Cycle News

CN III VOICES L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R "Someone at Yamaha caught the vision with the FZ-09 and FZ-07 platforms, and now the YZ and WR-F's." Yamaha's Newfound Creative Genius I would like to congratulate Yamaha on their newfound cre- ative genius. Until now, KTM has been the only manufacturer to really and successfully ex- ploit platform and parts sharing to produce distinct models for distinct purposes. KTM has merely done what auto manu- facturers and Taco Bell have been doing for years, and now lead the industry in many ways. Someone at Yamaha caught the vision with the FZ-09 and FZ-07 platforms, and now the YZ and WR-F's. With very little R&D, a smart company can serve and even create market niches—reaching more customers with compara- tively less engineering dollars. Now, Yamaha, make a street- legal DT-07, a lightweight dual sport-07, a Scrambler and real Adventure 07 and 09, 07 and 09 sport bikes and supermo- tos, street-legal WR450F and 250F's (maybe a 500 and 350, too!), WR300, 250 and 125 two-strokes (FI or DI please?). Most of the base parts are in stock, so when do we start? Dayn Mansfield FZ-09 Upon reading your review of the 2015 FZ-09, I felt the need to chime in. I am the proud and happy owner of a 2014, which suffered from the jerky throttle and marshmallow-y suspen- sion. Yamaha offered a recall to re-flash the ECU to the 2015 spec, and while, yes, it was better, it still wasn't perfect. I eventually added a Power Com- mander, (plus K&N) and it did wonders for the first ¼-throttle transition. Problem solved, and it's still plenty fast without having to resort to B Mode. I ride it in day-to-day traffic in Standard Mode exclusively. A Mode is still only good for pure hooliganism, as it should be. An Akropovic exhaust com- pleted the transformation from Little Engine That Could to a fire-breathing beast. It growls and snarls and wails in ways that the stock bike could not imagine. As for the other major issue, the suspension, that is also easily and fairly cheaply fixed. But my question to potential FZ owners is this: Do you want a bike that costs $3K more with barely adequate OE suspen- sion? Or would you prefer to pay the FZ's low sticker price and put the money saved into some custom parts on your ride, and have something that not only performs better, but also has some cool factor as well? My personal solution was a Penske rear shock which was their lowest-end model with- out reservoir at $695 MSRP, and fork revalve kit with stiffer springs that set me back about $400 with labor. Sure you can drop $4K for high-end racer level offerings from Penske or Öhlins, but unless you're doing track days, that's not necessary and that's not what this bike was designed for anyway. But you can also have high quality adjustable, rebuildable com- ponents that perform very well on the street for a little over a grand that make world of differ- ence on this machine. To me that is the beauty of the FZ-09. It begs to be customized, and is priced in a way that customizing it is easily justified. And the parts you put on are of your choosing, not some bean counter in Japan trying to keep a bike under a ridiculously low MSRP. Even with the added money I've put into the machine, I feel there is no bigger bang for the buck in motorcycling. The FZ has found a home in my garage for many years to come. It's just too damn fun to ride to even think of replacing it with something else. Thank you Yamaha! Your plan worked, and I can't help to think that I am not the only "old guy" out there that has been dragged back to the streets by this machine. Shannon Churchill Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won't be considered for publication and each letter should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number… Editor P6

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