1997 Yamaha reviews

I purchased my YZF new and after owning three other bikes I still love my YZF. This is a nice all day ride and has enough power to get your heart pumping. People ask me all the time what year is that bike and tell me how much they like it or call it old school but There will always be a spot in my garage for this bike. Show less

I own a 97 bought new in 98. I'm an experienced rider who rode many bikes before, like an 86 VFR750, a 92FZR1000, a ZX9. and a YZF1000R. Thunderace is the best bike I have owned or ridden. It does everythink so well, power, brakes, and suspension are very good. I traveled on mine almost 88000 km and it still runs very good. But it always burns some oil, but so did my 92FZR1000 which is the same engine. I was told it is normal for this engine to burn about 1L of oil in 3000km. Mechanic told me engine was designed this way just like the racing engines back then 15 years ago. If yours burns oil, don't worry, just keep adding oil and sometimes add combustion chamber cleaner to disolve carbon deposits and the engine will last you for ever. I repleaced two rear brake callipers, one rear shock and two radiator caps, all those three parts on yzf1000 are known to fail, callipers are seizing, rear shocks start to leak oil and rad caps lose spring tension causing bike to run hot and spitting out coolant through overflow tank drain pipe. I'm keeping mine! Show less

I can't believe how many people look at my bike and ask what year is that and when I tell them it's a 97 they say wow that bike looks great for being 8 years old.
Just a few things that the bike needs:

1. Jet Kit, the throttle response is a little slow. *but what can you do, it's a carbureted engine.
2. An exhaust, but that is for personal reasons.

Other than that, I love the bike, although finding aftermarket parts for a bike that is 8 years old is kind of hard. So if you buy one and want to buy aftermarket parts you search real hard!
Drive hard, and drive fast! Show less

This is an excellent "first time bike". This is the first street bike that I rode. It was a little shaky at first, but some new tires quickly changed that. I put on a D&D show n go chrome slip on, and the bike responded very well. The sound is great and the power picked up too. The only down side to this bike is trying to find parts and info. There are no aftermarket fairings for this bike; it all has to come from Yamaha, which can cost a lot. The bike has a lot of get up and go, but I would like it to wheelie when I approach high revs in first or second. It wants to but it just doesn't have the power to come up. I am looking for a 15 tooth front sprocket to give it more power on the front end. The original is a 16 tooth. Show less

Great allaround bike, I've owned 10 different motorcycles and this by far is the best all around performer, but not until I ordered a D&D full exhaust for it, now this really made the bike breath better on the autobahn it's always fun watching the other bikes in my rearview mirror get smaller. Yours trully having fun on the autobahn. Show less

I had this bike from march 2003, after 4200 miles on the clock the bike has loosen up on the gear box,beggining to understand the bike more on handling and brakes.More I ride the more I like.My friend wants to buy mine but what can I buy ? So why should I sell a perfectly reliable machine to get something that needs alot of attention.I love my YZF,Its still the best and the most UNDERRATED. Show less

This is a excellent "first time bike". This is the first street bike that I rode. It was a little shaky at first, but some new tires quickly changed that. I put on a D&D show n go chrome slip on, and the bike responded very well. The sound is great and the power picked up too. The only down side to this bike is trying to find part and info. There are no aftermarket fairings for this bike, it all has to come form Yamaha, which can cost a lot. The bike has a lot of get up and go, but I would like it to wheelie when I approach high revs in first or second. It wants to but it just doesn't have the power to come up. I am looking for a 15 tooth front sprocket to give it more power on the front end. The origingal is a 16 tooth. Show less

