Bargain of the Week!
- 1DOWN 5UP
- Oct 19, 2016
- 3 min read
So this is my first budget bike feature and hopefully starting with a good one! The goal is to find an interesting bike each week with a maximum budget of just £1500.
With the recent reveal of the new Yamaha R6 in america I thought it would be fitting to start off with the yamaha middle weight. And while the new bike might be a showcase of cutting edge technology, and look superb with those r1/m1 inspired looks (horrible exhaust excluded), looking back at the first R6 refreshed my memory on how much of a gamechanger it really was!
If you take its competition at the time we see how different the R6 really was.
Honda's 600 sportsbike offering was the long in the tooth CBR600f and although is was competent it looked like a big comfy sports tourer in comparison.
And while the ZX6R had similar fire power with its G series DOHC 4cyl on 36mm Carbs with kawasaki's ram air to push the output upto 106bhp and 48ft-lb of torque compared to the little R6 it felt heavy and was more suited to the road.
The yamaha R6 when it burst onto the scene promised to be a race bike for the road, while its not exactly a full on race bike it was scalpel like compared to the competition.
The main reason why it felt so sharp was its fast light handling making it tip into corners with ease which is why so many for sale are ex track bikes and backed up yamaha's claim of race bike for the road. Its handling was so good that even today its not far behind the latest 600 weapons.
The engine in the R6 was a peach.... all be it a very loud shouty peach!!
Gone was the engine from the thundercat,this was a new engine with 108bhp and wait for it...... a 15,500rpm red line which was stratospheric at the time! (The zx6r managing 1500rpm less).
This scream of an engine would propel the R6 to a top speed of 160mph which can be considered "plenty". Although a few of those ponies from the example below may have jumped the fence the aftermarket can if set up properly maybe helping to corral a few back.
The example offered up this week below will still have all the mentioned attributes. Having only completed 18,000 miles the bike should be in fine fettle and it certainly looks a good example!
Things worth looking out for are general wear and tear such as rear sprocket, fork seals, chain and brakes etc.
Another item worth checking would be the steering head bearings as wear here would not help the R6's sharp handling.
Also run it up and check for hesitance and fluctuations with a bit of throttle as that end can may mean the carbs need balancing properly.
A quick search and a few of these first R6's turn up in our price range so there are some alternatives to choose from should you not like the look of this one.
Personally I like the red and white colour scheme on this bike and the fact the mrs doesn't like red bikes makes me like it more!
All in all it could be a bit of a gamble with no mention of service history, but an R6 for £1500 is a belter of a bargain and a massive amount of giggles per £!!
See the ad here:
Has anyone purchased an early R6 recently? Let us know! We'd love to hear your story!
Written by Liam Sollars
Comments