Test of the FZ8 and Fazer8, future Yamaha bestsellers

Number one in sales of motorcycles in France since 1996, Yamaha is launching this year a new model which should confirm its monopoly: the FZ8, and its streamlined version Fazer 8. The French bestseller Z750 is in the target… First MNC tests !

An FZ to hunt the Zed

Meticulously unveiled throughout this winter (read), the Yamaha FZ8 is undoubtedly the 2010 novelty expected by the greatest number of French bikers: the number one manufacturer in France has finally decided to compete directly with the Kawasaki Z750, in head of motorcycle sales for five years !

Because the Blues are well aware of the excellent popularity of the Kawa in France, "but also in Italy and Spain, a little less in Germany and the rest of Europe", specifies to Site Alessandro Polati, head of product planning at Yamaha Europe..

According to our interlocutor, Yamaha is launching the FZ8 above all for the sake of consistency: "at the entry level, we offer the XJ6 (who was driving happily on the flowerbeds of an FZ6 doomed to disappear, Editor’s note) with its nice engine and its simple cycle part, and at the top we have the FZ1, its demonstrative engine and its high-end equipment", summarizes Alessandro.

The new FZ8 is inserted between these two products, snatching a good number of elements from the FZ1! It stings him neither more nor less than his frame and his swingarm – both in aluminum -, as well as "his" low engine of R1 2008 … "But this is not a mini FZ1", insist the brand’s managers in tuning forks !

A full-fledged model according to its designers, the FZ8 notably benefits from a completely new high engine. Its 4-valve cylinder head, which replaces the 5-valve one of the 1000, its camshaft, its connecting rod-piston assemblies and its intake pipes – of two different sizes – were thus specifically created to fill the mid-range of the 800 (779 cc to be precise).

Moreover, the new Yam ‘is content to develop 106 horsepower: it will therefore run in the original configuration in France! "Better a full 100 horsepower motor than a slightly hollow 120 horsepower motor", observes Eric de Seynes, recent successor to Jean-Claude Olivier as general manager of Yamaha Motor France (read).

It is on this precise point that the FZ6 sinned: its too sharp engine was no match for the big "Seven and a half" Kawasak … Naturally annoyed by the success of the Ninja, Yamaha France demanded an increase in displacement of his "little" FZ for a long time…

"Unfortunately, this was not a priority for the group on a European scale and despite the importance of the French market for Yamaha, the FZ8 was long overdue.", confirms Eric de Seynes. This time it’s good, the anti-Z750 arrives !

A few weeks before its arrival in dealerships (read), Site had the honor of participating in its press launch on the beautiful roads of the Marseille hinterland … And the Fazer8 was also part of it: tests !

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