It's interesting looking at the stats on howmanyleft.co.uk. Yamaha sold a hell of a lot more FZS model bikes such as the thou and the original Fazer 600 than the later FZ1 and FZ6 models. In fact the FZS600 sold almost 10 times better than the later bikes.
I can kind of see Yamaha back in 2004 planning the next FZ models thinking that since the uprights sold so well, they could see a shift to that kind of bike from sports bikes coming and so made the second generation machines more like sports bikes - revier engines, shorter stroke suspension and so on.
But I think they missed what was fundamentally driving sales of those bikes, and that was the sheer usability of the earlier models.
Tank range, for instance has gone down consistently over the years. I'm sure Yamaha and the other manufacturers look at the annual mileage of bikes, see 5000 miles per year and think 'oh, no one needs a big tank because they're not doing big mileages', or perhaps it's a mass centralisation question - small tank of fuel means better handling.
Also, long stroke suspension is ideal for road bikes and so are engines with loads of grunt, both attributes which Yamaha has picked up on with the new MT zero series of bikes.
Maybe they screwed up with the second gen FZ bikes because they were still stuck in the horsepower race, where every year, the bikes had to be faster so they responded by making them revier and revier. Nowadays, the horsepower race is pretty much over and again Yamaha's new MT zeroes seem to have picked up on that and instead are now trying to make the engines usable over a wide rev range (by over, I mean that if you want more power, you just get a bigger engine - the licensing laws across Europe now mean that no one is stuck with a small capacity bike and revving it's tits off)
And now we have half the biking population going over to big trailies, probably because of their usability. But they're not much cop at commuting because they are enormous and have ludicrously wide bars. Can't tell you how many times I get stuck behind these land yachts in traffic because of that. Maybe we will see more standard road bikes like the Z1000SX, MT0xx, BMW S1000S coming through once the Ewan and Charlie effect starts to wear off.
Personally, I just want a great sports tourer and they are like hen's teeth. There's only been two - the original VFR750 (the K model to be specific, the later bikes are water buffalos) and the Gen 1. I think the reason the VFR-FK was such a good sports tourer is that it was a cutting edge sports bike that just so happened to be comfortable, had a big tank and was exceptionally well made.
What I actually want now (and I've said it before) is a comfortable 1100cc Cross Plane R1 with an upright riding position, a big tank and a comfy seat. Failing that, the new BMW will probably fit the bill. What I do not want is a heavy bike. Large, certainly, because I'm 6'1", but I don't see why sports tourers have to be heavy. And from that point of view, the FZ1 Fazer was right on the money.
I'd just love to see Aprilia to take the V4 Tuono a little bit more towards the sports tourer side of things. That bike, with decent weather protection, would be the ultimate for me. It's sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it, but even if I got one, I'd have to get the tank enlarged and maybe fit the fairing from the RSV4. That's a lot of work. Oh, and then I'd do something about the chronic fuel consumption, because from what I hear, it's pretty thirsty. But still, what a machine that would be. You could do Cadwell Park on the weekend, commute to work monday to friday and then pop over to the Alps for a holiday the following week.
And that is exactly what I did on my FZS1000 a couple of years back. It didn't flinch and was totally at home doing any of those things.
Oops, I've blethered on again….
