http://www.visordown.com/road-tests/road-test-yamaha-fzs600-v-fzs1000/4467.html


Pretty much everything is summed up there. I would say though, in the flesh the Fazer 1000 is a surprisingly good looking bike and looked a top quality premium product, well the one I saw anyway (Blue in Dawlish if it belongs to anyone on here). Was the first I had ever seen in person. I've never seen an FZS 600 that made me think "Good God that is stunning", but that isn't why you buy them. As Darrsi says, you would have to be honest with yourself about what riding you do and which one you really need / want on your budget.

Some of the bikes you've mentioned have been reviewed in the latest issue of bike magazine Noggy. The new Versys 650 got a really good review, looks alright not very interested myself but it got 4/5 stars which is really good and the write up was singing its praises highly. The MT-09 tracer, that is a bike that I am interested in. I wouldn't buy one, I couldn't afford one just now but in my opinion it looks excellent in certain colours and has all of the real world attributes that make a bike great. It got 5/5 stars on the review and they were hyping it up just as much as the mt-07 that everyone couldn't stop talking about. The other bike that got 5/5 was the new triumph tiger 800 XCx which is also amazing apparently although more expensive than the Yamaha. I think the Triumph can tackle some proper off road if needed though where the MT-09 tracer to me looks like a tall road going bike only. They actually mention the FZS 600 later in the mag when talking about the price of Tracers.

Never happened to me before, I locked the rear a few times on my old bikes but never a front. It was in a dark part of the road at night and when I looked back it looked like there was some sort of shimmer in the road like some spilt oil or diesel was down but hard to see. I'm glad you saved it too though! I wouldn't want to pull stunts like that on something heavier than a 600. I also saved a nasty high side last year coming off a roundabout in the wet with my dad following, he came past after shaking his head with the "lucky sod... well played don't do it again" look. Traction control, ABS etc. just weighs you down! 

Oh yeah Noggy the XT660 being crap is nothing about snobbery when compared to the MZ, apparently the fuelling is diabolical to the point of verging on dangerous whatever you do below 30mph unless you make some modifications. Yamaha did not accept any responsibility and denied any issue allegedly. The MZ is carbed so has no fuelling issues as long as it's set up correctly which it is from the factory, the engine itself is excellent and highly reliable. I personally don't like the styling of the MT 03 and it's quite expensive for what it is but apparently there are no fuelling issues on that.

There are tyres that are designed for the road but can be used on very minor off road as I've seen quite a few supermotos with them, an example is Avon Distanza. A lot of supermoto riders seem to just put sport touring or semi / full on-slicks on though so I would suggest what we have on is best for a sport tourer riding on tarmac. Not quite sure what you're actually asking though, that was a lot to take in and there are a few different actual questions haha. If you're on about solely dry riding in summer for pleasure and maximum cornering grip then yes a sportier tyre like a metzeler M5 sportec etc will be a better choice of course.


I think if you are mid bend and see a pothole / debris the tyres will not really make much of a difference as long as they're good quality it will more likely be the suspension that will save you and your riding ability to not tense up if you do hit it and try to look past it to avoid it. If you're talking about riding the roads now which I don't think you are because you asked about summer, I would say now isn't really the time to be going balls to the wind anyway because I know where I live the roads are dreadful and wet leaves, wet manholes and potholes are all over the place not to mention the distracted drivers commuting home.


On another note, this could be a bit of a risqué comment and not my place but it's meant in good faith. You sound as though you enjoy cornering the most but to me regarding a lot of your posts I don't think you're enjoying your FZ1 as much as you expected and are trying to justify to yourself the performance it should have by trying to go faster and faster and faster. Thing is, I can only see it ending badly which nobody would want to happen. You often spoke well of your Fazer 600 and loved how it handled. I think if you actually timed yourself doing your favourite roads on both bikes, you are actually smashing your old pace to pieces on the FZ1 but because it is such a beast, you are feeling pressured to as if you MUST beat the old FZS and this is my point. You aren't riding just for the fun of it perhaps and its now becoming more about riding well with good pace which sometimes the road conditions wont allow. In my opinion, smaller less powerful and lighter bikes are more involving as the actual perception of speed, fun and pace in the bends is greater. This is off on a tangent to your OP I know, but just my opinion. I think if you got an MT-07 or something smaller that can handle and feels like you are actually more involved in riding it to its potential without going stupidly fast and making greater chance of serious accident you wouldn't be thinking about stuff like this quite as much perhaps. There is an interesting article in Bike magazine 500th anniversary edition I just bought regarding this.

Took the bike to work today and was listening out very carefully on the way home, visor open leaning in close to the engine. So carefully that I almost drove into the kerb at one point! Anyway the sound is actually from the exhaust can I've now realised, fairly certain anyway, it must be some weird harmonic thing or a vibration but definitely not engine related so I am relieved about that. My Mivv exhaust has been on for a couple of thousand miles now so maybe some of the packing is wearing in a bit, it's pretty bassy though even with the baffle in.


The bike almost at 29k now and I think I'll get the valve clearances checked at 30k just to be safe. Does anyone know how much that costs roughly? I know how to do it, but I don't have a nice clean and covered from the elements area to work in and have never attempted it before so wouldn't want to mess anything up. I also don't have feeler gauges so think its worth leaving to a professional.

