New to bikes, new to FZ6.

[raj_27]

Welcome to the forum Blackcombe,

I had been in your situation last year. I have FZ6S (not a lot different from naked i guess anyway) and clocked almost 8000 k since Jan. This is my first ride in Australia, absolutely love it. Plenty of info in the forum. No matter what you want to do its here.

Good luck with the serch

 

[Blackcombe]

Here's Jessica
Picked her up today. Generally quite good condition and pretty much stock, has crash knobs and colour matched front fender and seat plastics. Not far off needing tyres soon, whats the preferred tyre for the FZ6 these days? A general cruising tyre not knee down street racer stuff.

 

[DeepBlueRider]

Here's Jessica
Picked her up today. Generally quite good condition and pretty much stock, has crash knobs and colour matched front fender and seat plastics. Not far off needing tyres soon, whats the preferred tyre for the FZ6 these days? A general cruising tyre not knee down street racer stuff.

Congratulations ! Ride her like crazy, ride her often :Flash:

About tires - search forum. There are multiple threads and this is kind of subject everybody will have their own opinion

 

[aussiejules]

Welcome, I too went from a vtr 250 to the fz6 and it was easy I had only riden bikes for 1 1/2 years before the fz6n she was the same colour as yours and one of the first sold in Adelaide. my missus and I rode 2 up a heap used it as a city commuter and also for a weekend cruise, and sillily enough as a high speed sports bike on occasions. It will do it all, when I had mine preferred tyre down here was road pilots 2.
How many kms on Jessica?

 

[motojoe122]

Congrats!
The FZ is a great bike, well worth the wait:thumbup:

 

[agf]

im running metzler z8s and am happy with them but there is a myriad of choice out there
as mentioned 'search' is your friend

i guess because of our latitude, im in melbourne, we need to have both good m dry weather stopping ability thats what swayed me to th z8 but a new tyre is now advising longest life there is an ad for it in Aust. Road Rider just cant find the mag at the moment

new rubber should make for a totally new ride experience too woohoo

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner and it works every time !

 

[Blackcombe]

Cheers guys, Jessica has just on 30k on her. Had a mechanic check her over prior as i had no idea other than seeing to basic obvious. His report come back great with just basics of tyres and rear brakes and cosmetic scuffs. All in all i'm pretty stoked and about to pop out to "learn" to ride her

 

[Stephen ingham]

Welcome to the forum, i too are still quite new to the FZ and too bought a FZ6N with 15000 miles.

I originally went to purchase a SV650 but preferred the look of the naked FZ and bought that instead.

It is a great ride, great for plodding around town with lots of power on tap when needed.

i am just about to service mine, oil, filters, anti freeze etc

Welcome and enjoy both the bike and the forum.

 

[Blackcombe]

i
as mentioned 'search' is your friend

WOW these things are nice to ride, still baby steps for me yet but still feel the right hand must be treated with respect.

Is there a way to just search from the local forum (Australia) ? Not saying the Internationals aren't helpful just sometimes suggestions aren't readily available Down Under or are not suitable for our climate.
Cheers

EDIT - Ignore the search question, just worked it out again

 

[DeepBlueRider]

One thing to note - as you're in AU, do your shopping. There might be importing issues causing significant difference in tire prices.

Another thing is what roads are you planning to ride ? Only tarmac ?
I've seen on movies those long Australian dirt highways If you plan to go on such roads often, you might want to consider something like Metzeler Tourance EXP type of tire. That said I haven't rode on any dirt/street combo tires yet.

 

[Blackcombe]

I've seen on movies those long Australian dirt highways

Hahaha, the biggest hazard we have here is the groups of Kangaroos hopping down our main streets too. Oh and those drop bears (Koalas) from the gumtrees.

Nah seriously, only main sealed tarmac roads for me at this stage.
Thanks

 

[Blackcombe]

Happy new year all, so far so good with my new ride. Been for several local rides just sorting out some of my basic riding skills (or lack of), gear changing and emergency stopping has been priority so far and now sent the bike in to mechanic for service and brakes and more through check over to ensure all safe and reliable etc so i can stretch my riding to more of a longer cruise and higher speeds.

 

[hearliam]

Hi Blackcombe, I have an 08 FZ6S and I asked the question about the snatchy throttle, my mate took my bike for a ride and he didn't like the throttle response, From what I been reading, I believe it the pre 07 models so that may be something to look at, TPS throttle position sensor. good luck.

 

[Blackcombe]

Cheers Hearliam, i did mention this to Shane (Mechanic) as he also knows my story on being a beginner and all so i did say it could be my riding or the bike but it felt as if it was "snatchy" on exit of roundabouts and corners. Should have her back by Tuesday so good thing not missing much riding time with Adelaide's weather right now.

