Yamaha FZ1S. First 1K miles, a few early impressions

Do you remember that bit in the iconic film ‘The Blues Brothers’ when Elwood turns up in the new Blues mobile; an ex police cruiser, much to the disgust of his partner? He leapt to the beaten up cars defence stating coolly

"It's got a cop motor, 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, it's a model made before catalytic convertors so it'll run good on regular gas."



He then nailed the throttle, smoking the tyres and leapt across river. My recently acquired FZ1S somehow reminds me of that ex-cop cruiser: Unassuming looks but

“it’s got R1 shocks, R1 brakes and a R1 motor” to paraphrase old Elwood

So what we have here is the proverbial ‘wolf in sheep’s’ clothing’, the ultimate sober suited assassin who looks like the nice bloke next door, but the attaché case he carries doesn’t contain his butties, but rather a dis-assembled snipers rifle and sights…in the 800 miles I have covered on the Fazer so far this is the image that is coming through strongly. With barely 1,000 miles on the bike in total I am yet to really to open the throttle right up, but I am looking forward to letting loose all 132bhp available. Some 40-50bhp shy of the frontline sports bikes but still plenty for me. Potent and arrogant are the best two words to describe the performance so far. The upright and relatively high riding position gives a feel somewhere between a Supermoto and a Range Rover Sport! I doubt however that the top-end will have the ultimate rush of a R1 or GSXR1000 etc. but wonder if the Fazer engine and gearing is generally more realistic and possibly even quicker in the give and take riding at sane (ish) speeds on bumpy, pot holed British roads.



Mention of the gearing brings me to the Fazers’ Achilles heal…the clunky gearbox. Sadly this is a bit of Yamaha characteristic and is particularly noticeable as 1st gear is engaged and when you shift from 1st to 2nd. Suzuki for example always seem to manage to design and build smooth changing boxes even on their most powerful bikes, so why Yamaha fail so consistently on this point eludes me. If it is follows my experience with other Yamahas I have owned it will ease as the miles rise.



A stiff, R1 based frame and brakes back up that potent engine 100%, and the Fazer is great fun to ride; really chuckable and the confidence inspiring. I felt really home straight away and can’t wait for next summer so I can explore the talents of this fantastic bike more in full…watch this space…

Looks really nice. Ride safe & enjoy.

Cheers

I still have my trusty T Cat too

Good decision i will get another bike eventually but keep the cat too.

Ooooh oooh! It's a Victor!!

Nice bike btw.

Congratulations to your bike and always a safe ride

Radar wrote:I still have my trusty T Cat too