DIVERSIONS SEEN THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE'S VISORS!

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sleekitwan
Lookin' Around
Lookin' Around
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:01 am
Location: God's own country!

Having just renewed 'Rosie's' insurance, I saw there was an e-zine the insurer did. After patrolling around a bit, I noticed they did a section of the good the bad and the ugly - you know what's coming.

So this guy writes up every week on what's caught his eye in the fleabay 'for sale' ads, and in the 600 bracket, there's the ZZR 600 Kwacker down as 'good' and the NTV 600 Honda Revere (shaft drive, water cooled etc) thing as 'ugly' then one of our prides and joys, the Yamaha XJ600 Diversion, gets a conflated write-up as the 'bad'.

BOO say us !

But, interesting to see what they say:

QUOTE -
If you’ve ever owned a Diversion 600 you already know that they’re great transport but if you want excitement the 'Divvy' (as they are known) isn’t where it’s at. The Suzuki Bandit 600 was the benchmark middleweight and the XJ600N would forever live in the it's shadow. The build quality was pretty decent in some areas but less so in others. Exhaust systems rotted out fairly sharpish and the shock and brake calipers also lead short lives. Many bikes have been broken for parts over the years but still there’s a shortage of decent used consumables to keep the remaining Diversions alive. When a value of motorcycle dips to around a grand many people choose not to invest in new parts like exhausts and shocks, this sends a few more to an early grave. This is probably one of the best Diversion 600s that’s left, with only 10,000 miles covered there’s plenty of life left in this Yamaha and even better it’s fitted with a full stainless 4 into 1 exhaust system.

Anorak Facts

Un-faired examples are more popular than faired ones. It’s easy to work out why!
END of QUOTE

I sat on quite a few other bikes before settling on a Divvy. What struck me was how small or uncomfortable the others were. This does not hit you until you sit astride the things. I saw one pic for example in Autotrader Bikes or whatever, of a faired Bandit 600 in red. Now this pic made the bike look massive. I don't know quite how, but when I saw the real machine, I thought it got shrunk.

Reminded me of those real estate pictures - like flats in London or apartments in San Francisco, that look like they have masses of space, then you see the place close-up and boy does disappointment and reality bite your arse! :(

So, when I slung a leg over the Divvie six, I had already done so in a showroom on an old used bike, and knew it would fit my inside leg etc and unlike the eliminator 750 I had (shared GPz750/900 motor but had shaft drive and reduced gearing to drag-strip) did not give me leg cramp on a distance.

The XJ range in general is boringly reliable - when you get it fixed, it stays fixed, bar those front calipers corroding perhaps, that's the only maintenance chore really, IMHO. You all know this.

Any other external views? There's that well-known MCN review calling the Divvie the vauxhall diesel Astra of the bike world (a compact GM car made in Europe). If you are satisfied the bike enables you to participate in riding to the extent you want to, then I guess slights really don't hit too hard.
Current bike year 2000 Yamaha XJ600N also called Seca II or Diversion 600. On an older bike air cooling is a blessing, no sludge and complexity of badly-maintained liquid cooling. Other bikes were: BMW K100 roadster; Honda VF750S Sabre with anti-dive.

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