Following a little ‘incident’ with my Suzuki GSXR 1000 K2 it was off the road for a while to be sorted. I was entitled to have a loan bike whilst my bike made the journey down to Ringwood to be assessed and repaired. They presented me with a Yamaha FZ1000 ‘Fazer’. Lovely.
My Suzuki GSXR1000K2. Now this is most definitely a sports bike
Just a Few Weeks
The ’55 plate FZ1000 was with me for two and a half months altogether. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that I had the bike, I could have been off the road for all that time. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to try out something completely different to my own bike. However, I am still struggling to figure out just what “category” the Fazer 1000 belongs in. Its most certainly not a sports bike, its not much use as a commuter: Being heavy and lumpy and difficult to manoeuvre at slow speeds through traffic. As a touring bike it doesn’t mile munch comfortably. The seat is not comfy and anything near motorway speeds is tiring with its lack of weather protection. Dirt? Er, no definitely not.
It’s fair to say I didn’t bond with the Yamaha
Onto the handling. Once I had finished comparing it to one of the best Japanese handling bikes there is (my GSXR), well it wasn’t to bad. Just so long as you didn’t ask too much of it. Soft suspension and long rake had it wallowing at speed round sweepers. Slow speed ‘twisties’ had you aching from the effort of active counter-steering. Despite this, it coped with everything I threw at it, and I threw lots at it! Although the wallowing was unnerving at first, it still always made it round the bend, surprising me at times that it did!
Seemed lacking
Power – well, when the driver of the van pulled the FZ out the back of the van I thought:
‘Well cant be too bad, its got a detuned R1 engine in it!”
I was wrong, the most frustrating thing about the FZ was its lack of pulling power. The reports says it has loads of grunt down the bottom of the rev range. However I found although it will pull from lowdown, it takes for ever, to get the best from the engine I worked it like a screaming 600.
Hard Life?
The gearbox was one of the worst I had ever experienced. In fairness that may have been down to wear rather than a manufacturer weakness, but it drove me mad. On other bikes I have ridden, you knock it up a gear, and the lever returns to original position, on the FZ, it didn’t return itself, I either had to gently tap it back, or really heft up to find the lever and then the next gear.
Once I got used to doing the tap down it was ok, but when I didn’t tap down it was an almighty whole body shifting experience. The clutch was very heavy but that was most likely due to adjustment…..oh, and the engine likes its oil lol, I rarely have to top up the K2 between filter/oil changes, I had to top up the FZ twice in just under 3,000 miles, yet the bike only had just over 7000 when I took delivery of it.
In the Eye of the Beholder
Looks: What can I say? Its ugly, would be better without the silly, useless little airing and screen. In my view they serve no useful purpose. The looks of the bike were not helped by the fact that, being a loan bike that passes through many hands, it was fitted with humongous engine bars. These were affectionately known as the scaffolding!
The scaffolding
Better Than no Bike!
Despite all of its faults (and it has many!), I still had some good rides on the Fazer. I pushed it hard, and it survived. I still kept up with, and on occasion flew passed, the sports bike riders, which also made it rewarding at times.
Would I buy one? Definitely not. Would I be happy to have one as a loaner again? Not happy, but satisfied, yes.
Please bear in mind that this was a loaner bike, and may not have been set up correctly. The FZS did seem to like its fuel, using more than the Suzuki. The poor thing may have had as much abuse thrown at it in the past that I subjected it too. So this little review may not be doing a well maintained and looked after FZ any justice whatsoever. Additionally I have heard that there have been vast improvements to the 2006 FZ1000, but this review is what I found with the loan bike I rode for some 3000 miles.
Words and Pictures: Julia Hutton (2006)