Valentino Rossi rides an XJ

According to an Aussie website, #46 himself rides an XJ when he's at home and taking a quick ride to the store or whatever. It's the XJR1300, Yamaha's big air-cooled, retro bike, with the engine based on the old FJ mill, which I think was related to the original XJ engine.
http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au ... -s-choice/
Maybe someone could send him an XJ patch to put on his leathers.
Speaking of leathers, have you ever noticed at his collar are the letters VVLF?
It looks like WLF but it's actually V V L F.
VLF stands for Viva la Figa.
Translation: Long Live p****. Except in Italian the inference is somewhat more vulgar.
The story I'd read in Stuff magazine a couple years ago was that MotoGP owners Dorna tried to convince him to remove it after getting complaints from Italian feminists. At that time it was simply VLF. Rossi compromised by making it VVLF or Viva VIVA la Figa, Long LONG live p****. When Dorna said this was actually worse in their opinion, his response was: The patch goes, I go. Of course that shut them up.
Well, it's not the worst sentiment in the world...

 

That's right, rub it in.

WE CAN'T HAVE THESE SOMEBODY WANNA TELL ME WHY???



I guess we're not worthy...

 

Don't worry, Fitz, we here in Canada don't rate the big XJR either - nor do our friends in the US, I think. In fact, the UK and some parts of Europe might be the only places you can get the beast. Too bad. I'd line up for one of those babies and I've told Yamaha Canada as much but they claim their thumb-up-the-bum committees know better than me what I want. Amazing, isn't it!? They're so smart! No wonder they're 4th in Canadian sales among the big four. Top work, lads!

 

We get the XJR here in Oz, but having ridden one back to back with the Suzuki Bandit a few years back, it's not worth selling your mother for. It does have a slick 'box, and it's a nice compliant bike, but the Bandit murdered it pretty well everywhere.

And then Suzuki brought out the GSX1400. Sorry, but the XJR is no match for that one either IMO.

 

He prolly got it for free- - like a pit bike. Free leathers and helmet too.

 

Yeah, since Yamaha's sales shot up something like 2000% after he won a passel of MotoGP titles for them, I guess I'd give him a couple of bikes - and leathers, and helmet, and a house, a few cars, some women too. Whatever. Nothing sells like success, as they say. Plus, the guy's a demon on wheels. Should be interesting to see if he can keep up the motivation after last season. I know the Aussie contingent here have a soft spot for compatriot Casey Stoner. The lad's a top rider and he won a title a couple years back but he needs to dominate over the course of a few seasons to be remembered in years to come. Still hard to say if his 'illness' was physical or psychological, not that it makes much difference. You feel like cack, you feel like cack, whatever the reason. I don't agree with Stoner bashers that say he's weak minded. Anybody that can wrestle that big Duke around the track so beautifully and win a title, he deserves a ton of respect. Here's to hoping we see a battle to the wire for this year's crown. But Dorna better watch it - WSBK is a real challenger, often having more exciting, far closer racing. Anyway, won't go on and on about it but I for one, can't wait for the two wheeled games to begin, MotoGP, WSBK, AMA superbike and the local stuff, Canadian vintage racing and the Canadian superbike series. By the way, there's a couple of XJ550s in this year's Canadian vintage series I'll be keeping my eye on. I'll report back how they do.
thanks,
baz

 

Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, Padrosa, All the MotoGP riders deserve all the respect we can give them. Such skill............a delight to watch. I love Motorcycle road racing at any level.
The big difference between a motorcycle fan and an automotive fan: The auto fan thinks deep down that under the right conditions he could do that. The motorcycle fan KNOWS that he could never touch those guys in skill........very dirty underwear. JMHO.
And the season started this weekend "Down Under"!

 

Sure did:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... pener.html

Race 1 won by 0.004 sec 8O

Good on ya Leon Haslam!

 

+1000....

it doesnt matter if the bandit out performed it. its not available here anymore either (if i recall correctly)...

it doesnt matter if the gsx18,000 out performs it. im not looking for that kind of bike...

the whole reason i LOVE my 750R is because of its stance (im not laying down with 40% of my weight on my wrists) and because of its looks. i dont care for the race bike look and i DONT like the sculptured faceted looking bikes most of the imports are trying to pass off as 'standards'...

i found some prices last year from overseas and they ran about $12,000 i think. im not a silver fan but the silver with the blue rally stripe was smokin!

 

If you want one so bad, why don't you import one as a personal import??

 

I know that in Canada, importing a single brand new vehicle is a hellish process. It has to be proven that the vehicle is "crash worthy", whatever that means in a bike. I think that if an official importer, like Yam Canada doesn't bring it in, you can pretty well forget it, unless you're super loaded.
thanks,
baz

 

Well, if you talk to the down to earth parts managers(whom mostly are real nice and helpful) the USA products are of a certain caliber.

Most of these caliber parameters make sense...to a certain point

1st is that manufacturers dont need to be making umpteen models, thats just not financially feasible.

2nd if you make only a few models your brand will try to capture the BIG and the medium, most likely a smaller starter bike(this gap makes some folks jump from a 250cc to a 600-1000cc, they may have just wanted a 400cc)

3rd, plastic sportbikes and chrome C-clamp riding position crusiers sell. MOST folks dont NEED a 140-180bhp scoot(enter the squid)
on the other hand, I just cant lope around at 15mph on a 45degree pushrod v-twin(sorry guys, but the louder your pipes are the more your compensating my friend) ONE EXCEPTION, you drag race your crusier and the noise is more than just sound...its mph.

So if your not in agreement with those facts you will be shopping Triumph, Ducati, or another Manufacturer who is not scared of venturing out of the STATUS QUO. Of course this puts you in the position of having higher cost repairs and maintenance

Guess thats why I am going Triumph Speed Triple once my cage is paid off!! 8)