| 1995–99 Cagiva River 600 |
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| Performance |   |
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| It's basically a Yamaha XT/SRX600 motor, with all its usual faults and features. It's a bit coarse and rather slow compared to other bikes of similar displacement and physical size. |
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| Handling |  |
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| It's no track bike, but light weight, a stiff aluminum spar frame and big, modern brakes make the River handle as well as any other midsize commuter and better than any vintage thumper. |
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| Looks | |
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| The overall appearance is fairly mundane. The best thing I can say it that it is mostly unobjectionable, except for the way the tank looks as if it's melting over the frame spar. |
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| Reliability | |
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| The large oil cooler remedies the Yamaha engine's one weak point. Beware of the later 500cc version, which has an inferior Cagiva-assembled engine. |
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| Practicality | |
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| The River would be very capable for running errands in town, but there are a plethora of Japanese bikes that are just as capable and much, much less hassle to own. Parts and service support are sketchy, even in Europe. (My standard two-point hit in this category for foreign-market bikes has been deducted.) |
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| Desirability | |
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| A total snoozer, even for someone like me who enjoys single-cylinder bikes. I'd rather have the Hawk GT's better engine in a similar spar frame, or the same engine with SRX-6's sexier looks. Even Asiawing's Chinese knock-off has more intriguing bodywork. |