 

[mave2911]

Welcome to the forums and to the mighty FZ6.

Of the dozen, or so, bikes I have owned, the FZ6 is my favourite!

As for tyres, Metzeler Z8 Interact, no question! Fantastic grip, dual compound so you'll get great commuting miles, and best in class wet-weather performance.

I saw Keith at Total Motorcycles in Pooraka for mine.

Have a look and see if KillerNoodle is still making his clutch slave levers - no question this is the single best mod you can do for your Fizzer.

Other than that, the Fizzer is a surprisingly capable yet forgiving bike. Keep 'er under 8000rpm 'til you get used to the power delivery, and she's absolutely polite and tame - wind 'er over 8000rpm and feel the rush!

That's one of the things I like most - perfectly fine for doodling around town, but maximum fun when dial is turned up past 8000!

LOL!

If you need any help/advice or have questions re. the Fizzer, just ask as I'll always help if I can.

One thing you'll notice is that the Fizzer has a soft front end, so you may want to have your shock-springs upgraded, and what do you have your rear shock pre-load set at?

Get decent rubber, check your chain tension (the Fizzer chain looks loose, at spec, but isn't! 45-55mm chain slack, as measured midway between the front and rear sprocket) and keep decent oil in 'er and she'll give you many miles of trouble-free motoring. (mine has over 55000kms, and still runs perfectly)

Cheers,
Rick

 

[Somebuddy]

:welcome:

One thing I love about this forum is how helpful and nice everyone is (As I'm sure you've seen on this post!)

I think you'll find that transitioning from your past bike to the FZ6 (nice looking bike by the way) won't be too bad. One of the things I like about the FZ6 is that if you ride it conservatively it is deceptively calm. But when you really rev it up it's like a whole new bike. The first month I owned mine I was like, "this bike's not that fast"... Then I got it past 9,000 RPMs.

As for tires I like the Dunlop Q3s. From what I've been told, and my experience, they are a dual compound so they have a harder tread in the middle and a somewhat softer more sticky tread on the sides which makes them good for commuting and the twisty roads.

Congrats on the purchase!

 

[Blackcombe]

Bike back from mechanic today, service, tune, wheel bearings, adjust this and that, lube this lube that, fork oil, brakes flushed and given a Mechanically A1. (Except tyres that is next weeks purchase).
This was just something i needed to have done for my own piece of mind as the previous owner supplied bugger all paperwork to prove maintenance so now i feel time to clock up some good rides :rockon:

 

[Blackcombe]

Damn I like this bike more and more I ride it, spent couple hours on it yesterday and felt pretty good. Need to address my hand control positions a little as numb hands was kicking in at times even though I was conscious of not gripping on too tight
New set of tyres and exhaust mod this week and Jessica will be complete..... for now.

 

[scidork]

I found that if I'm not careful, I can ride with my weight too far forward. This puts excess pressure on the heel of my palm and gives me numb hands. This could just be me though as I'm a small fellow and find that it's pretty easy to cut off circulation.

Sitting with your butt farther forward can help this. Some others might have more to say but you can also take some weight off by using your knees to kinda grip the tank and take some of the weight of upper body up with your back (of course, this could hurt your back if you over do it, and I'm pretty young so without having any lower back problems may not be the best representation).

Further, riding position can alleviate excess pressure. If you can, lying on the tank at speed (for me basically 6th gear onward) and thereby relieving almost all pressure from your hands can work but this is largely dependent upon your arm length, handlebar positioning, how it forces your head to be position to see, even where the zipper is on you jacket. Before doing this, you might want to consider one of those diamond shaped stickers that are so popular on the tank. Basically a scratch guard like on a guitar. Again being small enough that I can actually ride two up on the front part of the saddle, some of the above my not work for you but might help in some way. I think the only time I've even gotten close to the power band was a few times I've been cruising along in 6th and decided to open the throttle up (and called it quits after I saw 128 mph)

While I did ride a (Kawi?) eliminator 125 for the US MSF course and a ninja 250 once in college shortly thereafter this is effectively my first (and only) bike and I , as are you probably, have had no learning curve problems in the last year of owning it, except hydroplaning one night and not realizing there was a side stand interlock on the starter for the first month.

 

[Blackcombe]

Cheers Scidork, I'm sure some of your suggestions could apply and others not so as I'm pretty sure it sounds you and I are at 2 different ends of the scales, I'm more of a larger framed bloke hence the FZ6 being ideal choice for me as its weight and size is pretty much perfect I think.
Lucky enough also to already have a tank guard sticker already fitted by previous owner.