FZ8- Tell Me About It! -Hard shifting?

jaggy1021

New member
I'm new to yamaha completely. I just picked up a 2012 fz8 with 10,000 miles on it. Everything is stock as far as I can tell. Looks like it's never been crashed, because that would be obvious. Just minor scratches on the exhaust. I noticed the shifting can be a whole lot "harder" than something like my 2009 sv650s. "Harder" like loud, big jolt in the bike from neutral to first, and sometimes all other gears.

-I'm an experienced rider, owned quite a few bikes, never something like the fz with its styling and rider positioning. Yes, I want to wheelie it. Yes, I want to go fast. Yes, I'm learning both on this bike with time.
-I love this thing, and I want to keep it healthy, so I want your input on if this feeling when shifting (specifically from neutral to first) is typical and correct.
-Anything I should know that I wouldn't know as a beginner to these bikes?
- Say what you want, but I expected a bit more power out of a 779cc inline 4. It is quick, it is fast, but I just wonder if it is as fast as it should be.
-Just drop any knowledge you have on these fz8's, nothing is off topic. Mod's to go for, experience riding, hazards to know about it, typical problems with these bikes, important tips to know about these bikes.
THANKS A TON FOR WHATEVER INFO YOU HAVE FOR ME
 

Torbeach

New member
I had the 2013 Fazer 8 (FZ8 with fairings) and it made a pretty good clunking sound when going from neutral to first. It seemed normal to me and was the same as the FZ6 that I had before it. Shifting through the gears while riding was smooth and don't recall any unusual noises. I did find that if I didn't downshift when coming to a stop that sometimes I would have to play around with it a little bit to get it into first. The bike was reliable and I didn't have any problems with it. The seat was pretty hard on long journeys so I upgraded to the SHAD seat and it was much better but still my butt would get sore after a couple of hours. I didn't feel the brakes were a strong point on this bike so I changed the pads to double H sintered and I believe it improved them pretty good. Stainless brake lines would improve them further. Coincidently I scratched the top of the muffler when I rested the brake caliper on it while changing the pads. Coming from a 600 FZ6 I found there to be more power lower down on the Fazer however overall I would say there wasn't much difference between the two. Some people have found good improvements with an ECU flash but I never went there. For the street it was quick enough for me.

Have fun with your new bike.
 

jaggy1021

New member
I had the 2013 Fazer 8 (FZ8 with fairings) and it made a pretty good clunking sound when going from neutral to first. It seemed normal to me and was the same as the FZ6 that I had before it. Shifting through the gears while riding was smooth and don't recall any unusual noises. I did find that if I didn't downshift when coming to a stop that sometimes I would have to play around with it a little bit to get it into first. The bike was reliable and I didn't have any problems with it. The seat was pretty hard on long journeys so I upgraded to the SHAD seat and it was much better but still my butt would get sore after a couple of hours. I didn't feel the brakes were a strong point on this bike so I changed the pads to double H sintered and I believe it improved them pretty good. Stainless brake lines would improve them further. Coincidently I scratched the top of the muffler when I rested the brake caliper on it while changing the pads. Coming from a 600 FZ6 I found there to be more power lower down on the Fazer however overall I would say there wasn't much difference between the two. Some people have found good improvements with an ECU flash but I never went there. For the street it was quick enough for me.

Have fun with your new bike.
Thanks for the info man!
 

WebbyF

New member
yeah mines the same. It has 7,000Ks on it now and sometimes its solid going in to First and then sometiems its smooth. I plan on trying new oil to see if that makes a difference.
 

a4martman

New member
Have the same clunking on my 2012 fz8. Had it on fzs before also. Seems like it's just what they do. No amount of adjustment ever improved it.
 

Bagman

Member
Had my 2011 Fazer8 since new. It's been doing as other describe since day one. Normal for Yamaha per all accounts. Shifting on the way up, like in a car, can be less smooth if you don't get the revs up. For example, shifting 5000pm and above is gonna be smoother than trying to putz about and shift at like 3000-4500 rpm. Don't need to speed, just get revs up.

