FZ8 and FZ-09

[NoNine4me]

Just ran across this. There are some pretty sharp minds at work sorting out some of the FZ9's foibles. They managed to crack the new ECU, and found out it was a single-processor, rather than the dual-processor style found on other Yamaha sportbikes. New ECU, new connector type. A lot of work being put into developing a new rear shock (Penske) and getting the front end tamed. Makes for some interesting reading for those wanting to get an idea of how the "new kid on the block" compares with the FZ8.

Stoltec Project Bike...gonna be a long thread. - Page 5

First aftermarket FZ-09 shock - Penske spy shots! - Page 7

 

[Bajaedition]

got to ride a FZ09 yesterday
did a 200 mile loop and 2 hours at the track, tried out a lot of stuff on it
first, I like A and B mode, C mode is trash, but I guess that is what you get when you try to program a mode for everyone

the forks and front breaks, man be ready to spend a couple of grand on these if you plan to hit any twisty road, they suck. No matter what I did I could not get the thing from diving hard during aggressive braking, and about the braking, 4 or 5 corners in and there goes the breaking. I honestly had to double apex simple curves just not to pitch the beast. I think Yamaha needs to up the price a grand and give you better springs and some breaks that work.

Rear suspension has all the issues of a Yamaha. nothing that can not be fixed, but why can they not recognize American riders are larger than Japanese riders and the spring rates need to be stiffer.

Over all, the engine rocks, the fuel tank is way to small, it is going to get a bad reputation for being crunched because of the front end, and it is priced so low beginner riders are going buy them in droves and in a few years you can get one cheap and afford to change out the front end to a unit that works.

PS, hope you are not close to 6 foot, this bike is small

the bike wants to perform, in a strait line or on mild turns it is a hoot. It leans over nice and stays there with little effort, making for a great ride at slow or medium pace. but once things heat up, well it feels like you are on a 1980s bike. The fork springs are way to soft. they need to be addressed. You can not even think of tuning the forks as the mush factor goes from top till you feel the things bottom out. Even if you would double the viscosity of the fork oil, with springs this soft all you would be doing is delaying the eventual bottoming out. This thing needs new springs. And the brakes, the grip is fine till you get aggressive, at that point you are really starting to squeeze hard and there is no return feel. the units they provide just do not want to be worked hard and soon they fade. I found the best way to get around tight turns was to slide the rear tire out to far using engine torque to keep it spinning and then slam o the rear break to stand the bike up a bit cutting the turn apex short and take off. I was blowing chunks off the stock tire real fast and had to pit and buy a new rear tire after about 10 laps. After getting a tire with harder compound I took a few laps to heat it up and tried it again, Scary but controllable.

Bottom line, If you want to ride this bike hard, it needs a new front end. Forks and brakes are a serious issue.

I never felt like the bike gave me confidence, I think the engine is one of the best hooligan engines ever built. and the multi mapping is a blast, but I am afraid the suspension is going to get the bike a real bad reputation real fast. If you are not an experienced rider this thing is going to buck
Please Yamaha, put a grand on the price and give it some real potential.

 

[Marthy]

got to ride a FZ09 yesterday
did a 200 mile loop and 2 hours at the track, tried out a lot of stuff on it
first, I like A and B mode, C mode is trash, but I guess that is what you get when you try to program a mode for everyone

the forks and front breaks, man be ready to spend a couple of grand on these if you plan to hit any twisty road, they suck. No matter what I did I could not get the thing from diving hard during aggressive braking, and about the braking, 4 or 5 corners in and there goes the breaking. I honestly had to double apex simple curves just not to pitch the beast. I think Yamaha needs to up the price a grand and give you better springs and some breaks that work.

Rear suspension has all the issues of a Yamaha. nothing that can not be fixed, but why can they not recognize American riders are larger than Japanese riders and the spring rates need to be stiffer.

Over all, the engine rocks, the fuel tank is way to small, it is going to get a bad reputation for being crunched because of the front end, and it is priced so low beginner riders are going buy them in droves and in a few years you can get one cheap and afford to change out the front end to a unit that works.

