Faults:

Nothing at all.

General Comments:

The great unsung hero of the 90s... unfashionable I suppose... but look beyond that and this was and still is a motorcycle that does everything well. It's not brilliant at anything, just very good at pretty much everything. Bulletproof 90s build quality... proven Suzuki mechanicals, and lighter and more nimble than first appearances might suggest. Oh... and available for a song now if you can find a good example.

Faults:

Nothing went wrong with the motorcycle.

General Comments:

The 900 cc engine in this bike was built on the GSX750 cases, and the styling was a cross between the Katana chick-magnet concept and the "GSXer" It had a five speed transmission and the red-line was over 11,500. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the front wheel on the ground, either from a standing start, or even a roll-on over sixty. I rode this bike for four years and I might have had it in fifth gear maybe twice. I saw 140 on this bike (in an isolated safe place) and that was in fourth at 9500 RPM. This bike was powerful.

I traded it in for a BMW long-distance bike as the one short-coming of a pseudo-road racer is comfort on long trips and limited room for camping gear etc. Even now I wish I had that bike back. I used to love to hear it when it fired up - it would just "hum" sitting there in the garage. Mine was pearl black with slight flakes of blue with violet-purple rims and matching thin streaks up the sides of the tail section. Wherever we went - at Daytona, at Springfield or Du Quoin - people would come up to me and admire it. I might go find a good used one.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

This motorcycle, apart from being a pleasure to ride, has to be the most reliable machines ever built. I purchased it from someone that rarely rode it, with a little over 6,000kms on the clock, and it is about to roll over 110,000kms. Apart from basic maintenance (changing fluids, filters, chain, sprockets, etc), it has required no work. Admittedly, it gets ridden almost every day of the week - commuting to work, joy rides and quick trips to the shop. Whatever the secret, congratulations must go to those boffins at Suzuki.

On an interesting side note, I am not a huge fan of the look of the earlier RF900s, but the Manta Ray is very easy on the eye and random strangers often compliment the bike - hurray for British racing green!

Overall, it is the perfect race/tourer cross.

Faults:

Blown brake light bulb, and blown blinker bulb.

General Comments:

I really like these bikes. I test rode a 95 RF600R a while back, trying to trade it for my 86 Trans Am. Ever since, I've wanted one. I was searching craigslist and found the one... a 1997 RF900R with just under 18k for $2200, I scooped it up for $1800.

The bike looks amazing! It's clean as a whistle, and runs great. It was repainted, but they did a great job. It's a 97, with the slightly different paint scheme of the 98. It has a full 2.5" D&D pipe going to a D&D can. Sounds great, comfy as hell, and damn fun. It's not the fastest on the road, but it will get up and go when needed. One big turn on for me was that it won't lift the front wheel by just rolling on the throttle... unless you regear it.

Being my "first" bike, since I rode my Harley all of 4 times in the 3 months I owned it due to it not running right, I was very excited to get it. I've been riding several times a week and the bike just loves it.

I would highly recommend these bikes to anyone. They are comfortable, handle well, quick, and fun.