So apparently I just bought the worse bike ever made?
- Thread starter DurtyB
- Start date
and started to do more 
iheart2drift
New member
Hi everyone, new member and new (to me) FZ8 owner here as of yesterday. A little background on my owner history...First bike was a 04 Kawi Zx6R, was young and dumb and bought this regardless what I read about it being a terrible first bike and bought too much bike for me. So naturally my second bike was a 09 gsxr 1000...again waaaay too much bike and never used 50% of either bikes potential. Sold that and decided I wanted a Harley. Bought a 09 Nightster and put 1000 miles in it before I realized I made a mistake. Don't get me wrong, it looked and sounded awesome, but couldn't go into any corner without something dragging.
Fast forward to yesterday and I traded the Harley straight up for a 2011 FZ8 with 6500 miles. I'll admit I did not do much research on the bike before hand (I'm an impulse buyer) . It looked and sounded awesome and I think anyone would probably agree a lot more performance than a harley sportster. So now I'm back tracking and reading reviews and others thoughts on the bike and can't say I've read much good. Apparently the suspension is garbage, it's dog slow and every other bike in its class is 1000x better. What gives?
My riding style is rural roads with occasional mountain twisties. I am no racer and more enjoy the ride itself than dragging knee, but do enjoy leaning the bike over a little.
Am I going to enjoy this thing or should I just go drive it off a cliff?
I just bought one 2012 for my first bike and I have to say, it was definitely not a mistake. Excellent bike. The suspension is soft, but for me that translates to comfortable. It's definitely not slow haha maybe not as fast as a 1000CC but definitely not slow by any means at all.
Bajaedition
New member
I have read this thread over and looked at the op again and have to say something
first, the guy buys stuff because of what others say
his first 2 bikes were sportsbikes and he did not have the knowledge or skills to ride them so he bought a look at me harley, once he had that he decided he did not like a bike he could not do some twisties with and ended up on a FZ8.
then he starts to read what others say and is afraid he has done something wrong again.
You know he does not even know what he wants in a bike
is this a sprtsbike? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
is this a Hardly? NOOOOOOOOOOOO
this is a Standard Bike, a Naked Bike, a UJM
it cost less than the Sports bikes because it does not have the hardware that makes them so good in the corners, it cost less than the Hardone because it does not have the rabid fan base that would buy anything with a HD logo just so they can pretend to be bad.
It however is a few things
a good bike in the curves, want it to be better, then invest another 2 gs but do not complain when the ride gets so hard you think teh bike is uncomfortable for more than 1 hour rides.
a good bike to commute on
a hooligan looking bike that has real wheelie potentual
a bike with a torque band from hell, yea flat for over 7 gs, this torque band is a dream come true.
A bike with great ergonomics,
the bike rocks, looks good and is great in a lot of places, I loved the review it was given when they said that it did nothing wrong, it was just good all around.
it may not be at the top of the line in any of one category, but then it is nowhere near the bottom of any either. It is just a great bike.
first, the guy buys stuff because of what others say
his first 2 bikes were sportsbikes and he did not have the knowledge or skills to ride them so he bought a look at me harley, once he had that he decided he did not like a bike he could not do some twisties with and ended up on a FZ8.
then he starts to read what others say and is afraid he has done something wrong again.
You know he does not even know what he wants in a bike
is this a sprtsbike? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
is this a Hardly? NOOOOOOOOOOOO
this is a Standard Bike, a Naked Bike, a UJM
it cost less than the Sports bikes because it does not have the hardware that makes them so good in the corners, it cost less than the Hardone because it does not have the rabid fan base that would buy anything with a HD logo just so they can pretend to be bad.
It however is a few things
a good bike in the curves, want it to be better, then invest another 2 gs but do not complain when the ride gets so hard you think teh bike is uncomfortable for more than 1 hour rides.
a good bike to commute on
a hooligan looking bike that has real wheelie potentual
a bike with a torque band from hell, yea flat for over 7 gs, this torque band is a dream come true.
A bike with great ergonomics,
the bike rocks, looks good and is great in a lot of places, I loved the review it was given when they said that it did nothing wrong, it was just good all around.
it may not be at the top of the line in any of one category, but then it is nowhere near the bottom of any either. It is just a great bike.
hutru01
Knights of Columbus
You can't believe everything you read or hear.
Regarding the suspension, it is average. Unless you are racing this bike, the suspension is enough for what you are looking to do.
Regarding its acceleration, actually this bike is faster than most bikes from 0-60 due to its low end torque and weight. So, unless you are on the autobahn, it's real world application speed is well above average. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't ride at ridiculous speeds beyond 90 mph. I think I have hit 100mph on this bike less than 5 times and its a little too windy for those speeds (not to mention life threatening. When getting on the interstate this bike will keep up with the fastest of bikes. Top end on this bike is where it lacks compared to the 1000cc bikes.