PS, hope you are not close to 6 foot, this bike is small

the bike wants to perform, in a strait line or on mild turns it is a hoot. It leans over nice and stays there with little effort, making for a great ride at slow or medium pace. but once things heat up, well it feels like you are on a 1980s bike. The fork springs are way to soft. they need to be addressed. You can not even think of tuning the forks as the mush factor goes from top till you feel the things bottom out. Even if you would double the viscosity of the fork oil, with springs this soft all you would be doing is delaying the eventual bottoming out. This thing needs new springs. And the brakes, the grip is fine till you get aggressive, at that point you are really starting to squeeze hard and there is no return feel. the units they provide just do not want to be worked hard and soon they fade. I found the best way to get around tight turns was to slide the rear tire out to far using engine torque to keep it spinning and then slam o the rear break to stand the bike up a bit cutting the turn apex short and take off. I was blowing chunks off the stock tire real fast and had to pit and buy a new rear tire after about 10 laps. After getting a tire with harder compound I took a few laps to heat it up and tried it again, Scary but controllable.

Bottom line, If you want to ride this bike hard, it needs a new front end. Forks and brakes are a serious issue.

I never felt like the bike gave me confidence, I think the engine is one of the best hooligan engines ever built. and the multi mapping is a blast, but I am afraid the suspension is going to get the bike a real bad reputation real fast. If you are not an experienced rider this thing is going to buck
Please Yamaha, put a grand on the price and give it some real potential.

Can't agree more with you, suspension sucks! But it's not as bad as you said. Biggest weakness is the rear damper. Not as much as spring rate but damping by itself. I'm 185ish gear up and I went down in spring (stock 9.7 kg/mm to 9.1 kg/mm), pretty much use a stock 2008-10 ZX-10 damper. Front end it's a $250.00 fix from Stoltec. Revalving the LSB and springs.

Throttle has some issues but I did the exhaust and tune it right away with the EJK fuel controller (Did the R&D with them... got the first fuel controller available) Bike been running quite smooth. I did the $125.00 ECU flash too, that took care of the last 10% in the smoothness department.

The FZ09 platform is great, just need to be massage a bit. And to be fair honest, I rather buy for cheap and do the upgrade myself. Because most than likely, I would have to spend $$$ to set up the bike for my weight and riding style anyway.

I meet up with a friend in Daytona. He test rode the FZ09 in a demo ride and was complaining the same issues. After a ride on mine he was very impress how great the bike was. It was nice to finally test a FZ1 too

Only thing I don't get are the brakes? They're pretty much R6 brakes. All I did are SS line to the front and HH brake pads for better initial bite. That thing will stop on a dime!

One last thing, after taking the FZ1 for a spin... I'll love to have that fat fuel tank. So much more comfy to hold to the bike on the FZ1 (probably FZ8 too) than the FZ-09 and a bit more fuel won't hurt too! I can get 140-50 miles out of a tank but I need to milk it and stretch the reserve few miles.

 

[Woody146]

Can't agree more with you, suspension sucks! But it's not as bad as you said. Biggest weakness is the rear damper. Not as much as spring rate but damping by itself. I'm 185ish gear up and I went down in spring (stock 9.7 kg/mm to 9.1 kg/mm), pretty much use a stock 2008-10 ZX-10 damper. Front end it's a $250.00 fix from Stoltec. Revalving the LSB and springs.

Throttle has some issues but I did the exhaust and tune it right away with the EJK fuel controller (Did the R&D with them... got the first fuel controller available) Bike been running quite smooth. I did the $125.00 ECU flash too, that took care of the last 10% in the smoothness department.

The FZ09 platform is great, just need to be massage a bit. And to be fair honest, I rather buy for cheap and do the upgrade myself. Because most than likely, I would have to spend $$$ to set up the bike for my weight and riding style anyway.

I meet up with a friend in Daytona. He test rode the FZ09 in a demo ride and was complaining the same issues. After a ride on mine he was very impress how great the bike was. It was nice to finally test a FZ1 too

Only thing I don't get are the brakes? They're pretty much R6 brakes. All I did are SS line to the front and HH brake pads for better initial bite. That thing will stop on a dime!

One last thing, after taking the FZ1 for a spin... I'll love to have that fat fuel tank. So much more comfy to hold to the bike on the FZ1 (probably FZ8 too) than the FZ-09 and a bit more fuel won't hurt too! I can get 140-50 miles out of a tank but I need to milk it and stretch the reserve few miles.

I am in the market for new pads...doom said CL..I had ebc and took em off after 30 miles..too extreme.....any suggestions?

 

[Marthy]

I am in the market for new pads...doom said CL..I had ebc and took em off after 30 miles..too extreme.....any suggestions?

