Returning to the FZ after 4 years

Djairouks

New member
Hi everyone,

Previous owner of a white 2010 FZ8N, traded for a MT-09 in 2014 which I sold after too many I'm going to die moments, because of the crap suspensions and throttle,
also 2017 Africa twin owner used for travelling mostly now, I needed another easy do it all everyday motorcycle and found this great 2014 RB model that had 0km !!!

Even though my memories date back from 2014, I can tell this V2 has better throttle and I just adjusted the suspension yesterday, damn am I going fast on that thing.
Waiting for a nice exhaust and already did some mirror removal and other minor stuff, damn how I love this sexy Fazer !

Thinking about changing sprockets, because the throttle mod which I tried, did not do anything I don't know if the 2014 model has a different Tube than previous ?
 

Bagman

Member
As far as I know all model year FZ8 (naked or Fazer) would have the same throttle tube, and the Yamaha R6 throttle tube works. The part number is found in some related past thread.

Tuning the ECU made the bike a noticeably quicker for me too. I will say that here in Canada, I could only find ECU tuners that used Flash Tune (FT ECU Inc.) and there were limitations to the tuning. They could not touch anything ignition related. Otherwise the bike would turn on. They were only able to adjust fuel maps. Bike still much quicker, and I'm happy.

I plan to actually go up a tooth in the front sprocket for lower hwy RPM, and a 520 conversion. The tune will offset the weight and gearing change and I figure will come out no change in power. lol.

I still have stock suspension, but if I were inclined I'd go HyperPro Streetbox.

Welcome back to the Fz8. It is a very capable machine.
 

Djairouks

New member
It is very capable indeed, that's the thing with the MT-09 I was driving like an *******, but not piloting the motorcycle so well in fact much worse than before, it was fun for the first year until it got really dangerous.
My AT made me a much better rider and that's mainly due to mass centralization being amazing and great suspensions, now with the adjustability on the 2014 model FZ8SA I have, I just feel the same thing.
The motorcycle is much more controllable that wasn't the case of the MT at all, I feel so much more confident on the Fazer and ride much better just because of that !

To take the bike back home, I had to do a 4h highway drive with lots of traffic and honestly compared to my AT, there's not much vibration it's perfectly acceptable to me, I'll wait until I'm done with the 1000km
service to pull on the engine and decide whether I will go 49 on the rear or not.

But I'm a bit torn because I'd still want to be able to travel a bit with the Fazer, so mileage being that I can pull 300km right now riding smoothly, I wouldn't want to make it much worse if staying under 6000rpm.
That's why I'm not sure about the sprocket, but I'd be more interested on installing a Rapidbike EVO, having 2 cartographies.

I didn't install a R6 tube, I had a plastic ring that I fitted on the stock which added 2mm all around so from 37 to 41 and when reassembling the throttle didn't move freely like normal, I also hardly saw 1mm difference
in the overall movement so I reversed the mod. I didn't understand since according my measurements the throttle housing is 50mm diameter, so 41 even with 2mm cable would be 45 and still fitting, mystery...
 

Djairouks

New member
Received the R6 tube yesterday, installed it and definitely less stress on the wrist which is great, but it's not really making a huge difference on responsiveness, it'll stay on though.

As I want to keep good mileage I'm now hesitant, should I do a ECU flash or go the Rapidbike route, but having a bit more juice between 3k and 5K would be nice !
But the ECU flash here is without dyno run so not sure whether this is worth doing !?
 

Bagman

Member
You eventually just get used to the R6 tube and then it makes no difference. As you say, it is just less wrist twist - which is good for general riding, highway, etc..

Where would you get your ECU flash from? Basically, an ECU flash is nothing more than a that - a simple file that is uploaded to the ECU. If you're thinking of having a local shop flash the ECU find out if at one point they built that flash file from Dyno Tuning a bike with similiar mods. I paid to have my ECU flash with the bike on a Dyno. However, like I said, the tuner couldn't touch any of the ignition maps using Flashtune. If I had the cash, having a shop professionally wire up a PowerCommander or RapidBike (as that appears to be the same thing) and then tune on dyno is a better more robust way to go.

I should also note, I recently found a 40km range increase in fuel mileage by simply replacing spark-plugs. They didn't look bad for plugs when I took them out, but I was 20,000 kms overdue. I guess the manual's recommended change interval should be followed. lol.
 

Djairouks

New member
Hey Bagman,

I read about the ECU flashers and it's a bit hazy, here in Switzerland there's very few of them so I'm not that confident and worried about my warranty, I decided I won't be doing it !

Now the thing about the RapidBike EVO, is it autotunes itself constantly, so you do not necessarily need to dyno the motorcycle actually and you still can have at least 2 maps, with
a button to switch between the 2, so that's in my opinion superior to anything else.
For now I'll have the 1000km service Saturday, then I'll begin reving the engine now and since the FI on the 2014 model is already better than the 2011, I'll see how I live with the
bike and decide if adding the RB EVO makes sense for me or not, maybe just slightly altering the gearing to slide the torque curve towards lower RPMs, will be what I want I don't
know I have to ride it more and try as a sprocket is so cheap anyway.

Because I sold my Mt-09 exactly for the reason that the throttle was too jerky and on poorly paved roads it was freaking dangerous, so I like the smoothness of the Fazer and don't
want to go over the top like the MT, especially after reading on a forum that funilly many MT riders swaped the front 16T to a 17T, as they too felt it was a bit extreme in the long run.
So I'm still debating whether any sprocket or RB modification, wouldn't be already a step too far, because riding now in October is cold roads in Switzerland and you really don't want
a ton of torque coming, with the MT there was no way to ride from October till end of March, the back would slide all the time so not going back to that :p.
 
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