All Tests – 2013 FZ8 Test: Spring for the Yamaha Roadster! – Bosses galore

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2013 FZ8 test: spring for the Yamaha roadster !

All Tests - 2013 FZ8 Test: Spring for the Yamaha Roadster! - Bosses galore

On the best selling motorcycle segment in France, the mid-capacity roadster, the Yamaha FZ8 made a relatively modest entry in 2010. This 2013 vintage must correct its main flaws: road test and circuit in Alès, at the foot of the Cevennes.

Bosses galore

No surprises when handling the Yamaha FZ8 2013: the seat is still as welcoming, the controls are where you want them and only the slightly rounded tank always spreads the legs a little too much. You should step back to the bottom of the saddle to limit this inconvenience..

Contact: we go from the Mechanical Center towards the exit of Alès, direction the Cevennes. Denis Bouan, the seven-time winner of the Moto Tour, leads us via very small roads towards Saint-Etienne-Vallee-Française and Saint-Jean-du-Gard. We are on the secondary network of secondary school, with bobosses, spaghetti and patches on all floors !

Enough to actively test the suspensions, even if the very shiny aspect of the asphalt, still wet from the showers of the day before, encourages reservations, especially as the snow soon adorns the aisles! Not to mention the salt trail left by the employees of the DDE, which we will have to be careful not to be too familiar with in tight curves. !

But let’s get back to basics: ABS helping, it does not take long to get a good idea of ​​the improvement made to the fork. We can pull the lever hard enough without feeling that our teeth are going to scratch the asphalt. Better, if the work is now done with good restraint (hydraulic, it goes without saying), comfort remains preserved. The compromise of this front seems judicious on this small very distorted departmental.

Unfortunately, it was hardly possible to test the reaction to these bumps on the corner, due to the cold humidity of the road … Even our experienced guide, multiple winner of the Moto Tour, is on the reserve in these conditions. . That is to say !

However, it is clear that the front as the rear, if they continue to absorb irregularities in good comfort, are no longer blurred by spurious reactions and other rebounds. It should be noted in passing that the good old Bridgestone BT021 of the original equipment does not call for criticism in these "grumbled" conditions….

The last part of our Cevennes loop of a good hundred kilometers is done on better quality asphalt, and of which more and more portions are dry. Let’s take the opportunity to get out of our reserve a little and increase the driving rate a little (!).

Under these conditions, if the comfort of the FZ8 does not deny itself, the parasitic sensations due to the rebounds of the suspensions or to the tilting effects seem to be a thing of the past. We can therefore exploit the beautiful extension of the block, after having taken advantage of its flexibility to roll on eggshells at the start of the journey. Progress is significant !

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