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Bought a used Yamaha FZ1 as my first sports bike: My experience so far

28th June 2024, 10:05 by Ananth Iyer

For the amount of fun this machine offers I'm willing to trade certain comforts.

After driving cars for 17 years and covering 3 lakh plus kms behind windscreens in cocooned cabins, I felt there's something missing in my motoring life.

One day, my regular commuter car broke down and I had to borrow my cousin's Himalayan to reach work place. That one ride made me realize that I've been missing fresh air, freedom and a lot more things a motorcycle has to offer!

Instantaneously decided to treat myself with a motorcycle but which one to choose remained a big question until few forum members, friends and fellow enthusiasts helped me choose the right category based on my preferences.

Being my first super bike, I prepared a five point check list to make the choosing a bit easy:

1. Upfront investment under 500 grand [Hardly any options if I go with brand new route]

2. Reliability [read Japanese 4]

3. Should be relatively pocket friendly to maintain

4. Should be a beginner friendly one [not very stringent about this]

5. Should be powered by a 3 / 4 cylinder engine

Initially thought of getting a cruiser [Harley / Kawasaki Vulcan] but after discussing with few friends and based on inputs from forum members my focus got shifted towards super sports category but finding a clean one with in my budget seemed next to impossible. Also a super sports means aggressive riding posture which would be not-so-beginner friendly in my opinion.

Decided to go with a naked sports bike. Considered Triumph Street Triple 675, Z900, CB1000R, FZ 1. Of this lot, FZ 1 stands out being a raw machine without any electronic aids, puts out most number of horses, proven reliability of the power house, great dynamics and easy on the pocket when it comes to regular maintenance.

After finalizing on the model, started searching for a clean bike across various platforms, came across a few ones which appeared deceptively reasonable but thanks to my friend Ishan who did a lot of digging pertaining to bike history and found out they were all duds / illegal ones.

We both decided to skip online platforms / dealers and started looking for a clean bike from known contacts. We got a couple of bikes in the mean time but the deals didn't happen for some other reasons.

On 11th March 2024, Ishan called me up and he sounded as excited as I would be! He got a friend from Pune who is looking to sell his 2014 FZ 1 with hardly 8000 kms on the odometer. The bike is bone stock, not even an exhaust swap and the history was totally clean and legit. He asked for pics and other details and shared them with me as he received.

The very first glimpse of the bike as shared by the seller

I took the owner's number at 11 PM and planned to call him the next morning but I couldn't handle my emotions and made a call to him anyway. He was patient with all my queries and quoted his price. Owing to my stoked state of mind I couldn't negotiate much and finalized the deal right away without even taking a look at the bike in flesh.

Transferred full amount in a couple of days, took about a month's time to transfer the ownership due to issues with my address proof. I would like to mention about Soham Shree Services, Pune who helped me with the RTO work. I found them to be honest, prompt and easy to work with.

Pre-pickup inspection and repairs at Slip Stream Performance Pune:

I planned to visit Pune on April 4th and got in touch with Mr. Kunal Bhaskaran of Slip Stream Performance. Discussed about the services I need and requested him to pick up the bike for a thorough inspection. He is gem of a person and his entire team did a great job. They came up with their inspection report in 3 hours and recommended two fixes before I lay my hands on it. The front forks seals have gone bad, leaking oil so replaced them. The brake fluid looked bad with moisture levels >4%. So asked them to bleed the brakes and replace fluid along with chain slack adjustment.

They were courteous enough to keep me updated with pictures of the work progress. The quality of work, level of care and precision are simply superb. I highly recommend their workshop for all the superbike owners in and around Pune.

