Thoughts and opinions please

[garysimmo]

Hi all As on my profile am currently running a gen1 fazer thou and a buell s1, i'm thinking of putting all my eggs in one basket as it were but am in all honesty struggling finding something that beats the fazer, i really fancied the vfr1200 but sat on one and didn't like the riding position, i love the look of the xtz1200 but dont like the price. Come on chaps throw some suggestions/opinions this way.

[steeeve66]

Might help us a little if you tell us what sort riding you do? How often etc?

[garysimmo]

Good point go at least twice a year touring with the lads france/belgium, so thats a fairly (very) quick pace, use it a lot two up with the missus, probably 60/40 solo/two up. Am out most weekends and at least once or twice in the week. Hope that helps a little
 

[keithfzs1000]

just keep the fazer get rid of buell and spend the money on the fazer......sorted 

[garysimmo]

At the moment keith your not far wrong there really is nothing out there that compares.

[ghostbiker]

Only bike i have found that seems to be a modern match for the fazer is the kwak ZX1000sx
seems to be a great all rounder that can do a bit of everything well.

if you want something thats a modern gen 1 thats it.
if your affter somethng a little diff then the world is your oyster

[garysimmo]

Strangely enough thats the one i'm going to look at next.

[Falcon 269]

... honesty struggling finding something that beats the fazer

That tells you something.  Rather than spend money trading it for something else, invest in suspension mods and call it good.

[FZ_Rich]

I'm with the others here, sell the Buell (you'll wince when you realise how much it's depriciated but hey ho) spend the cash on the Fazer...Nothing is as good unless you want a dedicated sports bike or dedicated tourer In my humble (oft wrong) opinion. I've just got a, don't laugh, BMW R1200 RT SE which is a better tourer but man it's s..l..o..w. Still my licence is breathing a sigh of relief because I'm geting my biking kicks at legal speeds now 

[garysimmo]

thanks for all the suggestions and its going the way i thought it might, depreciation on the buell is not an issue to me as i've had it a lot of years smiles per gallon and all that, might search the forum for the r1 front and r6 rear conversions then, looks like a winter project coming on

[Tmation]

Kawasaki ZZR 1400, I test rode a 2012 one, FOC me it blew my socks off. Makes my Gen 1 feel like a dinosaur


Easy to ride but insanely fast with just a twist of the wrist, can do two up with ease and your mates would have to be very fast and work hard to keep up over a long distance.


I would change the bar position, add a bigger screen and a gel pad in the seat (same as on my Gen 1). Change the exhaust and sort the fueling (same as my Gen 1), plus add some hard luggage (again same as my Gen 1).


I am going to get myself one next year, but I am keeping my Fazer.

[MEM62]

Hang onto the Fazer.  There's little out there that does everything that the Fazer does.   

[pitternator]

Well its a good thread , cos all of us will be in this situation at some point...like yerself  I have dallied with several bikes over the last 10 yrs.I still came back to the fazer , and now run 2 bikes at a time, so I always have an alternative twist to my biking. I believe this is important , and it serves to help reestablish just why you do ride a certain bike.
The other point is that the gen1 is not an expensive bike to buy , run and modify ...if you compare to buying almost anybike out there as new...cos the cost is getting way past 9k now for most 1000cc bikes.
My thoughts at this point in time is that I actually run a touring bike alongside the fazer , after 5 years of having a supernaked as its stablemate..as I now feel the fazer is too powerful for the bimbling and alpine stuff I tend to ride on my touring hols.Superb on the motorway of course.BUT with such a big emphasis on speed at the moment in parts of europe, I have picked a less frenetic, better handling , better ride quality . more  sophisticated bike for touring, and have put the fazer in the role of hooligan bike ! ...which it does quite well along with so many roles. ...as well worn footpegs and rapidly disappearing rear tyre will testify ...
Opinions and needs change, but my advice is to keep the fazer if you can, and try alternative bikes.Personally I think the current gen1 alternatives ( versys 1000/ ZX1000SX) are expensive underpowered versions of what a decent modded gen1 can give.I did try th eVFR1200 but like you disliked the riding position, and its just too top endy for what I wanted( although I still feel its  a great bike). Liked the explorer but felt like some others its clumsy, and not finished well enuff as  a premium bike purchase, plus I have experienced triumph residuals and they are poor.So I bought something else.
I am toying with the idea of buying a third bike...something slightly left field too....probably another triumph, but not new, so I dont take the loss!

