Yamaha Demo Day: My FZ-09 and FZ-10 Riding Impressions

Yamaha was in town last weekend showcasing their bikes and having demos. Since I had missed the Ducati Riding Experience this year, I was determined not to miss this one. Most importantly, I really wanted to test out the XSR900. As evident from my title, though, that did not happen. Rain had cancelled the previous weekends demo elsewhere in the Metroplex and it looked like they lined up for this one. The demos were set up as 40 minute time slots, 30 minutes on the bikes. Groups were 9 people in each and the event ran from 10-4:40, so there were just not a terrible amount of slots either. To compound this issue, there was only one of each bike and the XSR was a popular one. The route chosen was surface streets through the suburbs, no highway and no real chance to open them up but I guess gives an accurate representation of 90% of the riding I do. Still, I had a blast and had the chance to ride a couple of bikes that I probably never would have otherwise.

FZ-10

Positioning and Comfort: The FZ-10 definitely maintains a relaxed and upright riding position. I am just short of 6’ so I generally don’t have any issues flat footing bikes to begin with but the seat was a reasonable height and comfortable. The pegs are only slightly behind your feet and quite low with bars easily in reach. This all makes for a pretty comfy ride. If you wanted to take it to a track the set-up is likely too relaxed and some rearsets would not go unappreciated, but then again this thing was designed for the street. Also of note are the mirrors which are quite good with very little vibration noticed and made wide and far enough to the outside that you even have a good view of who is directly behind.

Instruments: I had no issues reading the instrument panel at a stop or on the go. Though it does appear a little crowded at first, everything is placed distinctively so that you do not have to have your attention on it for more than a second. This is the first bike that I’ve ridden with a gear position sensor and, even if it still seems like a bit of a novelty, it was nice to see at a glance where you were. For example, I could also see that the pace of our group was so slow enough that I took all of my turns in first gear.

Engine: This one I found to be it's greatest shortcoming.

Cons: I guess the most surprising thing was that there is barely any bottom end. When taking off from a stop it feels like a 250 since you really have to rev it out to get going. It does not help that the throttle feels a bit detached from the engine. In all three modes, A, Std, and B, there was a slight delay in engine response.

Pros: The throttle is lightly sprung and fueling is very smooth which really helps when on bumpy streets or on long stretches of the highway with wrist fatigue. Like I said, I took all my turns in first gear and experienced zero snatching going through. Once past 4-5K, the sounds and sensations start kicking in, the bike starts to pull, and things start to fit together, but should it really take that long to do so? Though muted with the stock exhaust, the cross-plane sound is very cool.

Overall: Honestly, the engine was a pretty big let-down considering the fact that it’s from the current R1 and has all the cross-plane woogly moogly magic. There was never a sense of urgency with the power delivery and for me that takes a few points of from a bike in the 1000cc naked/hooligan segment. If the schedule wasn’t filled out I would have loved to have ridden the R1 to better feel what the engineers had changed between the two.

Brakes: Seriously lacking in any sort of bite and also a bit soft, perhaps they needed to be bled again? Overall I was not very impressed.

Suspension: At 155 lbs with gear, very few suspensions are under sprung for me. I assume that the bike was set up with factory settings and I found the ride to be fairly plush. The dealership that was hosting this even was actually very close to my home and I have ridden on the streets the route was on since I first started riding, so I am very well acquainted with the dips, bumps, and cracks that we went over. Though we never pushed the pace, the FZ-10 felt planted around curves and well composed over pavement inconsistencies.

Overall: I can't say that this would be a bike that I am interested in making my own. I talked to one of the ride leaders afterwards and they also corroborate my critiques on its engine and brakes. Funny enough, I had gone with a friend was still pretty new to riding and I actively discouraged him from testing it out of fear that it would be too much bike. After riding it, I feel that my concerns were overblown as it is surprisingly user friendly and he most likely would have been a-OK on it. Maybe I am a bit spoiled or jaded by my current ride but I felt that Yamaha used the FZ1, rather than the R1, as their base, contrary to what the Europeans have been doing, and it suffers for it.

FZ-09

Positioning and Comfort: Very similar to that of the FZ-10, though perhaps even more relaxed. I felt that the pegs were perhaps a little bit further forwards but the bars sat at essentially the sample place. Most noticeable was that the FZ-09 was significantly narrower than the 10, which comes as no surprise as it has one cylinder lopped off, but it does play into that fun/light/flickable feeling you want. The mirrors would buzz quite a bit at some points, though I am not sure if it was due balancing of the engine layout or just cost cutting on the mirrors.

Instruments: Again very similar to the FZ-10, the LCD gives a lot of information in a well designated and organized space. My only minor complaint is that the dummy lights only illuminate the lines of their respective icon, versus how the FZ-10 would backlight the entire circle around the icon. The results in them being less visible while on the go and, as I had prided myself as not being “That Guy” who forgets the cancel their turn signal while on the 10, I totally left the indicators on for a couple of miles on the 9.

Engine: Having owned or ridden a single, parallel twin, V-twin, V-four, and inline four, I finally got to check Triple off of my list. I won’t split this one up into pros/cons because I really enjoyed this engine. It strikes a nice balance between the brash excitement and vibration of a twin and the linear smoothness of the inline four to make a very interesting mill. It also makes a pretty sound to boot. Like the 10, the throttle spring was pretty light so comfortable on the wrists around town and I am sure on the highway as well. Unlike the 10 it felt like it actually wanted to move from the stopped position and go forward, requiring fewer revs from a stand still. It still did suffer from that slight disconnected feeling, however.

Brakes: I can’t really recall how they felt so they must not have been bad. Since I can’t recall how they felt, they must not have been very good either.

Suspension: I said that due to my featherlike qualities that I don’t usually deal with under sprung suspensions, but I definitely noticed a difference between the two. The FZ-09 was softer, digging deeper into the dips, and bouncing higher coming out. The complaints from an average weight person of under-dampened and undersprung suspension seems completely reasonable to me, but on a day-to-day, commuter basis it probably wouldn’t bother me much.

Overall: If they stuck the FZ-10’s springers on to this one then they would have a real winner, though I guess that was the point of the XSR. Yamaha, come back. I wasn't finished with you...