Mid 70's and sunny!! So nice to see and feel the sun again, after this exceptionally harsh North East winter!
Got plenty of riding in (all of in in a straight line, but at least on non-pothole-riddled, salt-free roads!). Test road 3 bikes too:
Tenere (I've ridden this bike before):
I have to admit it's not my cup of tea. It has pretty good torque, but never feels quick. It seems to like 3k rpm best. At 4, it seems to be spinning higher than its happy zone. At 2, it pulls OK, but doesn't feel all that strong. Wind buffeting is quite bad on this bike. No idea how well this bike does offroad, but for strictly on-road riding, this isn't a great choice, in my opinion.
FJR:
I want to buy this bike, quit my job, point the the bike in a random direction and go until one of us dies! I loved it last time I demo'd it and I love it just as much now. It's an absolute joy to ride. Powerful, smooth, easy to ride, great ergonomics, great handling.
FZ-09:
I know we have several 9 owners on here.. please don't get offended by what I have to say about this bike. This is just my opinion and opinions are like.. well.. you know... everybody's got one!!
Let me start with the good:
The motor is excellent.. plenty of go and very wide power band. Transmission is fairly smooth. It feels as light as its posted weight (that is to say, very light).
Now the things I disliked:
The harshest throttle tip in, by far, of any bike I've ever ridden. It's been a while since I've ridden FZ6, but if I'm not mistaken, FZ6 is downright smooth on the tip in, compared to FZ9. I kept it in STD mode. I'm sure B-mode would help and I can't even imagine what A mode is like.
It's equally bad when it comes to rolling off the throttle. You can try to close it very slowly, but what you get is complete fuel cut-off, which translates to a whole lot of engine braking.
Suspension is soft with what feels like minimal damping. The few curves we took on the demo ride.. the tiniest of bumps seemed to take the bike off its intended line.
The bike made an annoying vibey-farty noise on decel. I'm hoping it's the specific bike I was on and it's not the normal noise these bikes make.
I would not want to own this bike in its stock form. :don'tknow:
Oh and here's another thumbs down to Yamaha (following the crap they pulled with copyright material): I used a suction mount on the tank to shoot a video of demo.. Yama rep walked over and said "Yamaha does not want you to mount a camera anywhere on their bikes".
Enough complaining.. some pics:
Well adjusted suspension:
Got plenty of riding in (all of in in a straight line, but at least on non-pothole-riddled, salt-free roads!). Test road 3 bikes too:
Tenere (I've ridden this bike before):
I have to admit it's not my cup of tea. It has pretty good torque, but never feels quick. It seems to like 3k rpm best. At 4, it seems to be spinning higher than its happy zone. At 2, it pulls OK, but doesn't feel all that strong. Wind buffeting is quite bad on this bike. No idea how well this bike does offroad, but for strictly on-road riding, this isn't a great choice, in my opinion.
FJR:
I want to buy this bike, quit my job, point the the bike in a random direction and go until one of us dies! I loved it last time I demo'd it and I love it just as much now. It's an absolute joy to ride. Powerful, smooth, easy to ride, great ergonomics, great handling.
FZ-09:
I know we have several 9 owners on here.. please don't get offended by what I have to say about this bike. This is just my opinion and opinions are like.. well.. you know... everybody's got one!!
Let me start with the good:
The motor is excellent.. plenty of go and very wide power band. Transmission is fairly smooth. It feels as light as its posted weight (that is to say, very light).
Now the things I disliked:
The harshest throttle tip in, by far, of any bike I've ever ridden. It's been a while since I've ridden FZ6, but if I'm not mistaken, FZ6 is downright smooth on the tip in, compared to FZ9. I kept it in STD mode. I'm sure B-mode would help and I can't even imagine what A mode is like.
It's equally bad when it comes to rolling off the throttle. You can try to close it very slowly, but what you get is complete fuel cut-off, which translates to a whole lot of engine braking.
Suspension is soft with what feels like minimal damping. The few curves we took on the demo ride.. the tiniest of bumps seemed to take the bike off its intended line.
The bike made an annoying vibey-farty noise on decel. I'm hoping it's the specific bike I was on and it's not the normal noise these bikes make.
I would not want to own this bike in its stock form. :don'tknow:
Oh and here's another thumbs down to Yamaha (following the crap they pulled with copyright material): I used a suction mount on the tank to shoot a video of demo.. Yama rep walked over and said "Yamaha does not want you to mount a camera anywhere on their bikes".
Enough complaining.. some pics:
Well adjusted suspension:
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