Is this an appropriate bike?

[2wheelieadv]

Consider also Ninja 650 and FZ6R. Both are friendly and forgiving bikes with enough low end torque, enough speed and fun factor. No learning curve, just get on and ride. They're lower to the ground and narrower, so you can flat-foot on them. Much lighter, faster and nimbler then all cruisers.

FZ6 is a bit more rugged and requires little getting use to. It does all the above do and more. Fun factor is greater if riding hard and above 8k rpm. Also 2up handle no problems.
You sure can have it for first sport/street/tourer bike, just work a bit more to getting to know it.

FZ09... dono. You can ride it I think, but it sure will make you sweat before getting used to, and I'm not sure if you gona enjoy it off the bet.

Yamaha and surly Triumph and Duc have demo bikes, maybe you can try them out.

 

[PhotoAl]

The FZ6 is a great bike. As someone mentioned it is easy going enough styling wise to be able to get along with supersports and crusers. Keep it below 7,000 RPM and it is pretty docile. It is not too bad about lifting the front wheel but will certainly pick it up in first. Mine would carry the front wheel all the way thru first but only a few inches up. It would lift about a foot on a quick shift to second at the redline but otherwise would not pick it up - I do have at least 50 pounds more that you (in my mind at least in reality maybe more). Biggest thing I disliked about the FZ6 is that it is top heavy. Almost dropped mine a time or two when I got it leaned over a bit in a parking lot. The FZ09 is a cool bike and the thought of trading my CBR600RR in for one went thru my head the other day. Decided not to for three main reasons: No wind protection, too easy to pick the front wheel up and the CBR is such a sweet bike in the twisties with great suspension, brakes and very flickable. I like the Street Triple a lot and looked at them a lot when buying the CBR. I'd recomend the CBR except that HD folks usually don't like them at all. 414 pounds, good midrange, good ergos (for a supersport), etc. Put Heli bars on it for a more uprigt position and a "sport touring" windscreen. At 5'2" it might be a bit of a reach to the bars though.

Biggest advice is to take your time, look at a lot of bikes and buy the one that is most comfortable. The SV650 is a great bike. The local Yamaha dealer has a FZ09 demo bike so there might be one in your area. Late last fall they had a Ducati demo ride - I rode a Divel (spelling??) so keep your eyes on the shops and you might find a demo available or a manufacturer demo weekend event.

Hope this helps.

 

[JMalmsteen]

Yeah, they don't let you ride any of the sport bikes, at least the new ones. I haven't asked about the used ones.

 

[JMalmsteen]

Just got an FZ-09...awesome, awesome, kicking bike. I'm in love.

 

[Lefty]

Just got an FZ-09...awesome, awesome, kicking bike. I'm in love.

Congrats on the new bike. Don't forget to post the pics of your new ride. It's funny, after reading all the reviews of all the new bikes every year it's hard to find a bike that does everything like the FZ6. However the FZ09......Blah

 

[JMalmsteen]

Congrats on the new bike. Don't forget to post the pics of your new ride. It's funny, after reading all the reviews of all the new bikes every year it's hard to find a bike that does everything like the FZ6. However the FZ09......Blah

The FZ-09 is a great bike. I rode it today for the first time. It is HUGE. It towers over my Harley and over the Shadow. It looks like it wants to eat them. It also handles like a heavy bike when you are trying to move it around and when you are on hills. I was surprised at this since it's 414 lbs wet.

The power of the FZ-09 is completely in the hand of the rider and the throttle. If you want to go 30 mph, it will do that all day. It will not feel like a sport bike until you twist your wrist. Once you give it some gas, it will take off from whatever speed you are going an hit 100 mph in what seems like an instant, so make sure you have some open clear road ahead of you.

I have not experienced any of the fueling issues that people have talked about. Granted, I kept it in B mode, but the 0 to 100 I mentioned was in B mode so I can't even imagine what the A mode is like. I also have not experienced any suspension issues, but I am 5'5" and 120 lbs, so that could be a reason. Maybe if you are a 220 lb guy, the suspension issues would be apparent, but I didn't experience any of them. The bike doesn't get great gas mileage, if that's a concern.

Here are some pictures of the bike leaving Romney Cycles. I have no regrets. The bike is so easy to ride. It is actually easiest bike I have been on as far as stopping and starting. It is totally effortless. I have to work on holding the rear brake while on hills, like I had to do with the Harley, but that's it.

I really like the FZ6. Would it make any sense to get one of those at some point if I have this bike, or are they pretty similar bikes?

 

[Motogiro]

Congratulations! Blah

 

[Erci]

Congrats!! Beautiful ride :thumbup:

 

[JMalmsteen]

Thanks, guys.

I actually think the FZ-09 would be a decent enough beginners bike if you had enough control not to open it up. Any bike can get you a speeding ticket, might as well have something that has some power in reserve.

