BIKETEST YAMAHA FZ1 FAZER:Three years after it's original, disastrous launch, Yamaha's Fazer finally foes what it should, writes GEOFF HILL.
AS GOOD starts go, Yamaha’s 2006 Fazer launch was up there with the maiden voyage of the Titanic – or, rather, down there.
Alongside the fact several journalists at the South African event slagged the bike senseless over a stuttering fuel-injection problem that kicked in below 4,000rpm, an Italian rider was killed doing a wheelie on the wrong side of the road – at which point Yamaha scrapped the launch and went home for some corporate head-scratching.
It wasn’t the first bout of corporate head-scratching in its history: when the Fazer was launched in 2001 as a user-friendly alternative to a sports bike, it cost a knee-trembling €9,500 – over €2,200 above the Bandit 1200.
For another €1,200, you could have got a brand new R1. After a year of disappointing sales and justifiable complaining by customers and dealers, Yamaha dropped the price to a slightly more realistic €8,600 and the bike began to pick up a following – much of which it probably lost after the criticism of the 2006 version.
With this version, though, Yamaha has at last come closer to what the Fazer was originally intended to be: the R1’s stripped down, quieter, more comfortable, more civilised brother.
It’s penned as the one you take to work, to the shops, for an A-road blast with your mates at the weekend and to Europe for a few weeks in the summer.
Like any jack of all trades, it is a master of none; rather than doing any one thing brilliantly, it does everything very nicely, making it a bike you could indeed live with, day in and day out.
And to be honest, these days there’s no such thing as a bad Japanese bike – just a slightly less amazing one, especially since the Fazer’s R1-based engine seems to have sorted those fuelling problems, to the extent that low-down power is entirely satisfactory, although not to the degree of the new R1 with its cross-plane crank, irregular firing and fly-by-wire throttle.
Anyway, since even a Vespa can beat cars away from the lights, all that means is you won’t get out of tight corners as quickly as you would on the R1, but you will corner on A-roads and overtake just as well, since you get the power where you use it most, in the midrange, and the maximum torque comes in at 8,000rpm, 1,000rpm less than on the R1.
At 220kg, it’s also heavier than not only the R1 but most naked bikes – but all that means is a slightly more civilised ride, exactly what you need if you’re using it every day.
It’s particularly well-matched to an exhaust system that produces a sweet – but understated – note that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, without putting a scowl on the neighbours’.
So the Fazer is a good all-rounder – exactly as it was meant to be in the first place.
What’s particularly interesting is it’s priced at only a few hundred smackers more than the cost of the original Fazer in 2001. And still about a grand less than an R1, funny enough.
As well-known biker Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said in 1849: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".
That’s French for cul-de-sac, in case you’re wondering.
Factfile
Engine:liquid-cooled 998cc parallel four-cylinder four-stroke with fuel injection
Maximum power:110.3kW (150bhp) @ 11,000rpm
Maximum torque:106Nm (10.8kg-m) at 8,000rpm
Top speed:249km/h
Front suspension:telescopic forks with 130mm travel
Rear suspension:swingarm with 130mm travel
Brakes:front – dual discs, 320mm; rear – single disc, 245mm
Fuel capacity:18 litres
Price:€10,250.
For your nearest dealer, contact Danfay Ltd, tel: 01-285 9177 or see yamaha-motor.ie. UK price £8,899.
(Test bike from Millsport Motorcycles of Ballymoney, 028 2766 7776)