Riding A Graves Motorsports FZ-07, FZ-09 & YZF-R3
A few months ago during the Shoei X-Fourteen introduction at Chuckwalla Raceway, I was given the chance to spin some laps aboard a Graves Motorsports Yamaha FZ-07, FZ-09, and YZF-R3. The two FZs were equipped with a variety of performance upgrades available from the Graves Motorsports catalog while the R3 was one of the Graves Racing Services’ race-prepped bikes.
By flashing the FZ-09’s ECU with a Graves FTECU Flash, installing an Öhlins shock and Öhlins fork kit Graves solved the two biggest issues with the FZ-09. Add to that the 310mm Braking Wave rotors up front with a brake line kit, Marchesini wheels, Graves adjustable rearsets, and a smorgasbord of other hop-up goodies, and the FZ-09 is transformed from a fun street bike into a track day weapon. The same can be said for the FZ-07, with just not as much, or the same, go-fast goodies available, but enough to elevate the FZ-07’s game.
To see everything Graves Motorsports has available for your FZ-09, FZ-07 or a wide variety of other sportbikes, check out the company’s website.
For the aspiring racers out there, Graves Racing Services has a race-spec Yamaha YZF-R3 available. This unintimidating little racer is an absolute blast to ride, and will teach you all the basic skills needed to pilot a more powerful weapon. Graves claims a 15% increase in power and a 12% reduction in weight for the R3. The base package for an assembled R3 racer includes:
- Graves Stainless and Carbon exhaust
- FTECU Remapped ECU tuned to match the Graves pipe
- YamaLube 15W 30 Full Synthetic Racing Oil
- Graves basic chassis, control and protection kit
- Race bodywork w/ Zero Gravity Screen
- Graves Spec racing brake lines and racing front brake pads
- Ohlins steering damper with Graves mount kit
- Ohlins Rear Shock and Andreani fork kit
For more information, ordering details, and pricing about the race-kitted YZF-R3 go to gravesracingservices.com.
A former Motorcycle.com staffer who has gone on to greener pastures, Tom Roderick still can't get the motorcycle bug out of his system. And honestly, we still miss having him around. Tom is now a regular freelance writer and tester for Motorcycle.com when his schedule allows, and his experience, riding ability, writing talent, and quick wit are still a joy to have – even if we don't get to experience it as much as we used to.
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Shucks, I had to sign up to Disqus just to share what a wasted title for an article/blurb that was. Such a tease really.
And I have thought so often recently about the merits of taking a relatively low $$, fun bike like either of these and ripping around on it. Just taking an average bike and making it fun for an experienced rider, really getting into the juice of it, would be a really satisfying and potentially credit card exercising type of yarn to read.
It would be helpful to know how these Graves bikes are actually different from the stock setup apart from "better". How much does Tom weigh compared to most readers, what were the suspension changes made ie. are they off the shelf Ohlins or Graves specific units, where is the stock stuff weakest, spring rates used instead of OEM, damping improvements. Golly, anything more than a link to the website that oddly doesn't have those specific items listed for either bike. They do have replacement springs though. And I think I really would love either of these modded bikes, but more detail would be a help. The Stoltec Moto folks seem to be on that path..
I really love this site. I check it far too often each day because the articles warrant it. This one is looking *ahem* veddy veddy l i g h t by comparison when it could have been so much more.
I click on the link to the company site then i clicked on Yamaha FZ-09. I have not seen Ohlins shocks (only spring) or forks internals. I have not seen the rearsets as well. How much would it be to make the FZ a decent sport bike? Is it economical (for example you can buy RSV4 Tuono for ~10K.