 

[Druff]

I've had cruisers, bobbers and cafe and the FZ6 is easy to handle, but once you get comfortable and hit the high revs it blows the others away. I see no issues with transitioning to something upright but sporty. As for dealers and test rides, it does vary from dealer to dealer, one told me I could test ride it once I paid for it, an other (where I purchased) was happy to let me test ride almost anything so shop around. You'll find something you love!

 

[JMalmsteen]

It was nice getting a zero mile bike, so I can understand why they wouldn't allow test rides unless they had specific demo bikes. It's probably different for used bikes.

 

[mrphotoman]

a lot of the reasons is they do not want someone with no riding experience getting on a 100+hp bike and crashing.

Be careful and have fun on your new bike, i bet it feels like a rocket after riding a heavy underpowered harley.

 

[Carlos840]

Congrats on the new bike!

Being so light, make sure you are not topping out your forks and rear rear suspension... The stock preload settings would be for someone at least 40 lbs heavier than you, and it can be quite unsafe to ride like that.

It really is easy to do and is necessary in your case!

 

[JMalmsteen]

Good point. I should have checked that before leaving the dealer.

 

[Carlos840]

Good point. I should have checked that before leaving the dealer.

Odds are, at your weight you will need re springing!
But you should be able to get something half decent with the stock ones to get started.

Don't take suspension setup as a "do it if you can" it really is necessary, especially at your weight since you are so far off from the average rider. At the current settings you run a real risk of topping out the suspension

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-performance-mods-section/51901-suspension-setup.html

All the info you need to know is on there, or on the 2 links i posted in the second to last post

If you find it scary, just look at that video, Dave Moss is a suspension wizard and this video will really show you how easy it is to do.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3flKxf41U]Motorcycle Suspension - Setting Sag - YouTube[/ame]

It shouldn't take you more than an hour if you have someone to help you with the measurements.
Don't hesitate if you have any questions, just post them in the "suspension setup" thread i just posted.

 

[JMalmsteen]

Thanks for the info. I don't know how comfortable I feel about messing with the bike myself. I have muscle cars that I work on so a bike shouldn't be much of a stress. In ny head, if I mess up something on the bike because I've messed with it, then I could be dead. The risk isn't as high with my cars.

 

[Carlos840]

Thanks for the info. I don't know how comfortable I feel about messing with the bike myself. I have muscle cars that I work on so a bike shouldn't be much of a stress. In ny head, if I mess up something on the bike because I've messed with it, then I could be dead. The risk isn't as high with my cars.

Honestly it is very straight forward.

Like you my only experience before i got my FZ6 was restoring a 76 Corvette, and once i got the bike i was changing fork springs and doing the suspension setup in no time.

It is pretty much mathematical, at least when it comes to sag, you want to reach the "right" numbers and to reach them you just measure, make small changes and measure again. No rocket science, not a hole lot can go wrong.
All you are doing by setting preload/sag is changing the compression of the springs, which changes to range in which the suspension works, and ride height.

So right now, because you are so light, you are not compressing the suspension enough, which means that it is working at the end of it's stroke, and you risk topping it out, which is bad news.
By decreasing preload you allow the bike lower itself, and the suspension to work in it's optimal range of motion.
On the other hand, if you where 250lbs, the stock settings would have the suspension almost fully compressed with your weight on it, with no more range to absorb bumps, and you would need to increase the preload on the springs, increasing ride height, and decreasing the risks of bottoming out the suspension.

Setting rebound is not as obvious, but then it is a personal thing, and the only way you will get it the way you like it is by experimenting.

Just make sure you write the factory settings down before you start so you can revert to it if you want. It's all about clicks (on the forks), so unscrew the preload until you get to zero while counting the clicks/or number of turns, write that down, now you know how many clicks/turns to go back clockwise to go back to stock. On the shock the adjustment is made with a c spanner and you can just count the numbers of turn you make too.

If you can change a tire and use a calculator, you can do all this...

Your bike is actually more "dangerous" in it's current condition because it is setup for someone a lot heavier than you.
If you don't want to mess with rebound, at least set the sag properly, it will also lower the ride height a bit which should help you.

 

[FIZZER6]

Congrats on your choice!

I'm a small rider as well (135 lbs without gear) and the FZ6 positively flies with a light rider so I'm sure the FZ-09 is a rocketship at your weight!

Try riding with a 100-130 lb person on the back to understand how much slower motorcycles feel to big dudes! If I weighed 220-250 lbs the FZ6 would feel dog slow in comparison!

:rockon: Yay for Moto-GP sized riders! :thumbup:

 

[JMalmsteen]

Thanks for that breakdown. You have convinced me that I need to set up the suspension correctly!

Yeah, all of the magazines show these 150 lb guys. I can't imagine that everyone who rides a sport bike is that light. I would think most guys are closer to 180-200 lbs, but you don't see normal size guys in the magazine tests.

Before I got the FZ-09, I read about all of these suspension issues- I haven't experienced any of them. Maybe Yamaha is not setting up the bikes with a realistic size rider in mind. The fueling is also completely smooth, in B mode at least. I have also tried standard mode and that seems fine also.