Thursday, April 4, 2013


Yamaha FZ-6S S2 Review- Lively or Lifeless?

After riding my R1150GS for awhile, it has dawned on me that it may not be as practical for daily commuting in our tiny island of Singapore where traffic can be clear one minute and all chocker block a few seconds down the road. Although my confidence with the R1150GS has improved tremendously, I was on a lookout for something more practical and easier to throw about in town. 

A couple of bikes came to my mind. One being the Yamaha FZ-1, the other a Ducati Multistrada 620.  The Duc had a nice comfortable ride position for my 1.83m frame. But, and this is a big but, it had the most hideous looking headlamp assembly. The FZ-1N on the other hand, had less legroom for my lanky legs, but with 150bhp on tap, it was looking pretty attractive. 

At the time of writing this, my other ride was a Yamaha Spark 135. With my hopes dashed when the Duc was sold, I started looking around for a smaller more compact ride. Something which I could use as a daily commute to work with adequate power on tap for the occassionaly adrenaline rush. This led me to the FZ-6.

First Impression

After collecting my ride, I took it out to the expressway to get the rev counter up. But before I delve into the details, let me first say that the engine was smooth. I was expecting pull and torque in excess of my BMW. It was however not the case. 

The machine pulled up to 100kmh without much fanfare. Low-end torque was nearly non-existent. That didn't mean that it wasn't pulling off. It was. Gearing was a little clunky like a Honda CB400 for the first couple of gears. After 3rd gear, the gearing was smooth. It ran up to 6th gear pretty quick. I didn't pull the gears up too long as I haven't serviced the bike yet. I will update this after her servicing is done. 

Sadly, my machine needs a steering cone replacement and tweaking to the rear shocks as it was not as pin sharp as I would expect. Perhaps after a change of the steering cone, it will handle better. 

Here are some pictures after collecting my ride:



I shall update this ride after a visit to the garage. 




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