thing you notice is its length. At 59.6
inches, the wheelbase feels abnormally
long, and once you get going, you notice
it doesn't steer anywhere near as quickly
with its lazy 26-degree rake as some-
thing like a Triumph 765 RS that I'd just
jumped off.
At that point, I began to reevaluate
just who the 900 R is designed for. This
isn't a hyper middleweight naked bike (is
that even a class?) like the 990 Duke or
the Triumph. This is the kind of bike you
buy as a commuter that can have a bit
of fun when you want without scaring
the pants off you.
At a claimed 459 pounds, the 900 R
isn't massive, but it's not a featherweight,
either. After all, Kawasaki claims its new
Z900 SE ABS weighs a claimed 12 pounds
more, but it has a sportier personality than
the Beemer could ever have.
The 900 R's parallel-twin has been
around in one form or another since God
was a wee lad, and although it doesn't
have pull-your-arms-out acceleration,
it does have a pretty consistent torque
curve that makes for easy point-to-point
traffic riding, while the slightly tall fifth
and sixth gears mean freeway cruising
is a sub-5000 rpm breeze at 60 mph.
Zipping between the canyons for our
photoshoot, the 900 R was more than
happy to play along and give its best
big-boy, naked-bike impression. Turn the
traction control off, and it'll throw a front
wheel up with the best of them (see
our cover shot). However, because the
chassis is so long, it's one of the most
controllable bikes I've ridden in a long
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P103
Commuter cruises or backroads
weekend weapon—the F 900 R is more
than happy in both scenarios.