Well, I like extrem. LOL

I haven't got into it really. Just know Iboike the EBC HH sirinted pads since I had them on my 6R.

Im NOT using those at the rear! Stock pad and line at the rear... not using them anyway.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Bajaedition]

Marthy
My friend wants the bike for this

trust me, the mapping on the bike is pretty good for such a tight track
the reason I am on the bike till we straiten it out is that track is about 5 miles from my house and I could probably do it blindfolded.
I was also asked to be there because I know how to describe what is going on in a bikes suspension from when I raced at semi pro. Saturday we resprung the rear unit and had it fixed real quick. No matter what we tried with the front could we get it to be reliable under the punishment I was passing out to it. The forks would not feedback the same from lap to lap, they are cheap units. As I said, I felt they were from the 80s. and the brakes, way to hard to quick and long pull, no feedback, I want to be able to predict what is going on, My mechanic is looking into getting a new master cylinder that is matched to the brakes, He thinks the flow rate is wrong or the diameters are wrong for the slave units. I admit new linings will be needed, we tried a few that felt better but it seems that heat transfer off the rotors is a problem also, so new rotors are going on also.
Now about the forks, We are not even going to try dealing with the stock units, we had tried the quick fixes such as oil change and spacers, all those 2 things proved was that springs were to soft and they need better damping control. I also did not like the way they flexed under hard braking. I think the walls are to thin.
I have to say the forks are pure sh1t. and the brakes are not engineered to work with each other (master to slave units) it seems they are available units thrown together to save money.
I love the engine, can use it very well and learn it quick, solid torque curve and can use that to break the rear tire out anytime, but I feel that the response may be a to much for a less experienced rider. I have learned how to deal with it but very few riders are comfortable with controlling rear tire spin while cranked over hard using throttle and rear tire braking. However I found that on the track I was using way to much throttle to square off corners than I could justify transfer over to the street that do not have groomed surfaces, one small patch of sand mid corner and there will be only one result.I also can use that torque on track in ways that chew a tire up in a day using a hard compound, that also does not transfer to street use. With proper forks neither of those would be an issue.
The front end is going to be the downfall of this bike and that is a shame. It has a engine to die for if you are looking for a hooligan bike or a tight track bike. With a new set of forks and work with the braking system I think it will be a great bike, problem is, Yamaha could have done that out of the box.

 

[Woody146]

Well, I like extrem. LOL

I haven't got into it really. Just know Iboike the EBC HH sirinted pads since I had them on my 6R.

Im NOT using those at the rear! Stock pad and line at the rear... not using them anyway.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Extreme as in they need high heat to grab....after 50 miles they had not bedded at all...almost hit a car...was worse than my stocks with 10k...if I was on a race track with dope rotors and hauling ass, yes, they would be good...not for street. And they were a bit thicker than stock and just all around not working good for my use...put a new set of stocks on...no problems..worked like normal...looking for something better than stock..but meant for the street....I know more about fz's than me dealer.....


Yea...I had the next step up from the double sintered..the "road race" ones.....but the dealer ordered them.......

 

[jassilamba]

Hello everyone, I'm about to pull the trigger on a 2013 FZ8 brand new for 6800 OTD, what I want to know is from people who have owned the FZ8 and driven the FZ09 is the 09 worth the extra 2K OTD?

 

[Banky2112]

Hello everyone, I'm about to pull the trigger on a 2013 FZ8 brand new for 6800 OTD, what I want to know is from people who have owned the FZ8 and driven the FZ09 is the 09 worth the extra 2K OTD?

The whole thread on this subject boils down to what kind of bike you want......
But I haven't rode one so I can't say.

 

[jassilamba]

The whole thread on this subject boils down to what kind of bike you want......
But I haven't rode one so I can't say.

Last night I ended my search, picked up a 2013 FZ8. So far I love it.

Will say that reading some similar posts on the forums helped a lot.

 

[Bajaedition]

Hooked up with 3 FZ 9ss yesterday going up the palms to pines highway. One guy was good and we had a blast with the other 2 doing their best to keep up. We continued till we.Got to the Paradise Valley Cafe for brunch.that is when I found the downside of the 9. All 3 of them were complaining about the seat.

LOL. Guess in the end at least the 8 has a better seat


Anyway guys. During our meal we talked.. these are 2 completely different bikes. Power band is way different. I grew up on multis. I uunderstand them. I will keep my 8