Back in 2014, Yamaha Motor co released its new FZ-09 naked sportbike to replace the popular FZ8. The factory blessed it with several improvements over its predecessor, to include less mass, more power and a narrower waist; features that proved popular with the sportbike community. Yamaha released its 2016 model to carry that torch into a new year.
Lean, aggressive and nimble are my immediate impressions based on the overall looks of the bike. In typical “naked” fashion, Yamaha shunned excessive body-paneling, leaving very little mystery as to what it has going on under the hood, as it were. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what makes this particular model so likeable.
Continue reading for my review of the 2016 Yamaha FZ-09
Design
The large-diameter fork tubes, exposed engine and wasp-like waist that tapers down to nothing over the subframe leave the bike looking like a wedge of cheese – which is to say, “all up front.” While the tank design has the sporty-looking side bumps typical of sportbikes, they seem to be a bit high, and not actually in a position where one can hook a knee under it while hanging the derriere off in tight corners.
Still, the look is there, and it speaks to the designed cornering performance profile. With no body panels to disguise it, the factory abandoned all pretense of hiding the big radiator on the downtubes. Instead, they owned it, and made it part of the look.
Chassis
Yamaha started things off in the right direction with an aluminum frame, and left features such as ABS and traction control on the shelf to prevent loss of the gains garnered by the frame construction. The 25-degree steering-head angle and 17-inch front wheel produces 4.1 inches of trail for decisive cornering and crisp reversals. Of course, you’ll pay for that when you hit long, straight stretches on the highway, but it is a sportbike after all.
The inverted front forks are fairly beefy at 41 mm, and both the front forks and the rear monoshock come with preload and rebound damping adjustments so you can dial in your ride. Front brakes discs fall just a little on the small side at 298 mm, but there are two of them and they have four-pot, opposed piston calipers to bind them – plenty for a bike that weighs in at a mere 414 pounds soaking wet. There is no ABS or linked-brake system, but I personally count that as a bonus, not a detriment.
