MCN FZ8 Road test-The Verdict

[Ridgeback]

I'd like to scan the full article for you,but I'm not sure about copyright infringement etc

Anyways,MCN's verdict on the FZ8.
The upshot is it's a very good bike,more useable power than the FZ6/1 in the real world and a bike that feels right from the off.Headlight is from the XJ6 and the frame,swingarm and tail are from the FZ1,as are the brakes and instruments.
It will be wearing Battlax BT021's kicks out 106bhp and 60ftlbs of torque.
It got a bit of stick over it's budget suspension set up (43mm Kayaba non adjustable forks and Soqi Preload only Monoshock) but it dealt ok,apart from pushing on.fueling seemed spot on as did the overall power delivery,although it has had it's ECU set up to not deliver full power in 1st and 2nd

Here's two quotes for you -"Only one other bike in this sector has felt so right from the off,Triumphs fantastic Street Triple"

"The FZ8 delivers in terms of fun,dragging it's pegs round scenic mountain hairpins"

So will it sell? Maybe in Europe,where they love middleweight bikes,but over here in Britain one of the big stumbling blocks is the price. £8,000 for the naked and £9000 (nearly $14,000) for the half faired Yikes!

Next week is the Group test against the best of the rest,which is going to be intresting

 

[abacall]

I really hope they bring it here. Sounds like a good bike when it's time to replace my Fazer.

 

[sxty8goats]

Yikes, $14,000? I'm in no hurry to pick up a new bike but that doesn't inspire me to run out and check it out. We won't see her here in the States for a while anyway. Might pick one up that is 3 or 4 years old when the time comes.

 

[Norbert]

Thx for posting!

I'd like to see how it ranks against the Street triple and the new ducati monster 796.

The non-adjustable front and the price tag is kinda lame......

 

[Wavex]

Awesome! Thanks for this post... all the hate for the FZ8 in here based on reading a spec sheet alone wasn't justified, and the bike seems to indeed be a perfect street ride with power that's actually usable for everyday riding! Props to Yamaha!

btw, £9k doesn't mean it'll sell for $14k ni the States... most likely it will be around $10k MSRP...

 

[Doorag]

Sounds like there's plenty of room for some mods that could make it a screamer. Better hide my wallet from myself...

 

[ozzieboy]

Awesome! Thanks for this post... all the hate for the FZ8 in here based on reading a spec sheet alone wasn't justified, and the bike seems to indeed be a perfect street ride with power that's actually usable for everyday riding! Props to Yamaha!

btw, £9k doesn't mean it'll sell for $14k ni the States... most likely it will be around $10k MSRP...

Yup. It'll probably be 14k here in OZ. You have to expect the cheap suspension. Everyone who mods one up for the track uses aftermarket stuff anyway, and those that tour and commute generally are not too unhappy with the stock stuff, so why bother putting the good gear on there (this goes for most of the sports tourers). It would just drive up the price for a large portion of potential buyers who don't really want it, and certainly don't want to pay for it.

The use of parts already in production will keep production costs at rock bottom (not to mention utilize tried and proven components) and Yamaha stands to make a pretty tidy profit if they sell, and let's face it, they probably will. They've used some of the nicest bits off of two different bikes. They look sweet.

The let down for me is in the ponies, but I'm sure those that want the extra would just go out and get a Power Commander, After Market Exhaust and stacks etc. so again it's probably a smart move.

 

[Wavex]

Yeah, agreed... even though I personally don't think ponies mean much at all for a street bike... Bring on your 150HP against my 100HP down a twisty road (on which we won't go faster than 70mph) and let's see if that extra 50HP helps you be quicker than me a street bike needs torque much more than ponies, and this 8 has 50% more torque (and better spread torque for street use too) than the 6, so to me they nailed it...

 

[abacall]

Horsepower sells bikes, torrque wins races.
The 8 looks killer. I'll wait to get one used, as I do with all my motorized toys.
Add on a high-mounted exhaust to the naked model and I will have a VERY hard time waiting.

 

[grommit]

It was quite a good write up in MCN. The group test will be a must read.:thumbup:

 

[ozzieboy]

Yeah, agreed... even though I personally don't think ponies mean much at all for a street bike... Bring on your 150HP against my 100HP down a twisty road (on which we won't go faster than 70mph) and let's see if that extra 50HP helps you be quicker than me a street bike needs torque much more than ponies, and this 8 has 50% more torque (and better spread torque for street use too) than the 6, so to me they nailed it...

For the majority, for the street (which should be Yamaha's aim), you're probably right, which I sort of hinted at as being in the same boat as suspension (folks who want more, can upgrade), but still would've expected more..lol.

Having said that. A mate, Dash is one of the quicker riders round this neck of the woods. This is his new bike, which he'd had for 2 months before I got the FZ1 and went on my third FZ1 ride with him .

View attachment 26978

Which I'm pretty sure is this one.

View attachment 26979

I managed OK....lol.

It's very hard to compare two bikes with 2 different riders, but as I told Wolfman, when I came back from that ride, I was very surprised how easily the FZ1 monstered him. It doesn't get much tighter than Lobie road:rockon:.

Admittedly, up to 75mph I don't really bother changing out of 1stSo it's sitting in the power band in 1st nearly the whole time :BLAA:

But I do agree, it's a nice bike and should do well. :thumbup:

 

[Wavex]

For the majority, for the street (which should be Yamaha's aim), you're probably right, which I sort of hinted at as being in the same boat as suspension (folks who want more, can upgrade), but still would've expected more..lol.

Having said that. A mate, Dash is one of the quicker riders round this neck of the woods. This is his new bike, which he'd had for 2 months before I got the FZ1 and went on my third FZ1 ride with him .

View attachment 26978

Which I'm pretty sure is this one.

