Motorcycle.com

After a tasty little mountain road and some preliminary photos, we stood at the intersection of a rural road at the top of a little town in Spain, looking down at the Rock of Gibraltar and, just beyond that, the Mediterranean and then, Africa. The roads up to this point were a bumpy and gnarly sort of sportbike heaven, but heaven nonetheless. This is what the FZ-1 is about. It's not a racebike, but a sport bike that just happens to keep your body on the pleasant side of the comfort/control equation, and the motor on the spritely side of the power pantheon. If a good bike is labeled as such by not finding too much favor at either extreme, then this is a good bike, indeed.

So what's our initial riding impression of this much anticipated machine? We expected more, quite frankly. It was billed by Yamaha as an R1 for the real world -- a bike that was basically a comfortable R1 that had not been neutered at the factory. As it turns out, however, the FZ-1 seems that it may be more of an R1 for people who are scared of an R1. Well, not so much scared as intimidated, anyway, by either that bike's aggressive power, ergos, or both. Okay, so maybe it really is an R1 for the "real world," then.

The roads we traversed were not much better than what we have locally, to be honest, but the scenery made it acceptable. Still, sometimes there's nothing better than a foreign road that's littered with bumps and blind corners to really feel some things out.

The R1's suspension was never bad on the road. It was constantly missing from our garage on weekends as staffers often picked it as their main toy even when a few hundred miles in one day were part of he plan. But after leaving the haunches of Harleys and Ducatis, most anything seems plush. To better suit a broader range of riders, Yamaha's suspension, increased compliance and all, worked pretty damn well most of the time. Initially it feels to be sprung more firmly than Suzuki's Bandit 1200, though no more jittery, if at all.

When the pace was stepped up, a few of us noticed the bike moving around quite a bit, especially coming out of corners on the throttle. Sure this bike has power, but it just felt too sketchy. Then, at a photo stop, another journalist (who happens to be a pretty good racer, too) reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out an air-pressure gauge. The findings? 40 pounds of pressure in each Metzeler ME-Z4. Needless to say, we dropped six from each end and headed back out.

These lower pressures made the rest of the day's ride far more enjoyable. Gone were the lurid slides, but the trade-off was slightly mushier steering since the tire was now able to flex more. It's a trade we were willing to make, though, and some of us were more glad than others.

Back underway onto a faster, windy stretch of coastline road where speeds were well into the triple-digits at times, we started to feel a bit of flex from the FZ-1's chassis. It felt like things were getting a bit wound up, not quite working in concert with each other. Chances are, thanks to the fully-adjustable suspension, we would be able to tune out most of what we felt. Still, this is understandable given the bike's stock settings that err on the side of all-around usability and not corner-carving prowess. It's that whole "R1 for the real world" thing again.

As for all the changes made to the R1's motor, "for the real-world," Yamaha did a really good job here as well. The motor feels strong everywhere, pulling from way down low up to redline without hesitation. Thanks to the FZ-1's additional weight, however, the acceleration is a bit tame comparatively. Then again, Richard Ramirez was tame compared to Charles Manson, though you'd have to agree that both were pretty brutal.

Somewhere between the 5,000 rpm grunt and the rev-limiter is a healthy mid-range that makes the gearbox a mostly set-it-and-leave-it affair. That's a bit of a shame, really, since this gearbox is so much more of a pleasure to row through than on either the R1 or R6. It's still not a very slick-shifting tranny, but the changes to the clutch and the linkage make a significant difference, as does the additional rotating mass in the crankcase. The vibes are noticeably less than what the R1 tends to dish out and make for a much more enjoyable and buzz-free ride.

The Rain in Spain...

Striking a pose on a beautiful Spanish road. Actually it looks just like any other road, doesn't it? Who writes these captions, anyway?

The F-Zed has true liter-bike performance, minus the committed riding position. You want to chase state-lines? You want to go chase Ducatis up and down your favorite road? Add on some of the numerous accessories Yamaha is manufacturing and you can make this bike into pretty much anything you've ever wanted from something on two wheels.

This is definitely a bike that may have been over-sold at first, but it certainly delivers on most counts -- and those are the counts that, um, count.