Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

We're not going to waste too much of your time on their commuting traits, but as far as cruising comfort goes the Bandit and the Fl-I offer the most wind protection and the most comfortable seating positions. The Kawasaki doesn't have the greatest wind protection, and the seating position can make your lower back ache after a while. The mirrors on the Fl-I and the Bandit are both positioned really well, but the Bandit's tended to vibrate a bit more than we would like. The Kawasaki's mirrors, on the other hand, aren't placed that well and offer the rider about the same vision as on a typical sportbike, though they don't buzz. IN THE CANYONS Palmer, Managing Editor Chris Jonnum, and I took the three bikes in question for a nice day in the twisties. Of course, we had to make our way through a labyrinth of freeways to get to the fun stuff, but we found a nice mixture of tarmac to put the bikes through their paces. The first road consisted of nice, fast, open sweepers and then dumped us into a much tighter section. After that, we headed onto a road that we recently discovered, and weren't really that familiar with. It's a much tighter road with lots of off-camber corners, and the road itself is fairly narrow. The lRX 1200R really likes big, flowing, open sweepers where its longer wheelbase can strut its stuff with the bike's superb stability. Get into the tight stuff, and the Kawi becomes a real handful, taking much more effort at the bars than the other two bikes to get the thing turned. The suspension on the Kawasaki may look cool and pay homage to its ancestors, but it isn't up to the task for serious sport riding. The bike tends to wallow more than the others and has a hard time carrying its extra weight. The front end felt great in the fast sweepers, but didn't give the rider enough confidence to push it in the tighter stuff. The motor offers plenty of grunt out of the corners. The torque spread is fat (it makes over 70 Ibs/ft of torque from 32008600 rpm), allowing the bike to chug along in virtually any gear if you choose to be lazy. It doesn't have the top end of the Fl-I, but it pulls like a locomotive nonetheless. The Bandit is super-predictable in the twisties, with a decent combination of stability in the faster stuff, and a quick-turning front end in the tight corners. Despite the fact that the suspension isn't fully adjustable like the other two bikes', the Suzuki's fork and shock work fairly well. They're a little bit on the soft side - if we owned one and spent a decent amount of time sport-riding, we'd put new springs in the fork and possibly an aftermarket shock on the back. However, the feel from the front end is predictable and offers goo d feedback. The motor in the Bandit is the triedand-true oiland aircooled motor from the old GSXRl100, before it was watercooled. It works great in this application, and for all of you out there who like to tinker, it responds very well to modifications like a pipe and jet kit. It offers plenty of acceleration, but is way down on power compared to the other two bikes. The motor is much smoother than the Kawasaki's, but you'll need to row the gearbox to keep it in the power. Speaking of the gearbox, the Suzuki has the slickest shifting action of the bunch, with the lRX hot on its tail. One thing about this test that I fully expected was that when the other guys got the chance to ride the bikes back to back, they would gravitate toward the Yamaha. I'm not saying that I went into the test biased, I'm just saying that after riding the bike at its intro in Spain (see the February 28 issue of Cycle News), I was impressed. The Yamaha felt like it had way more power than the other two, and the dyno backed this up. It may not have the roll-on grunt of the Kawasaki, but the top end pulls and pulls all the way to redline. Not only does it make the most horsepower by a significant margin, but it also makes the same torque as the Bandit despite around 160cc less displacement. Another key ingredient to the Fl-I's package is its lack of weight compared to the others. It weighs 30 pounds less than the Bandit and 35 pounds less than the lRX 1200R, Front-end feedback is excellent, offering excellent feel and tire adhesion from the fully adjustable inverted fork. Another surprise was the front brake - but they really shouldn't have been, they are the same brakes as on the RI. They offer the best stopping power of the group and have a nice, linear feel. SO WHICH BIKE IS FOR YOU? all of which adds up to much-quicker acceleration off the line, and really fun wheelies. The Fl-I's handling is simply in a different league than the others. The lower weight, combined with superior suspension components, allows the bike to turn much quicker than the others despite having similar geometry numbers. As a matter of fact, the Fl-l has a less aggressive rake angle than the others, but you'd never know. a U c • e Deciding which of these bikes to buy may seem like a no-brainer from a performance standpoint, but there is more to it than that. All three bikes are very different despite the fact that they fit into a similar category. The Kawasaki fills the role of the sportcruiser, making it the best stoplightto-stoplight poser of the group with its retro-look. The Bandit, on the other hand, is the bike to be on when traveling longer distances. It offers a comfy seat and the best wind protection of the group, almost filling the role of a sport-touring bike. That leaves the Fl-I, which is easily the hot-rod of the group. It offers the most performance, combined with plenty of comfort and decent wind protection. It's just too hard to ignore the extra performance that the Yamaha offers - when riding the bikes back to back, it's the one everyone wanted to be on. The Yamaha is the most expensive bike in this group, but it's not wasted money - you get what you're paying for, and that makes it a bargain in our book. If you are looking for an incredibly versatile, powerful, fun bike, the Yamaha Fl-l is sure to put a smile on your face, it's as simple as that. at n _ _ S • JULY 4, 2001 37

• Cover