Yamaha XJ600 Diversion (1992-2004)

Bought the bike to commute on - sick of late, astinking trains. Did everything asked of it, and provided a fair bit of fun. Easy to ride, easy to service, cheap to run, comfy. Discovered this : http://groups.msn.com/yamahadiversions - the friendliest, most informative bike group on the net. Strengths: Cheap, comfy, cheap, easy to service, cheap, unintimidating for new riders, cheap. Weaknesses: Cheap a bit slow.

This bike does it all. Commutes in sun rain and snow. I have managed to keep up with Suziki Bandits down lanes and on A roads. As long as you remeber its got basic suspension its fine. Strengths: Reliable, cheap to service and maintain. Will sit at 80 all day and return 40 - 45 MPG. Weaknesses: No fuel warning light! Soft suspension. Yamaha paint comes off of the wheels.

If you've got a limited Budget and do sky high milage, this could be the bike for you, If you can put up with the lack of speed that is. In 50k only one break down and that was due to a corroded connector. Not sure why people moan about the finish. Wash mine once a week and still looks ok. Crashes well to boot. Chucked it down the road at 20mph, still rideable afterways. Could do with another 20bhp and shaft drive but you can't have everything. Hold on a minute maybe you can xj900 here we come :)

Cheap, reliable transport. Used it to do 90 mile a day motorway commute. Generally reliable- rear fuel pump, shocks and wheel bearings replaced under warranty. Electrics are placed in a vulnerable position under the seat so the starter switch wire corrodes over time.

Dislikes - Rear brake collects dust and squeaks no matter how much it's cleaned. Mirrors not much use at high speed due to vibration. Likes - perfect bike to learn real riding on after doing my Direct Access. Nice sounding engine. Very reliable.

The buzz at 4000-4500rpm makes the mirrors vibrate badly enough to make them useless - pity that 4000-4500 rpm equates to motorway cruising speed...

An excellent bike for riding to work everyday whatever the weather. Handles adverse weather very well, has so far felt very capable of handling most situations remaining stable throughout . Extremely comfortable to ride for hours, although on out of town journey's the wind buffeting can get a bit tiring. However if I lie on the tank I have got 116 out of it.