If you find you get to a light and your stopped and it won't let you downshift to 1st through the gears you need to get through, than just let out the clutch a tiny bit. You'll feel it and you'll then be able to downshift another gear.
 

Fz Tai

New member
I had the 2013 Fazer 8 (FZ8 with fairings) and it made a pretty good clunking sound when going from neutral to first. It seemed normal to me and was the same as the FZ6 that I had before it. Shifting through the gears while riding was smooth and don't recall any unusual noises. I did find that if I didn't downshift when coming to a stop that sometimes I would have to play around with it a little bit to get it into first. The bike was reliable and I didn't have any problems with it. The seat was pretty hard on long journeys so I upgraded to the SHAD seat and it was much better but still my butt would get sore after a couple of hours. I didn't feel the brakes were a strong point on this bike so I changed the pads to double H sintered and I believe it improved them pretty good. Stainless brake lines would improve them further. Coincidently I scratched the top of the muffler when I rested the brake caliper on it while changing the pads. Coming from a 600 FZ6 I found there to be more power lower down on the Fazer however overall I would say there wasn't much difference between the two. Some people have found good improvements with an ECU flash but I never went there. For the street it was quick enough for me.

Have fun with your new bike.
Well that's weird because immediately going from a 2011 fz6r to a 2013 fz8 was a BIG difference for me . More torque more bottom end and top end power I felt a difference in as well as handling in general they are really two different bikes ..
 

Torbeach

New member
The FZ6 had close to the same power as the FZ8 (98 vs 106). I believe your FZ6R came in around 77 HP. I did find more lower down power on the FZ8 and it was bigger than the 6. I am currently riding a 2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 gt and noticed a big difference coming from the FZ8.
 

jaggy1021

New member
Any ideas why my fz8 is really slow from a stop? no matter how much throttle or clutch play I give it, it is just super slow in this regard. This makes it super hard to bring the front wheel up in first if I want to which I was hoping this bike would do no problem. Its like the rpms go super low after dropping the clutch before rising again, no matter what from a stop or while riding in first.
 

jaggy1021

New member
I just wonder what the hell the difference could be between my bike and this bike, pretty sure this is an fz8 i found it off a link on a thread here
 

joerlund

New member
I am also new to the FZ8SA from 2017. Only 300 miles....

And was surpriced to experience the "hard shifting" between gears.
Absolutely not to compare with my 2015 XJ6 I owned from new. That was very smooth, except from 1' gear.
 

Bagman

Member
I have no skills, nor have I bothered to try to do wheelies with my FZ8s. But yeah, my guess is the only way you gonna do good, sustained wheels is by changing sprockets. Bauce Racing for ECU flash. There are others.

I tried to go with BAUCE. Very long story, but for whatever reason (and I won't blame him) my Canadian FZ8s would NOT start with him flashing it (he is in New Jersey, using a map he tailored from a US FZ8 he had on his dyno). I ended up using a local tuner that used the same software and had the same problem. At least with the bike local and on the dyno we narrowed it down to if they touched any ignition mappings, the bike wouldn't start.

Anyways, ECU flash and R6 throttle tube are great mods. I still got decent power gains from the ECU tune, and smoothed out the power band.
 

jaggy1021

New member
I have no skills, nor have I bothered to try to do wheelies with my FZ8s. But yeah, my guess is the only way you gonna do good, sustained wheels is by changing sprockets. Bauce Racing for ECU flash. There are others.

I tried to go with BAUCE. Very long story, but for whatever reason (and I won't blame him) my Canadian FZ8s would NOT start with him flashing it (he is in New Jersey, using a map he tailored from a US FZ8 he had on his dyno). I ended up using a local tuner that used the same software and had the same problem. At least with the bike local and on the dyno we narrowed it down to if they touched any ignition mappings, the bike wouldn't start.

Anyways, ECU flash and R6 throttle tube are great mods. I still got decent power gains from the ECU tune, and smoothed out the power band.
Thanks for the info man, so in the future when I get this thing flashed, would you recommend to mention this problem you ran into with the ignition? Any other specific things I'd need to ask about when going for a ECU flash?
 
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