[RichBinAZ]

Just got the bike today after a couple of sittings on it and deciding that the ergo's would just work for my buggered knee. What a good choice I made.

Actually, it is a great bike. Coming from the 1250 bandit, which is a little torque monster all on it's own, I knew it would be dropping a bit on torque level (80 down to 55-60 ft-lbs) but honestly, the lighter weight does make up the difference. What a fun bike. No need to rev the heck out of it to make it go, which is exactly how I like to ride a bike - "Use the Torque Luke" (sorry for the star wars analogy, but it is appropriate)

For the first 20 miles of running in, I am deliberately lugging the engine to bed the rings. So pulling away at traffic lights, I just let the clutch out and let it pull hard from 2K up to 5 or 6K, then back off, shift up a few gears, and let it rest a little. It pulls magically and the cars are dots in the mirrors. At first there are the power pulses, which you can feel thru the whole bike (no doubt due to the light flywheel effect) then the intake noise starts to increase along with a nice growl from the exhaust, which sounds great from the seat, even on the stock exhaust.

Straight line handling is excellent and it does a very nice job of absorbing some even fairly rough patches of road. I am going to have to try it on the road to Tortilla flat, which is notoriously rough and bumpy. Should be able to test it's cornering ablity a bit there also. Phoenix has a lot of 6 lane intersections (with traffic lights) and making turns across them can be quite a bumpy experience due to the tracks the cars leave across them. This bike absorbs the bumps nicely.

The instrument panel is almost car like. 2 trip meters; Engine temperature; Air temperature; Average MPG. I just wish they would show the Odometer permanently and be able to cycle thru the other functions in a different location. With my blurry vision the rev counter is hard to see with a quick glance, but I don't think I really need to see it on this bike, with the torque coming in at low speed and the power band being so wide. In that respect it is much like my Bonneville (no rev counter) this bike just has so much more get up and go.

Lets see if I can link up some pics - (harder than I thought!!)

[URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/RichBinAZ/media/Yamaha%20FZ-09/IMG_0257.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/RichBinAZ/media/Yamaha%20FZ-09/IMG_0251.jpg.html][/URL]
Very tidy under the tail
[URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/RichBinAZ/media/Yamaha%20FZ-09/IMG_0253.jpg.html][/URL]
The lad's turn - let my son take it for a run around the block - he couldn't stop grinning when he got back
[URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/RichBinAZ/media/Yamaha%20FZ-09/IMG_0250.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[GoldForks]

kill me nowwwww on tortilla flats my elbow was destroyed the day after haha i hate the first part of the road but after the saloon its a dream
and also that rapid red looks real sharp i like it :encouragement:

 

[RichBinAZ]

About 10 years ago, they re-paved the road and it was brilliant - but as you say, today the story is different. That first bit has those horrible cracks across the road that are really 1" steps and all the corners have been de-surfaced by RV's and trucks pulling huge boats up to the lakes.
Rocks and tourists make that road challenging also

 

[GoldForks]

About 10 years ago, they re-paved the road and it was brilliant - but as you say, today the story is different. That first bit has those horrible cracks across the road that are really 1" steps and all the corners have been de-surfaced by RV's and trucks pulling huge boats up to the lakes.
Rocks and tourists make that road challenging also

those bumps around a turn with this bikes jerky off idleness was a chore , if you still plan on riding up there some time let me know i have no riding buddys would be fun to ride with another 09

 

[cjhorton]

Congrats! Nice write up. .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Trey Yama]

Congrats on getting one of the Rapid ones.

 

[RichBinAZ]

those bumps around a turn with this bikes jerky off idleness was a chore , if you still plan on riding up there some time let me know i have no riding buddys would be fun to ride with another 09

This may seem odd, but i have not noticed any off idle jerkiness and I was using STD mode. I know all the reports from the journo's talked about it, but this bike is smoother than my bandit was was I first got it. The bandit got into a surging mode just going along in heavy traffic at 20-30mph. Bought a TFI unit for it that helped a bit, but finally found out how to balance the throttle bodies and that solved the issue. Turns out Suzuki never balanced the throttle bodies from the factory, or if they did, they did it wrong.