Front fork overhaul work

Brake bleeding and brake fluid refilling

Notice the moisture level >4%

Now, bringing it home:

Initially, I thought of riding the bike all the way from Pune to Vijayawada [850kms] but since I'm new to a super bike and bad stretches of road on the route, I decided to get it transported. Got in touch with few renowned transport services but none felt very assuring about the safety. Then I came across this person called Vivek. He runs a motorcycle transport business across country and he is the logistics provider for Powerdrift. He's got a fleet of 4-5 dedicated mini trucks built to house motorcycle of various sizes even big beasts like Goldwing, HD tourers. Though his price seemed a bit on higher side, the way his team handle bikes, the assurance given was good enough to spend the premium.

Washed, polished and waiting for pick up

Vivek's crew loaded the bike carefully and secured it with tie-down straps

On 4th April, I took a flight to Pune and reached Vivek's home by 10PM. We started at 11 PM and reached Zaheerabad by 8AM the next morning. I asked the truck driver to unload the bike at Zaheerabad, swung my leg over the beast and fired her up with a wide grin! Took me 40-60 minutes to get accustomed to the controls, throttle response and braking capabilities.

Odo reading before starting the ride from Zaheerabad

Being my very first ride on a superbike, I felt very excited but was soon let down by the summer heat. Reached Hyderabad in 1.5 hours and the city greeted me with scorching heat and heavy traffic congestion. At a point, I stopped riding, wrapped the tank with a wet T-shirt to let it cool down a bit. Due to an unprecedented heat wave, I had to take multiple breaks, sipped about 6 liters of water + juice and reached home by 6 PM with roasted thighs.

About the bike itself:

FZ 1 is a naked sports bike manufactured by Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. Japan and sold as CBU import in India. The bike got discontinued in 2015 and has been replaced by MT-10.

Engine:

998cc DOHC inline 4 liquid cooled block.

Basically this is a 2004-2006 R 1 engine with a tad bit lower compression ratio, altered camshaft profiles to give it a milder tune and switched to a heavier flywheel to give it 40% more inertia for improved mid-range and a bit tamed throttle response.

On paper, the power house puts out peak power of 150 hp @ 11,000 rpm and peak torque of 107 NM @ 8000 rpm.

Chassis:

Diamond shaped cast aluminium die-cast frame with engine as the stressed member. With 25 degrees head angle, this frame has a forward weight bias and short wheel base well suited to it's intended usage.

Suspension:

FZ1 has its damping split between its chunky Kayaba 43 mm fork legs. The left fork leg controls compression while the right deals with rebound damping and both have spring preload adjustability. According to Yamaha, this separation of the damping means the forks’ internals can be simplified, giving better damping qualities.

Rear damping is take care of by a single link-actuated Kayaba monoshock with adjustable spring preload.

Braking:

Front - Dual 320 mm floating discs; forged monoblock 4-piston Sumitomo calipers

Rear - 245 mm disc with single-piston pin-slide Nissin caliper

Electronics & Safety aids:

This is a raw mechanical machine. There's no ABS, no TCS, no electronic aids at all. Only electronic stuff you'd find is an immobilizer.

Riding position:

Being a naked bike, the riding position is a bit upright and very comfortable for long rides when compared to a super sports. The seat is not too soft not too firm, comfy enough for long rides. Handle bar is wide enough for the rider to assume a comfortable posture and feels confident at high speeds.

What's it like to ride?

The bike is an absolute bliss to ride even for a novice like me. Engine refinement is top notch, typical Japanese stuff!
Seat comfort and riding posture are spot on, good for long rides.
Feels heavy from the standstill and low speeds but feels agile as the speeds climb up.
Bottom end performance is somewhat less exciting for a superbike (don't read it as slow, the bike is capable of doing around 140kmph speeds in 1st gear) but mid and high end performance is electrifying.
The bike begs you to push and post 6k revvs, the bike becomes a monster sort of thing! It just flings itself wildly.
Stopping power is phenomenal and confidence inspiring even without ABS thanks to engine braking.
Being new to the territory of super bikes, I'm taking it slow. I will keep posting my observations and experiences down the time.

What I didn't like: