Joined
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275 Posts
I hadn't seen many owner reviews yet so I thought I would post up my impressions of the bike, since I always like to read that kind of stuff. I've had a lot of bikes and miles under my belt so I guess I have a lot to compare the FZ-09 to.
I'm also a die hard twisty road guy.
I really like the bike overall, but I'm really picky so some things always bug me, usually the ones you can't do anything about.
The good:
-Awesome throttle response and low/midrange power in A or std mode.
-Handling seems really predictable, it's pretty flickable but not twitchy or nervous feeling. Stable enough in a straight line for being so light. Really neutral in corners.
-Riding position seems really comfortable to me, kind of feels like a big dirtbike, but needs some wind protection as I usually do pretty long rides.
-49 to 50 mpg so far, can probably do a few things to get a little more.
-Love the sound, just need a little more volume. Triples have a great intake sound, maybe open the airbox a little?
-It's really light, and I can make it lighter.
-The mpg gauge seems almost accurate.
The bad:
-Even though I love the response in std. mode, it is a little hard to control in bumpy corners and sometimes I end up with more throttle than I wanted exiting corners, could maybe cause big problems. B mode control is good but kills the addictive responsiveness and torquey feeling. A mode is too hard to control. I'm hoping there will be a way to tune the YCCT to suit each rider. I'm going to try to make the throttle tube/pulley progressive like I have on a lot of other bikes with good results.
-Seems to have a lean spot right off idle, making throttle control jerky at low speeds.
-The shock sucks. It has a weird floaty feel to me over rolling type bumps, lifting me off the seat sometimes, never felt a shock do this before. Also pretty harsh on the sharp bumps, too much high speed compression damping probably. I haven't really noticed the forks much, probably a good sign.
-The seat slopes forward too much for me and hurts after a couple of hours. I'll probably try Spencer's seat mods eventually.
-The rear tire scares me, it's spun a few times coming out of corners when it shouldn't have. It's a Dunlop.
-Scrolling through the gauge functions is a pain and too distracting when moving. Why can't Yamaha give you 3 or 4 things up at the same time. I want trip odo, coolant temp, air temp, and avg. mileage at least. At least the clock is always there. I'm going to see if I can convert the HL flash button to be the select button to make it easier and safer. And the tach seems about unusable to me.
It might look more bad than good but that's not really the way I feel about the bike. I know I can address most of the issues I have with the bike, and I'm sure it's a keeper, I keep the ones I like a really long time.
One other thing: did anyone else notice the bike seemed to gain a huge amount of power and responsiveness after the first 50-100 miles of break in. The difference really surprised me, wonder if the computer is set up to limit power so you can't hurt the brand new engine.
That's it so far. Thanks for reading, hopefully it didn't put you to sleep!
I'm also a die hard twisty road guy.
I really like the bike overall, but I'm really picky so some things always bug me, usually the ones you can't do anything about.
The good:
-Awesome throttle response and low/midrange power in A or std mode.
-Handling seems really predictable, it's pretty flickable but not twitchy or nervous feeling. Stable enough in a straight line for being so light. Really neutral in corners.
-Riding position seems really comfortable to me, kind of feels like a big dirtbike, but needs some wind protection as I usually do pretty long rides.
-49 to 50 mpg so far, can probably do a few things to get a little more.
-Love the sound, just need a little more volume. Triples have a great intake sound, maybe open the airbox a little?
-It's really light, and I can make it lighter.
-The mpg gauge seems almost accurate.
The bad:
-Even though I love the response in std. mode, it is a little hard to control in bumpy corners and sometimes I end up with more throttle than I wanted exiting corners, could maybe cause big problems. B mode control is good but kills the addictive responsiveness and torquey feeling. A mode is too hard to control. I'm hoping there will be a way to tune the YCCT to suit each rider. I'm going to try to make the throttle tube/pulley progressive like I have on a lot of other bikes with good results.
-Seems to have a lean spot right off idle, making throttle control jerky at low speeds.
-The shock sucks. It has a weird floaty feel to me over rolling type bumps, lifting me off the seat sometimes, never felt a shock do this before. Also pretty harsh on the sharp bumps, too much high speed compression damping probably. I haven't really noticed the forks much, probably a good sign.
-The seat slopes forward too much for me and hurts after a couple of hours. I'll probably try Spencer's seat mods eventually.
-The rear tire scares me, it's spun a few times coming out of corners when it shouldn't have. It's a Dunlop.
-Scrolling through the gauge functions is a pain and too distracting when moving. Why can't Yamaha give you 3 or 4 things up at the same time. I want trip odo, coolant temp, air temp, and avg. mileage at least. At least the clock is always there. I'm going to see if I can convert the HL flash button to be the select button to make it easier and safer. And the tach seems about unusable to me.
It might look more bad than good but that's not really the way I feel about the bike. I know I can address most of the issues I have with the bike, and I'm sure it's a keeper, I keep the ones I like a really long time.
One other thing: did anyone else notice the bike seemed to gain a huge amount of power and responsiveness after the first 50-100 miles of break in. The difference really surprised me, wonder if the computer is set up to limit power so you can't hurt the brand new engine.
That's it so far. Thanks for reading, hopefully it didn't put you to sleep!