This is my first brand new bike. After graduating from the Technical University of Denmark I simply had to spend some money to make me feel better so on april 21. 2000 I got the keys to my spankingly new Thunderace!!!!!!!. The point is that you can buy happiness ;o) Going up from my previous GSX 750F (or my GS 550E for that matter) was quite a leap. The mid range power in particular is quite impressive, even when two up. Here's a little bit of advice to others who get to ride pillion on one of these babies: Be aware of what the rider is doing 'cause if he cracks it open while your guards are down .....whoops! The Ace is an amazingly quick bike while at the same time being very easy to ride thanks to the glitch free power delivery from 2500 rpm to the redline (limter cuts in @ 12.000 rpm). The bike feels so planted in turns but the pegs touch down quite early on the stock suspension settings. Mid turn course changes produce no sweat - actually I find the Ace much quicker steering than bikes like the Mille or the ZX6R. Only slight input through bars and pegs is needed to get the bike on its ear - sort of like a grown up CBR 600. Add to this feature that getting on the gas doesn't disturb the bike's suspension which when it's still young is best described as .... yummy! Later on the rear compression damping totally evaporates leaving the rider in charge with 200 kgs of pogo stick action :o( Mid turn braking makes the bike stand up and head for the outside kerb especially on the originally fitted Macadams (Get rid of 'em a.s.a.p!) so be ready to apply some counter steering if you enter a turn a bit too friskly. Rider comfort is pretty good as long as you are on the move. In city traffic the wrists get loaded quite heavily but after a few months of training it seems to go away. The fairing protects most of the upper body from the elements (I'm 1,91 m or 6 ft. 3 tall) and the air around the rider's helmet is turbulence free. Mostly for fun I've fitted a Double Bubble screen from Zero Gravity - it's been a nice improvement over the original. Better wind protection and now I can even see the instruments without having to break my neck. The riding position means that my knees are quite bent but it hasn't really been a problem even after 30.000 km in one season and the seat padding is good enough for hours of riding. As far as the pillion seat goes .... well it's nice and wide but there isn't much in the way of leg room or grab handle which make it mostly suited for those of minor statue. A top box is a good comforter for nervous pillions and the GIVI mono rack doesn't spoil the bike's looks entirely although that's a matter of opinion. The five ratios are a little tight when the bike is new and they engage with audible cluncks! Especially the change from 2. to 3. gear is difficult to accomplish without making some noise but the lever action is positive and I haven't found any false neutrals yet. After the first few thousand miles the box loosen up considerably and today I'm quite happy with it. First goes to 65 mph, second to 100, third to 125 etc. On par with the other sporty Yamahas the front brakes are the immensely powerful Sumimoto one piece calipers biting 298 mm discs. After two sets of pads there is no indicaton of warped discs of which I've heard the Yamahas are renowned.... Two fingers on the lever is enough for almost anything but I don't look forward to emergency braking in the wet as the initial bite of sintered metal pads just might catch you out.... On June 11th 2000 I attended my first track day at Sturup Raceway outside Malm� in Sweden. What I day! I learned a lot about my bike and came home with big smile on my face. Later the same year on August 13. I went again. This time the Ace was shod with Pilot Sports and I had upped the rear preload and compression damping to approx. 75% while I only added one line of preload to the front. WAY TO GO!! The Pilots reach amazing levels of grip on a race track and the suspension tweeks had speeded up the steering to another dimension compared to stock settings so it was just a matter of grinding the foot rests away all day - pure entertainment! As far as irritating thing goes: The original Macadams are total garbage and serve only one purpose..... to be worn down to the tread as quick as possible (Burnouts anyone?) so they can be replaced with some really sticky rubber. As the chain is a huge pain to get to, I have fitted a Scot Oiler so now I only have to refill it every two weeks or so. The chain is still as new after 30.000 km thanks to being properly lubed all the time. I can definately recommend a Scot Oiler! When it's time to change the chain and sprockets it'll probably be the front sprocket that wears out first but of course it lives a tough life .... only 17 teeth to 145 bhp! Many people have experienced a considerable oil consumption on the earlier FZR 1000's but my Ace only uses a few deciliters between the regular sevices. The valves only need adjustment every 42.000 km so most of the servicing is very straight forward. The rear caliper was well corroded after 15.000 km which had killed the pads so I took it apart for a thorough cleaning and now it's fine. Whatever you buy new or used I advice to check and lubricate the needle bearings in the rear suspension link and swing arm pivot as they come totally dry from the factory and I seriously doubt that very many dealers take the time do dismantle the entire rear end to lube it with Molykote grease as per instructions every 3 services. I did it in a couple of hours and besides knowing how well everything is done it also gives you a chance to check an often neglected area of the bike. A complete service manual and micro fiches over all parts is found on the Thunderace Page. http://thunderace.scee.sony.co.uk/ Show less

I have owned the '97 Royal star Tour Deluxe for over a year now and enjoy it more every time I ride it. I looked seriously into the Harley Road King and Heritage Softtail. But the warranty, price and service charges for the Harley were just too much for what you get. I love Harley and their products but I love this bike even more. The ride is tight and the engine will purr. I ride with a number of Harley riders and get lots of comments. If you are researching this bike please look no further. You can buy a used one for under or around 10k and it will run, trouble free, forever. Happy trails. Show less

I have one of these and I am very pleased. It is very fast for its size and gets me where I wanna go. Show less