Went for a great ride today, however have been noticing another engine sound recently. Bike has slight cam chain ticking noise for first few minutes until warm, bit annoying but not too worried been told it's normal. I am now noticing however that in 1st and 2nd gear especially, when accelerating hard and putting the bike under load there is a knocking sound from the engine that always occurs at approximately 3500rpm. This is worrying me a bit, the performance is fine however and it never does it on deceleration only under load. It also doesn't do it in neutral when revving I don't think although I will try that again tomorrow holding it at 3.5k as I don't think I tested that properly. I don't think the noise occurs in 4th and above strangely at those revs and the bike pulls cleanly all the way through the revs. Might take it to a garage to have a look at, if it's something bad I might just rip the bike apart and sell it for parts because it seems every time I fix something it works great for about 2 months and then something else decides to break...

I had no real idea what I was going to do to mount the clocks other than a few little bits of info here and there in threads. Obviously step 1 is completely strip the front end down to the forks and headstock / ignition. Then you can think about your clock bracket and see what needs doing better. I bought a sheet of aluminium that was about 30x50cm or something and quite thin I would guess 2-3mm and that was £5. Myself and my Dad then went about making templates from cardboard, it was a lot of trail and error, then went for a first prototype in the aluminium when we were happy. The plate is big enough for 2 attempts so your first one doesn't have to be exact first time. It can all be done with a hacksaw, a file, a drill, a hammer and some patience. For the bend so that the clocks are visible when you're in your normal riding position, you need to carefully hammer away at the underside of the aluminium and it's once again trial and error and taking your time. I will try and get a photo of what I made this weekend and the shape of it if you would like, it's crude but it works. It's also worth buying some rubber trim to neaten up all the edges and make any sharp areas safe.


As for actually mounting it, I drilled and tapped a hole into the underside of the top yoke and used a hole that was already there for the throttle cable guide or something then bolted it on from there. We then drilled two holes in each corner for the clocks to mount into, I sawed off the third clock bolt at the top of the clocks and painted the rear of the clocks black to try and tidy it up a bit. It's all a bit tight with the ignition like I say as the whole thing is bulky, leaving a bit too much of a gap between headlight and underside of clocks which you don't see on purpose built nakeds. I will be trying to sort this out though. If you want I can try and find the links for the ebay items I purchased tomorrow, things like the headlight brackets, rubber mounts for them to fit our forks and the headlight itself which is actually far better than the OEM boxeye headlight. I would say though if you plan on doing this it pays to get some better looking handlebars as the OEM ones look terrible naked.

Yeah fair enough, I don't want to cut the frame fairing tabs off though purely because if I ever come to sell it I have the option of putting it all back to standard (I still have all the standard stuff although have altered some wiring so not sure how easy that would all come together again) then selling all the bits I have modded separately. That way I would probably make the most money to put towards a new bike. 

Wow, I would love to do that! Can you get to all of the peaks just by walking or do you need to actually climb with ropes and climbing equipment? First photos are awesome.

You can use the OEM bar weights in renthal bars, I have done on mine, but it requires a bit of DIY. You need to use an expending rawl plug, I think it was M6 in size but I can't remember, they're used for masonry I think and can be bought in B&Q for a few £. You also need a couple of long bolts about 100mm to fit through the bar end and still have enough thread to expand the rawl plug, I also picked these up at B&Q and went for a rounded head which didn't quite fit in the recess of the OEM weight like the original bolts but still looked fine.


When you put the bars on and come to the final stages of grips and bar end weights, make sure the grips are slightly past the ends of the Renthals so about 1-2mm overlapping the end as the recessed part of the OEM weight doesn't quite fit inside the renthals and looks weird unless the grips are there to cover the overlap. Before putting the grips on, offer up the bar end weight to the bar and you will see the approximate overlap needed before you install the grips.

To install the OEM weights, put the rawl plug and weight together and the bolt through them then tighten the bolt up enough that when you insert the rawl plug into the renthal there is a bit of resistance. This makes it a lot easier to tighten. Then, when you're happy tighten the bolt up as hard as you can, you can also spin the weight to tighten it further. They may have a tiny but of movement if you try to very hard spin them the other way after installing, but as long as you keep an eye on them they should be fine mine have been for about 2500 miles now. I wanted to use the OEM because I like that they have some weight to them unlike the old Renthal bar weights I bought for my GS500 a few years ago that were garbage anodised crap that weighed nothing. Hope this helps, there's also a video on youtube of this idea somewhere if you need further info, type in delboys garage bar end weights and it should probably come up. Thats where I got the idea    I have the 789 I think it is, or "streetfighter" bar which I love but I don't think the fairing allows them to be fitted as they are too wide and the master cylinder or something fowls the fairing which I no longer have on my bike.

Sometimes I let my foot drag down near the floor if I've been riding for a long time to stretch my knee and change its position to relieve a bit of stiffness / cramp, I don't do it when pulling away though. As for mopeds, the real question is WHY on earth do they use the pillion pegs to put their feet on??? Aerodynamics? I find the ones riding the restricted 4 strokes (often chinese) with about 1 decibel coming from the exhaust quite amusing in particular, especially when they're wearing the most badass motocross helmet money can buy with the craziest graphics and 45 tone colour change goggles to match their track suit.