Reviews

2006 Yamaha FZ6

The FZ6 is a "civilian " version of an earlier R6. Surprisingly, it had very good parking lot manners and produced enough power at low revs to be user friendly in traffic, in spite of a very narrow clutch engagement point. However, it was very buzzy, which was one of the reasons I didn't keep it very long. The other problem was that if you wound it up (redline somewhere around 12K rpm) it was very tempting to do bad things with it. On the other hand, the handling was a little disappointing, and I think my current Bandit 1250 actually handles better.

I used it mainly for commuting, with Givi PLX saddlebags, which are a little narrower than the regular Givi ones. Wind protection was poor, and the genuine Yamaha high windshield really didn't help. The saddle could make an important part of your anatomy go numb after a while, and the Corbin saddle I got for it was really no better than stock. The two other Corbin saddles I've had have been really good.

It had a center stand so maintenance was easy. The oil filter was very accessible and easy to change, and it had an incredible valve adjustment interval, somewhere around 22,000 miles, much better than on my Suzukis.

Sometimes I miss it, and wonder what a real R6 would be like...

Last Update: 27 December, 2007
Web Author: Doug Ikemi