cons for all the pros Can easily match with the Sports bikes, as well comfortable long distance touring. Excellent on fuel when not breaking the speedlimit, Because everything (except city riding) can be done in 5th gear. Wants an extra gear for highway speeds (has enough power), A bit heavy but plan for it - no worries (leave it facing uphill).

Good – Don't agree with other reviews that it's hard to handle around the garage. It's not a 125, it's a 900! Care and practice works wonders. Can't wait to notch up some long kilometres. Looks good, feels great, sounds great, handles well, plenty of power, reliable. A pleasure to ride a little bit of vibration at low speed. Handle bars a touch low

Shaft drive highway tourer at bargain basement prices – I have had my Diversion since 2005 and have put over 100,000km on it. at 191cm (6'3") and over 100kg this bike has been a great fit. I have a Givi luggage set on it and the flexibility of this bike makes it everything from a great large commuter to a superb open road tourer. I am going to put anohter 100,000km on it at least before it is time to… Read more

let it go. Cheap, big, powerful, simple and easy to maintain. The bike is my daily ride and is happy to chuff along in top gear from 40kmh to 200kmh. Needs a 6th gear for open road as the engine has the power. Standard headlight is a bit dim compared to newer bikes.

I came back to one – I owned a Yamaha 900 Diversion for a number of years and it was the best bike I have ever owned, previous bikes had been 1100s or 900s of various brands. I then decided to move onto a Yamaha FJR 1300 which was big & clumbersome to corner and HOT in the crutch and legs, I was disapointed and quickly bought another 900 Diversion and have not looked… Read more

back. Yamaha XJ900 Diversion should be in the Oxford dictionary as a definition for the word Fun. Great bike. Quick and easy to throw about in corners. You dont even have to work the bike in a corner it just cuts through them. Another top gear on the open road would be nice, but its still good anyway.

Excellent – This is a great air cooled shaft driven bike that just keeps going.So simple to ride and look after.Plus very easy to keep clean.No chain.My bike still looks like new.I replaced the last set of metzier tyres front and rear after 14.500km. You do need to take care when braking in the wet the brakes tend to lock up. I brought this bike new in… Read more

2001.Done 50.000km it is used for work and play.A great all round bike cheap and easy to run and carry out any maintenance.Up to now I have replaced the battery,Tyres.Rear brakes twice and service it every 5.000km.It never needs engine oil to top up between servicing.It always starts first time even after four or five weeks. It would have been nice to have a larger fuel tank only for the longer trips.

Good – Had this bike for 2 years all iv did is change the fork seals. Starts 1st time every time.Been all over Scotland on it with not 1 problem. handles well,Bulletproof reliability.lots of spares around if you ever need any.Great tourer but quick enough to scratch and light enough for the town. Soft front end,front brake not too clever,rattley engine.

Good – A great all rounder and a vastly underrated bike. If they were still making them I'd buy another - what more can I say. When replacement time comes I'll look for a low mileage Divi before I look for anything else - that's how much it suits me. Rented a well used (over 100,000km) Divvy 900 and liked it a lot. Found my own used version in 2002. It's… Read more

reliable, comfortable, economical, handles and rides very well with some suspension mods and overall it is a pleasure to ride. Have ridden 700km days with little fatigue. Factory panniers hold oodles and overall the Divi can commute or tour with equal aplomb. Front suspension is soft - can be fixed with stronger springs and revalve; standard screen is too low, again easily fixed.

Excellent – would not buy any thing else am now a very big fan good power to weight for one up or two up have a 900 best bike ever have. Had great on tour with plenty of room just keep changing the oil and filter will never let you down only one lock for the helmet

Excellent – This is a great bike. Hired one in New Zealand back in early 2006 and I got a great insight into how good a large shaft-drive tourer can be! Upgraded from a ZZR250 (after happily riding it for 3 years) and picked up a second hand 1999 model with 60K on clock and it runs fine. Discovered there is nothing wrong with a shaft-drive; maintenance is a… Read more

breeze. Starts first-time every-time. Engines are solid; just change the oil regularly and you're set. Solid performer in all conditions. Great for one-up or two-up riding. Versatile go-anywhere do-anything touring bike. Shaft drive (some may think of that as a con I suppose - personal choice). Easy to service. Heaps of spare parts available. Yamaha stopped making them! Fuel guage somewhat wierd (but there is no chance of running out of fuel). Yes, front shocks are a bit soft - easily fixed.

Excellent – Previous comments on suspension - easily fixed. A set of good fork springs and some new fork oil. I used a set of Ikon springs, and it transformed the bike. Also helped with the braking. Engine was checked at 160,000km when it broke a gear selector fork, all it needed was a new timing chain. I am the second owner of this bike, and I knew the… Read more

guy who bought it new, and did most of the k's. He never had an issue with it, and used it as a commuter for 22 years. It has a bit of an easier life now, only doing about 6 to 8 thou a year. I will replace this bike in the next couple of years, with a low km diversion. Had a look at a lot of reviews here, I'll add my bit. Mine is an '83 model with 191,000km on it and it still goes strong. Bullet proof engine starts every time. Great for the long distances, as well as commuting. Great for riding 2 up. A bit heavy to move around the garage, but apart from that, all good.

Great Bike – I have just bought my second XJ 900 Diversion. They are a great sports tourer & light enough for around town use. Highway crusing could use another gear. I am about to start doing my own servicing on it, Do you need a special Oil Filter removal tool for this or did the previous owner over tighten this one, i cannot budge it. I am selling my 1997… Read more ·  1

Model with 90,000 K's on it & still going really well. I have bought a late model with less K's.What are the best tyres to use on these bikes? I am using Michelin Pilots' at the moment which i find quite good Reliable, comfortable & a pleasure to ride