1993 GTS1000

[arjayes]

You don't see these around very often:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/mcy/5013260492.html

What a gorgeous bike, and no forks! Any former GTS1000 owners here? It was only sold in the USA for two years ('93-'94) so it would be a small group.

Would be a great addition for one of you collectors out there.

 

[greg the pole]

friend of mine has a blue one, and the original owner to boot!
Neat bikes. YZF/FZR1000 motor, fun.

 

[2112]

They were a bit of an oddball that never really caught on. I think people are wary of the strange front end as it is just so different to what people are used to. BIKE magazine dropped a 750 motor in one and raced it around the Isle of Man with reasonable success one year if I remember correctly.

 

[Squibb]

They were a bit of an oddball that never really caught on. I think people are wary of the strange front end as it is just so different to what people are used to. BIKE magazine dropped a 750 motor in one and raced it around the Isle of Man with reasonable success one year if I remember correctly.

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If memory serves me, I think it was Steve Linsdell (Flitwick Motorcycles), long term Yamaha tuning guru, who managed to get the GTS working around the Isle of Man - I guess Bike Mag might have blagged a ride at some stage. SL ended up making huge mods, to just about everything. I'm sure Yamaha learnt a lot from the process - so much so that the concept has, as yet, failed to reappear.

I recall trying a GTS, when demos were first available back in the day; My normal ride was a CBR1000, so I liked the sound of ABS & hub centre steering. However, the GTS seemed uninspiring & the ABS way too sensitive - it seemed to be intervening all the time. Defazio & Bimota have tried, then BMW have fitted various funny front ends - personally I still prefer a good set of Tele forks, despite their potential inefficiencies, but I am more than happy to try any viable alternatives. I had a K1600 for a bit - & a very unreliable beast it was. The fork legs always seemed frail to me, the front strut failed, but even when fixed I was never happy with the accuracy of the front end feedback. Each to their own I guess.

Hope your knee is on the mend 2112. We are off to Italy late June on an FJR - I always dread picking up an injury at the wrong moment.

Ride Safe ........... KEN

 

[2112]

You have a better memory than me Squibb, fair play to you for remembering that much detail ::008::

I remember Ron Haslam wrestling a very slow Elf 500 around the GP tracks of Europe with a funny front end. I think the front end worked OK but the rest of the bike was an issue ! My knee is still throbbing and could do with getting better a lot quicker than it is. 'Homes under the hammer' should never be the highlight of anyone's day...

 

[Donk]

Cool bike, thanks for posting the link. I think it might be a better bike to admire than to own.

 

[markjenn]

The problem with these as used bikes is that the ABS system has lots of issues and there is no product support from Yamaha these days. I took an extensive test ride when they were new and it was an impressive bike, but you did have to adjust to the steering, especially at low speeds. Anybody passing an MSF parking lot test in one of these has my admiration.

- Mark

 

[shrekonwheels]

Still makes me drool.

 

[simmons1]

I owned one back in the mid 90's for about 4 years. I really enjoyed it but the reliability of its high tech parts was poor. I traded it in at about 18K miles. In the time I owned it the fuel pump failed ($550), the front shock was leaking ($1500), and the ABS pump failed ($3200). It also consumed a fair amount of oil at fast highway speeds.

When I traded it in, it had the leaky front shock, it had a fuel pump from a Chevy cobbed in it, and the ABS didn't work.

I swapped it for 99 ZX11 that I put 80k trouble free miles on it. I loved that bike but I was going to go broke if I continued to ride it.