Spotted: RF600
Discussion
They are basically a teapot/Bandit (GSX600) underneath, using the old air/oil cooled motor, the RF600 got lost/forgotten amongst the CBR600 and GSXR600's of the time, the RF900 was a great bike though, it had a massive arse but it had Ferrari Testerossa style air intakes on the side, and went like s
t of a shovel, a mate had one and used to be able to keep up with my Exup, which surprised me, I've not seen a decent example of either for many years.Edited to say I don't think they are as bad looking as I remember, in fact they are almost cool, but I wouldn't want one.
Edited by Jazoli on Saturday 14th January 19:21
I had an RF9 until a couple years ago. I'd always liked the weird 'rocketship' styling, as I seem to remember Bike magazine calling it...I wasn't looking for one, I went to a dealer in SW London to look at a CBR1000FM but they had taken a deposit on it.
I had an insurance cheque burning a hole in my pocket so I said 'what else have you got?' and they just happened to have a very nice RF900R for similar money so I bought that.
I loved it, it was nearly as comfy as the CBR (I've got short legs so the riding position was fine) but so much torquier. I commuted it between Bow and Stevenage for 6 months through a proper cold winter then parked it up in my Mum's garage when I got posted abroad. Should have ridden it down to Malta really, but never got round to it.
Ended up selling it to a breaker as it needed quite a refurb by the time I came home.
I still look at them in the classifieds from time to time...I'l get another one of these days but only if I have the funds to get the wiring loom replaced and suspension sorted. The loom on mine was brittle like breadsticks!
Mine was like this:
not the worst colours but close...my sister called her Barbie!
I had an insurance cheque burning a hole in my pocket so I said 'what else have you got?' and they just happened to have a very nice RF900R for similar money so I bought that.
I loved it, it was nearly as comfy as the CBR (I've got short legs so the riding position was fine) but so much torquier. I commuted it between Bow and Stevenage for 6 months through a proper cold winter then parked it up in my Mum's garage when I got posted abroad. Should have ridden it down to Malta really, but never got round to it.
Ended up selling it to a breaker as it needed quite a refurb by the time I came home.
I still look at them in the classifieds from time to time...I'l get another one of these days but only if I have the funds to get the wiring loom replaced and suspension sorted. The loom on mine was brittle like breadsticks!
Mine was like this:
not the worst colours but close...my sister called her Barbie!
Jazoli said:
Pothole said:
Mine was like this:
not the worst colours but close...my sister called her Barbie!
Almost the worst colour scheme on a '90's bike, only the cocktail colours of the YZF750 were worse not the worst colours but close...my sister called her Barbie!
Jazoli said:
They are basically a teapot/Bandit (GSX600) underneath, using the old air/oil cooled motor, the RF600 got lost/forgotten amongst the CBR600 and GSXR600's of the time, the RF900 was a great bike though, it had a massive arse but it had Ferrari Testerossa style air intakes on the side, and went like s
t of a shovel, a mate had one and used to be able to keep up with my Exup, which surprised me, I've not seen a decent example of either for many years.Edited to say I don't think they are as bad looking as I remember, in fact they are almost cool, but I wouldn't want one.
Edited by Jazoli on Saturday 14th January 19:21
The world record at the bottam of the wiki page looks good , wonder if it still stands?AMv8 dreamer said:
I think they were water cooled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rf600 The world record at the bottam of the wiki page looks good , wonder if it still stands?
Yes of course you are right, The world record at the bottam of the wiki page looks good , wonder if it still stands?
It was the previous teapot that was air cooled.
After an hour I couldn't walk as my knees had cramped solid when I had one.Just found my old 9 for sale: http://www.motorbikes4all.com/328743/used-bikes.ht...
A bit more than I got for it...
A bit more than I got for it...
I worked at Carnells for most of 1996 and the only way we could sell them was low APR, 5 years credit and with free insurance. I seem to recall taking £99 deposits off several customers, setting up their free insurance, taxing and registering the bike and the buyer would have "disappeared" when it came time to collect, clearly regretting his/her £99 impulse buy.
From a dealership point of view, made for an expensive used bike, now without the benefit of free insurance!
From a dealership point of view, made for an expensive used bike, now without the benefit of free insurance!
ZZ said:
I worked at Carnells for most of 1996 and the only way we could sell them was low APR, 5 years credit and with free insurance. I seem to recall taking £99 deposits off several customers, setting up their free insurance, taxing and registering the bike and the buyer would have "disappeared" when it came time to collect, clearly regretting his/her £99 impulse buy.
From a dealership point of view, made for an expensive used bike, now without the benefit of free insurance!
You didnt work for the Petorborough branch did you :-)From a dealership point of view, made for an expensive used bike, now without the benefit of free insurance!
Thats exactly how my mate brought his one and exactly how he brought his next bike,a 99 Thunderace,which was around 10k back then,and exactly how he filed for bankrupsy 4 months later after figuring out he couldnt afford the £249 monthly payments for 5 yrs.t
t.helmutlaang said:
Mate of mine brought a brand new Rf 600 in yellow back in 96 from Carnells.
We both thought it was the dogs bkss until he took me out on the back of it for a blast.
90 is the most it would do.Bloody crap.
We both thought it was the dogs b
kss until he took me out on the back of it for a blast.90 is the most it would do.Bloody crap.
Jazoli said:
It must have been broken then or you were a pair of fat fkers, the 600 would happily hit 135 or so 
kers, the 600 would happily hit 135 or so Indeed, mine would indicate 147 whenever it was asked too.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff