Amazingly, the clutch is lighter than the 6, and has a wider friction point. Having gotten used to the narrow 6 clutch, I far prefer it to the 8. But the 8 is mega light. I don't know how they do it.
The gearbox is near identical to ours, so yes it's clunky.
Throttle response is smoothed, but I think they've smoothed the whole thing a bit too much. I haven't ridden it enough yet to have an opinon on the throttle jerk but in my ride it seemed better.
Let me say this, I was happy to get back on my 6, and if they were in the showroom for the same price, it would be a tough decision. The 6 just revs so much more easily and picks up so fast. It takes a while to get going.
To the other question about price, the FZ6N is about $10,600AUD ride away now I think. Not sure how many are still available. But with the 8N being about $14,500, you'd be mad to choose the 8 over it imo. You'd either spring more for the FZ1 or put $2.5k into mods and have a sweet 6 and some change. Of course that's me, and with my usage which is mainly commuting and speeds up to about 80km/hr. If I had any kind of freeway work or faster backroads, it would be a whole different ballgame. The >100km/hr pickup on the 8 simply kills the 6.
Get out there and get test riding guys, just for a laugh!
PS can't wait for Yam to pull their finger out and announce a crossplane FZ1
PPS can't wait for the V4 tuono
PPSS the newly released Shiver Sport landed in our store last week and it's one sweet looking bike. I still wouldn't buy one unless the importer picked up their act with parts availability, but they sure look (and ride) amazing. Wish I could afford a few bikes in the garage!