Perhaps the same thing is going on here??? for the first few bikes ???

I don't know how to do a throttle body balance on a yamaha (yet), but it may be worth a try.

 

[deadduck357]

This may seem odd, but i have not noticed any off idle jerkiness and I was using STD mode. I know all the reports from the journo's talked about it, but this bike is smoother than my bandit was was I first got it. The bandit got into a surging mode just going along in heavy traffic at 20-30mph. Bought a TFI unit for it that helped a bit, but finally found out how to balance the throttle bodies and that solved the issue. Turns out Suzuki never balanced the throttle bodies from the factory, or if they did, they did it wrong.

Perhaps the same thing is going on here??? for the first few bikes ???

I don't know how to do a throttle body balance on a yamaha (yet), but it may be worth a try.

What # is your bike (#10,45,98, etc)? Maybe Yamaha has the issue corrected.

 

[AHR]

Great looking bike!!! I really like the red. Very nice. Enjoy!!!

 

[RichBinAZ]

What number is my bike??? Is that the last few digits of the Vin # - if so, it is 224.

 

[GoldForks]

mine is 48

 

[RichBinAZ]

48, you must have been waiting outside the door!!

Busy day today, no riding. It was Mesa Hazardous waste dumpday - took in 3 bike tires, batteries a radiator off our 2000 accord that just failed. Lots of fun
Then had to replace the radiator on my sons wifes car, '98 Avalon. So odd that 2 radiators should fail at almost the same time.

Then bought spoolies over at Cycle gear and a paddock stand that was on sale - not impressed.

 

[honda pc]

from one bandit owner to another one......say it isn't so...traded bandit in???? same power/torque feeling as torque monster bandit??
Congrats..... I guess changing bike is one way to make up for the short comings of bandit brakes and suspension.....LOL...

Anyway... I was seriously looking at this bike or triumph street triple R..... which is like $2k more... which supposedly has better suspension, brakes, abs, bigger tank... and?? but is that worth $2k extra??? don't know...

I recently sat on this bike and triumph... the fz09 sitting postion is one I have difficulty with...it felt like I was sitting on front tire, up high and close to tank.... sort of like when I sat on ducati monster and other dirt bikes.... while the triumph felt like I was actually sitting in bike.....sort of like bandit riding postion...
I am still debating and will way cons/pros of this bike....and also big reason is waiting for price to come down here in socal....dealers are way overpriced out here....

can you do a comparison to the bandit....... so I would know what to expect.... and look for....
congrats to your new lightweight bike....... is it better then the bandit allaround.... but I am still keeping my bandit for touring aspect....one killer motor...

 

[RichBinAZ]

The bandit is a great bike still and the motor is just such an improvement over the air cooled one - perhaps it's just the fuel injection vs carbs, but it is good.
I traded the bandit in for several reasons
1) It has more residual value than the other 2
2) The handlebar position on the bandit, even with risers is too far forward for me and causes wrist pain. (see age - 58)
3) Doing any kind of maintenance on it (like changing the plugs) is a pain in the A----. Seriously, plan on doing a coolant change while taking the plugs out
4) The weight is starting to get to me - even though my 1100G is heavier
5) It has a fairing - don't like those and don't like the mirrors all the way out there
6) The bandit is really hard on front tires and very picky about what you put on as well.

Having said that, the power and torque are very similar to the FZ. The bandit leaps from 2krpm on up, so does the FZ
The bandit was getting 49mpg for my weekly commute to work, I think the FZ is going to do about the same.
Both suspensions are budget items, except the yamaha has only rebound damping, which I find better.

Compare the Tiger 800 as well, not just the street triple