Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126811
Yamaha FZ750: Less corne ring clearance. more comfort. Suzuki GSXR750: Lighter. more powerful. almost-too-quick handling. ., tracks. H a ving sai d th at, it's m y im p ression that the Yamaha will probably mak e a be tter street bike and th e Suzuki a better race bi ke , ยท stock a gain st-sto ck. Wh y? Becau se th e Yamaha is more co m fo rta ble to ride , a nd o ne disad vantage to th at is the fact th at the bik e's lower foo tpegs dra g ea rly and easil y, co m pa red to th e Su zu ki's a lmost-u n lim ited cornerin g cleara nce - a n d cramped rid in g positio n . T ha t ca n be a n adva ntage and a disadvantage ; with stock tires. early-dragging pegs (rela tively speaki ng) ca n keep th e rid er from leaning and lea ning and leaning some m ore and finall y reaching the point whe re he ru ns off the edge o f the tire trea d. On th e ot her hand , if a bike's stock tires have been exchanged fo r the sti ckies t, m ost race-worthy tires avail a ble, th en th e limit in corn ering clea ra n ce is a liabil ity. The Yam aha a lso seems better su it ed to st ree t use beca use it has a bro ader pow er band and is eas ier to ride. O n th e other han d , maybe th at might ma ke it possible for non -expert rid ers to get the Yamaha aro u nd th e tra ck qu icker, because it is easi er to keep in the powerband. Ag ain st that, th e Suzuki eas ily rea ch es red line in to p gear a nd feel s like it accelerates quicker. Without a d ra gstrip handy. tha t co m pa riso n is stri ctl y seat-of-the-pant s, but th e cla im ed dry weight and horsepower claims mad e by Yamaha a nd Suzu ki seem to back up the feeling - Yamaha claims 46 1 pounds dry and 100.6 bhp @ 10.500 rpm against Suzuki 's 388 pounds dry a nd 104.5 bhp @ 10,500 rpm. There ca n be no do ubt that th e Yamaha I rode a t Wi llow Springs was more sta ble tha n the best Suzukis I rode at R yu yo . Nothing u pset the FZ750 - it didn 't wobbl e or wa llow o r twitch . and th e Suzukis did. some worse than others. Bo th bi kes ha nd led well on tra il ing th rott le to th e apex of co rners. The Suzu ki feels lighter a nd sm a ller a nd qui cker -handli ng a nd doesn't lik e to be snapped into turns - it works best wh en ridden with a light .to uch as o p posed to man-handling. The Yamaha feels h eavi er a nd larger a n d tol erat es any thi ng a nd a ny tech niq ue th e rid er wants to use. Both sl ide th e rear tire first when th e limits o f tr acti on a re reached. and o n stoc k tires, th e Yamaha starts sliding far , far earlier (in terms o f how ha rd the bik e is being ridden ) th an th e Suzuki. Bot h have excellent brak es; the Suzuki's front brak es m ore easily li ft th e rear wheel, a nd th e Suzu ki's rear br ake is m o re sens i ti ve a n d touch y. locking th e rear wheel too eas ily. As for the specifi c mechanica l co mparisons, co n su lt th e cha rt pr inted wi th th is story. And bear in mi nd that th e specs here are for a Yam aha th at 's U.S.-lega l (a ltho u gh no t Ca lifornia lega l - th at state ha s its own , tougher em issio n s sta nda rds) and for a Suzu ki th at 's not U. S.-legal. In th e pr ocess of becoming U.S.-lega l - which proba bly won't happen before fall of th is yea r - th e Suzuki is sure to lose some pow er. But consideri ng its lig h ter weight, how much a ny suc h power loss wi ll affe ct ultim at e performance is h ard to say. 45