Bellerophon
Well-known member
The Yamaha demo truck was in Boise this past weekend, so I took advantage of the opportunity to ride a few bikes. I rode the following:
· FJ-09
· XSR900
· FZ-07
· Bolt
· YZF-R6
Here are my impressions:
The FJ-09 has a nice comfortable upright riding position with wide bars compared to our FJRs. There is plenty of power and torque on tap, and in fact I inadvertently picked up the front wheel while accelerating out of a corner. It is much buzzier than our FJRs, and in A mode the throttle is quite snatchy.
The XSR900 has a little bit more of a sporty feel, and seemed much smoother to me than the FJ-09. I liked it. My perception is that it is a sport bike for old guys like me.
The FZ-07 was my favorite bike of the weekend. Super easy to ride, torquey and quick. Mind you it does not have the rocket ship acceleration of our FJRs or the FJ-09, but good power. It fueled perfectly, very smooth, and handled impeccably. Hard to beat at the price point. I wouldn't mind having one of these in the garage.
The Bolt was just not my cup of tea. Although the cruiser crowd would consider the pegs "mid-controls" they were still too far forward for my taste. It's also a low rider, with a long reach to the bars. The v-twin had pretty good around town power, but no point in revving it. It was relatively smooth for a v-twin, the vibrations were not uncomfortable.
Now for the YZF-R6. At 60 years old and 240lbs, I am sure I am not the prime customer for this bike. I wanted to ride it though, because I'm not sure if I'll get another chance to ride a sport bike. Mostly it was torture. The first time I tried to get my feet up on the rear-sets, I thought my knees and hips were going to break. I will say that by the end of the ride I was more used to it and it was at least doable. Obviously the bike handles well and brakes well. Low end power is virtually non-existent. All of the fun is at the top of the rev scale. The transmission was excellent, easy to shift, and I had fun rev matching downshifts. This is for sure a young man's bike, and even as an old guy, I'm glad I tried it out.
· FJ-09
· XSR900
· FZ-07
· Bolt
· YZF-R6
Here are my impressions:
The FJ-09 has a nice comfortable upright riding position with wide bars compared to our FJRs. There is plenty of power and torque on tap, and in fact I inadvertently picked up the front wheel while accelerating out of a corner. It is much buzzier than our FJRs, and in A mode the throttle is quite snatchy.
The XSR900 has a little bit more of a sporty feel, and seemed much smoother to me than the FJ-09. I liked it. My perception is that it is a sport bike for old guys like me.
The FZ-07 was my favorite bike of the weekend. Super easy to ride, torquey and quick. Mind you it does not have the rocket ship acceleration of our FJRs or the FJ-09, but good power. It fueled perfectly, very smooth, and handled impeccably. Hard to beat at the price point. I wouldn't mind having one of these in the garage.
The Bolt was just not my cup of tea. Although the cruiser crowd would consider the pegs "mid-controls" they were still too far forward for my taste. It's also a low rider, with a long reach to the bars. The v-twin had pretty good around town power, but no point in revving it. It was relatively smooth for a v-twin, the vibrations were not uncomfortable.
Now for the YZF-R6. At 60 years old and 240lbs, I am sure I am not the prime customer for this bike. I wanted to ride it though, because I'm not sure if I'll get another chance to ride a sport bike. Mostly it was torture. The first time I tried to get my feet up on the rear-sets, I thought my knees and hips were going to break. I will say that by the end of the ride I was more used to it and it was at least doable. Obviously the bike handles well and brakes well. Low end power is virtually non-existent. All of the fun is at the top of the rev scale. The transmission was excellent, easy to shift, and I had fun rev matching downshifts. This is for sure a young man's bike, and even as an old guy, I'm glad I tried it out.