View attachment 26979

I managed OK....lol.

It's very hard to compare two bikes with 2 different riders, but as I told Wolfman, when I came back from that ride, I was very surprised how easily the FZ1 monstered him. It doesn't get much tighter than Lobie road:rockon:.

Admittedly, up to 75mph I don't really bother changing out of 1stSo it's sitting in the power band in 1st nearly the whole time :BLAA:

But I do agree, it's a nice bike and should do well. :thumbup:

The FZ1 didn't monster anything... you the rider did... I passed an R1 going up Montezuma road last month and it doesn't mean the Buell is "faster" than an R1... it just means he wasn't pushing it or did not have the skills.

The point I am trying to make is that you don't need 150HP to be quick down a twisty road... HP is pretty much irrelevant on tight roads (unless all you do is catch up in the straight bits lol)... a great rider will beat both you and me down a tight road on a damn 250cc ninja!!! You said it yourself you don't even get out of 1st, so you don't even use A THIRD of the 150HP you have available... that's what I was trying to say, not that the Buell "should do well against an FZ1"... again, for the streets, HP means nothing... what you need is skills and usable torque imho.

oh and for the record:
Buell XB12Scg = 395lb dry and 84ft/lb of torque
FZ1 = 440lb dry and 78ft/lb of torque

You do the math :Flip::BLAA:

 

[Wolfman]

I still reckon a few more ponies would of been nice...just to give it more of an edge, but that's just my selfish attitude...

I definitely think they could of thrown on the FZ1 forks...

and some rebound damping on the rear at least...

None of which are exactly high cost spec changes IMHO.

Maybe i was just hoping for something like a GSXR 750, but naked!

:thumbup:

Oh, and i reckon Mikey could beat most people up Lobie Road on a Postie Scooter!!!



The FZ1 just stops Gazza gettin away on the boring bits!

 

[ozzieboy]

oh and for the record:
Buell XB12Scg = 395lb dry and 84ft/lb of torque
FZ1 = 440lb dry and 78ft/lb of torque

You do the math :Flip::BLAA:

At 6000rpm when the Buell is making that torque judging by the gear ratios, it would either be going too slow or need to be in second gear at lower revs to compete (in 25km/h turns) IMHO.

With not too dis-similar gearing the FZ is still in first (right at the start of the power band). with 40 odd extra pounds and 6 ftlbs less torque but in a gear lower and able to pull out to 11,500rpm.....my money's on the FZ...lol.

Gotta love the old twin vs. I4 tennis match.

 

[Wavex]

Yeah this is fun indeed... mine is bigger than yours though :BLAA:

At 6000rpm when the Buell is making that torque judging by the gear ratios, it would either be going too slow or need to be in second gear at lower revs to compete (in 25km/h turns) IMHO.

The Buell's torque curve is FLAT from 3.5k rpms to redline (7k)... something very useful on the streets indeed (no need to wind anything out to get power on the tarmac)...

Here is the actual curves for my Buell with my Jardine pipe (80+ ft/lb right from 4k rpms):

Your '06 FZ1 "only" has a peak torque of 68ft.lb ---not 78ft/lb as mentioned above--- (almost the same as the FZ8 hehe) that kick in at around 8-9k rpms (gotta wind it out if you want more than around 60ft/lb...), here is the dyno curve:

With not too dis-similar gearing the FZ is still in first (right at the start of the power band). with 40 odd extra pounds and 6 ftlbs less torque but in a gear lower and able to pull out to 11,500rpm.....my money's on the FZ...lol.

My money is on the rider.... :rockon:

 

[rsw81]

Articles like this sure do make me proud to be a Street Triple owner. Seems to be the bench mark others are striving towards these days for middle weight naked bikes. As they said in the article, the bike is just plain good right out of the box. With my FZ, I always felt the need to find the next mod, the next project to work on. Not with my Triumph, I just get on and ride her. I've had it nearly a year now and she's completely 100% stock.

 

[Ridgeback]

I was suprised about the ECU restrictor on the first two gears.
Apparently,all the Japanese companys have been doing this for the last couple of years on their bikes,as a sort of safety measure.
Kinda sucks if you ask me,but goes to prove that the earlier (Black) FZ's are the quick ones

 

[Bikebiz]

C'mon, at the end of the day the FZ8 is going to be sweet. No one here is going to not rate it. All this discussion is now based on what we'd buy if we were relieved of our FZ6 (or whatever) and then had to buy something.

I'm not going to sell my new FZ6n, and at the price I paid, I won't be too bummed if I prefer the 8 in every way.

My suspicion is that Yamaha wants to raise the price of all their models. Their timing suggests this. The XJ6 came in really closely to the FZ6 in price. Now the FZ6R just came out in NSW today. It's $11,200 (so about $12,700 on road). That's steep imo. It leaves room for the FZ8 to be high, I'm expecting $14,990+orc, so around $16,500 on road. Then will come the crossplane FZ1 which will definitely raise my eyebrows and will jump up again from the current FZ1 because "it's all new". I'm envisaging high $18ks, low $19ks on road.

Hope I'm overestimating here. Oh, and can't wait to ride the FZ8 in August.

 

[Nelly]

Articles like this sure do make me proud to be a Street Triple owner. Seems to be the bench mark others are striving towards these days for middle weight naked bikes. As they said in the article, the bike is just plain good right out of the box. With my FZ, I always felt the need to find the next mod, the next project to work on. Not with my Triumph, I just get on and ride her. I've had it nearly a year now and she's completely 100% stock.

Triumph could put out a dog mate. The British press would still say, "It has class in places others could not even dream of". lol. ( Good job the triple is a belter though).

Nelly

 

[CrazyBiker]

I would love to swap my fz6 for a triumph