Resurrecting another old thread cuz I think it's interesting.
My first street bike was a new 1989 Suzuki GS500E. I'd moved up to a Katana 600 with a built 750 in it when the 900RR was released in '92. I immediately fell in love with the thing, particularly with the red, white & blue paint scheme, but the price was beyond my limited means. I had (and still have) the 1992 Motorcyclist magazine Bike of the Year centerfold shot of the red, silver & black one on the wall in the garage.
Nearly a decade later, in 2001, after my motorcycle path had put me on a mint condition '78 KZ650 for a few years, I decided that I wanted another sport bike. At the point, I had the means to get something a little more costly than I did when I was 18.
I was initially looking at Yamaha R1's, but then, while getting some tools outta the back garage I saw the pic of the 900RR and was reminded that THIS was the bike I'd dreamed of as a new rider. When I picture "motorcycle" in my head, I see a sportbike with dual round headlights. In my eyes, the red, white, & blue '93 has been the best looking motorcycle ever produced since the first time I saw it, with the red, white & black '94 being a close second. I'm not a big fan of the modern harsh angular bug-looking slanty light bikes. I realized that there wasn't any need for the slight performance increase I'd get outta a newer bike, particularly if I had to take ugly aesthetics along with it. I'd spent time on a track in the early 90's and knew that even a decade old open class bike would have more performance than I'd ever use on the street. Plus, all the reviews and comments from owners I'd ever heard talked about the "raw" & "unrestrained" feel of the bike, which is the complete opposite of what sportbikes had become. Even by 2001 bikes had become so antiseptic. Sure, they're fast as hell with razor sharp handeling, but they've got no "soul" any more. So I immediately started looking for '93 - '94 900RR's.
After a few aborted starts (including being about 6 hours from heading out on a cross-country drive with my truck & trailer to look at what seemed to be a sure thing in Florida - dude sold it out from under me. At least he let me know before I left.) I ran across an ad in the classifieds of a Chicago paper (remember those anyone?) for a '93 nearby with a decent listed price. Maybe a little high, but not bad.
Turned out to be a good price, considering that the bike only had about 12,000 miles and about $8,000 worth of carefully researched and applied tuning mods. And on top of that, it was red, white & blue. My first choice! The bike was spotless. Its owner was a scientist at Fermilab. The bike came with a journal that included detailed notes and research on every single thing he did to the bike, and complete records down to the receipts for the oil & filter every time he changed them.
Unfortunately, it was stolen a few years later by a professional ring. I couldn't bring myself to replace it until just recently.
I again briefly thought about something more modern but then realized that I'd still never seen anything that stirred my heart like the original RR, so I started looking for another '93 - '94. I initially thought that I would have to have another red, white & blue one, but then decided that my 2nd one should have my 2nd favorite paint scheme so was really hoping for a red, white & black '94 to turn up. Due to the fact that these things are getting on 20 years old now though, I was resigned to the fact that I might have to go with another original scheme or someone's repaint and then have it repainted to the colors I wanted. I was also expecting to have to travel a ways to get what I wanted at a price I was happy with.
Luckily, just like the first time, one turned up relatively close to home and it was the paint scheme I wanted. Unlike my 1st one, this one had a few cosmetic issues, but seemed mechanically very sound and looked pretty damn good from 10 feet.
So, I'm a happy first generation CBR900RR owner once again. And until someone makes another dual-round headlight sportbike with speed holes in the fairings, I'm likely to remain so.
