Back in the late 80s, the manufacturers were trying to build the fastest, razor sharp race replica for the street. The Yamaha FZR 1000 was one of the entries in that competition. It was quick, it was fast and it handled extremely well, though, as the years went by, companies raised performance and handling to ever higher levels and riders forgot how well the bikes of those earlier years really worked. I guess people thought that if the bikes were faster and sharper, so were their skills and these “slow” bikes were no longer worthy. Right.
This 1989 FZR 1000 is a really clean example and looks well cared for. The owner says it has YZF750R upside down forks, a common swap back then, which made it handle even better than it already did, though, in truth, few riders had the skill to be able to tell. This bike also shows you don’t need to spend huge dollars to get a nice ride. Too often these older bikes are so terribly thrashed, they don’t survive the abuse, but a few look like they had a better life.
Sometimes we focus on the really exotic bikes of earlier years and we miss bikes that are both affordable and still worth serious consideration. Perhaps this is one of those.
Check it out. It’s for sale on eBay. Listing has ended.