[pitternator]

ref ZZR1400...yes its very top endy , but I have found they dont handle twisties anything like a fazer.So just be careful, be sure its what you want. I think the fazer accelerates too fast for UK roads , so what is the point of just more and more top end. Meanwhile I aint found anything which has the mid range stomp of the full monty gen1....my triumph triples have had better bottom end, the GS has superb grunt at certain rev range, but nowt so far has quite the instant thrust and unrelenting zap  in top of the fazer.I dont think I have ever been lacking in power with the fazer except on a trackday against blades and R1s etc.But on the road...tbh I think its got way more than we ever really need.To put it in perspective, on twisty roads, me fazer out paces Hyabusas...so whats the point of 200bhp....??

[Rusty]

At the moment keith your not far wrong there really is nothing out there that compares.

I've been in the same situation quite recently. I had two bikes and considered selling the Fazer as one had of them to go. In the end I sold the other one (1200 Bandit) as no matter how much I loved that bandit I had to admit to myself that the Fazer was a far better machine. Other bikes that have a similar capacity to 'do it all' would most likely cost twice as much - that is when you actually discover which bikes they are!

[BMCfaz]

It is sad to think that there's not much, if anything, out there that can match the gen 1 for all-round ability, especially when the suspension's been sorted and it's been Ivanised. So why change? Get the Fazer as sorted as you can and enjoy it!
I can't see anything on the market that I'd swap the Fazer for, not only does it go as well as anything else (on the road), but, IMHO, it still looks good, unlike the ZX1000SX, which is f.ugly. The only thing I'd consider would be a late model GPz900R, but that's even older than the Fazer!

[PaulSmith]

I was right with you up until you mentioned the GPz. In my humble opinion, that was the tattiest piece of tat to ever be called a Kwacker! There used to be rumours that Kwacker engineers who did a good job designing supertankers,  trains or satilites would be rewarded by being allowed to play with bikes for a while and the storey goes that the designer of the GPz originnaly wanted to use bamboo for the bikes frame. Nervous salesmen convinced manegment to use metal instead but they compromised by using the softest and most flexible metal they could find. Any suggestions that the designers satilite later fell out of the sky causing a train wreck that sank a supertanker are pure speculation! 

[b1k3rdude]

i really fancied the vfr1200 but sat on one and didn't like the riding position,

Yeah loads of people have said that, also the gearbox on them are as week and shit - loads of warranty repairs.

[garysimmo]

i really fancied the vfr1200 but sat on one and didn't like the riding position,

Yeah loads of people have said that, also the gearbox on them are as week and shit - loads of warranty repairs.

Thanks for that had not heard of the g/box issues.

[phild]

I wished they still made the Gen 1 Fazer. I'm looking to change mine but I'm struggling to find a bike to replace it.
I keep my bikes for a long time, my current one I've had from new ( 05 model on a 06 plate ), so if I keep my next bike as long as this one then I'll be 60......hopefully I'll still be up to my touring but who knows. So now is the time to change.
I've tried several bikes including BMW F800ST Touring ( too vibey for me ), CB 1000 RR ( just to say I'd had a go    ), Mk 1 CBF 1000 ( liked it ), MK 2 CBF 1000 F ( liked it a lot, but the price    ), VFR ( didn't get on with the riding position and again expensive ), Bandit 1250 ( great bike, great price but a step back in refinement )........so I'll just have to keep looking.

[b1k3rdude]

Thanks for that had not heard of the g/box issues.

Its a bit disappointing as the VFR12 is Honda's flagship. Honda like a lot of other makers have relocated thier manufacturing, so quality and reliability isn't what it once was.