Personally, I love the FZ8 for its sportyness and naked sexyness. The riding position is comfortable and you don't get sore riding it the way you do on crotch rockets.
This just my
I hope you enjoy this bike as much as I do.
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You answered your own question. I had a nice Harley, been riding and racing my whole life since I was 6, now approaching 50. The Harley was a cool bike, cool factor and all... but it was not nearly as fun to ride as my FZ8. A co-worker with a Harley picked up an FZ8 last week too after I let him ride mine. We swapped for 1/2 day. As cool as it was to get back on the sled, I could not wait to get off the Harley and back on my FZ8. When he got his own FZ8, I asked him how much he liked the FZ8 in comparison to his Harley, his response was "a night and day difference", "much more fun to ride". To me, the FZ8 is a niche' bike, and if it requires someone to explain it to you after riding it yourself, or if you are into "trinket bikes" with bling and add-ons, you might want to just go ahead and sell it and move on to the next thing. The FZ8 might not be for everyone, but those I know who own them love them and ride them a lot. Good luck on your next bike.
cambo
Avid Rider
yeah where is Durty? Duuuuurttyyy come out to playyyyyyyyy. ok let me stop, that's creepy. I'm scaring myself.
Agree with decooney: riding the cruiser makes me feel like a complete bad ass for no reason whatsoever. the second I get off the bike I'm no longer the Terminitor and i'm back in my very unassuming, very asian, very poo brown body.
Now with the fz8: I don't feel like the terminator. Instead, I feel like a g'damn sexy beast that girls actually want to talk to. It's got the speed the vstar SEVERELY lacks and the looks that make sportbike riders give a double take.
"Whoa bro did you see that?" "Yeah bro, whoa, like, what was that? Ah man, I totally want to catch up with that guy and ask him, like, whoa what kinda bike is that and like, can I be your friend?"
That's how the conversation plays out in my head. And apparently I day dream of dudes talking about wanting to meet me. great.
G'damnit...
Agree with decooney: riding the cruiser makes me feel like a complete bad ass for no reason whatsoever. the second I get off the bike I'm no longer the Terminitor and i'm back in my very unassuming, very asian, very poo brown body.
Now with the fz8: I don't feel like the terminator. Instead, I feel like a g'damn sexy beast that girls actually want to talk to. It's got the speed the vstar SEVERELY lacks and the looks that make sportbike riders give a double take.
"Whoa bro did you see that?" "Yeah bro, whoa, like, what was that? Ah man, I totally want to catch up with that guy and ask him, like, whoa what kinda bike is that and like, can I be your friend?"
That's how the conversation plays out in my head. And apparently I day dream of dudes talking about wanting to meet me. great.
G'damnit...
wait what??? I need details on this
Marthy
Member
2007 R1 cams, timing chain, cams gear and crank gear. The 1/2 the price of an exhaust (not counting labor) that give you an extra 14 WHP (from 97 WHP to 112 WHP)
There's still a bit of room left for improvement I think. Might not have much left has peak HP but it can be tune for a better mid range for sure. Still 57 ft.lb is pretty amazing for that much gain at peak HP. The engine is kind of a bit flat under 4-5K but 6K on that thing seams to pull very strong!
master paper clip
New member
That build is getting out of hand, and u know as soon as they finish that Marthy there just gonna come up with a another power mod for this bike cause u know where relentless in our mod hunt on this bike
It seems you moved the power/torque curve upward in the RPM range.
What are the WHP and torque numbers before and after the cam change at 5,000 RPMs?
At what RPM does the peak torque start to flatten out?
Marthy
Member
There's a little loss on the bottom end as expected, we are working in that now. 6K there about the same then 6500 it gets 50+ ft.lb all the way to 10K. The cam timing is a bit aggressive and it peak hp almost right at the rev limiter. The bike should re_timed this weekend and we will rework the mapping if necessary.
From the saddle the lost on the bottom end doesn't feel that bad... but its an inline 4... smooth bottom and fun on top
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
From the saddle the lost on the bottom end doesn't feel that bad... but its an inline 4... smooth bottom and fun on top
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
I need this. If you don't want to post prices pm me I'd like to know .
Marthy
Member
Sure. Ill get back to you tomorrow.
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EDIT:
I just had to double check...
2008 R1
You need
Intake & exhaust cams, 2 cam gears, the crank gear and timing chain. Then you need to adjust the valves, degree the cams (timing mark not good enough since the FZ8 won't like the R1 setting)
Not hard to do yourself but you need to be honest with your mechanical skills. A mistake here can be $$$. Valves and pistons don't make good friends!
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