OCT2005

Mick King sent me this message/request which I think is important from the point of view that our FZX is a classic now. Myself, I own a heavily modified '92 and I love it still. But I recon the beauty there is in admiring a restored classic. So here it is:

AS A YAMAHA MOTORCYCLE DEALER/RESTORER RETIRED!
IT IS VERY DISTURBING AS FAR AS I AND MY FELLOW FZX COLLECTORS
ARE CONCERNED -TO OBSERVE HOW THE MAJORITY! OF THE OWNERS OF
SUCH A (RARE BEAUTY) OF A MOTORCYCLE AS THE FAZER FZX, CANT WAIT TO TRASH IT BY CUTTING STRETCHING PAINTING THEM LIKE KIDS TOYS!- ADDING OTHER MODEL PARTS AND GO FASTER KITS ETC-ACCESSORIES WINDSHIELDS/SISSY BARS AND JUNK LIKE THAT! THIS IS A (PUREST MACHINE) AND GETTING RARER BY THE MINUTE.
MOST OF THESE TRASHED BIKES BECOME NO LONGER COLLECTIBLES- AND END UP IN GARBAGE TIPS OR ROTTING UNDER A TREE SOMEWHERE!
NOTHING GETS TRUE ADMIRATION MORE- THAN A BEAUTIFULLY RESTORED STOCK FZX.
THINK BEFORE YOU HACK! GUYS
MICK KING
BC/UK.

DEC2003

This message was originally posted on the FZX Fazer Club and reposted here by kind permission.

Hi everyone,
I came across this group a while back while checking out Ricardo's
fazer/vmax site (nice site btw) a few years back, which is where I got
the idea to do the FZR1000 engine swap. Wow, what a monster that bike
became, along with a 4-1 mac exhaust (loud) and a stage 3 air filter /
jet kit. The story continues at my motorcycle crash recovery website:

http://nostar.isa-geek.com/

As far as the swap goes, incredible. The bike appears to be
repairable, and I WILL ride again, no matter what the doctors thought!
One thing I should mention about the swap that appears to only apply
to the US version of the fazer, is that it uses the dual ign pickups
vs. the FZR1000 and Euro-FZX using a single, so I had to aquire the
FZR1000 coils / Ignitor module. Both plugged right into the existing
harness with no mods, though. Also, the fazer uses 2 separate coolant
tubes that insert into the block at the base of the jug, which are
mounted by bosses right next to the ports. These bosses don't exist
on the 88 FZR1000 block, since it's tube is secured up at the top of
the head. I used two small zip ties to keep the tubes in place, going
thru the bolt hole of each tube to the oil vent line that runs right
alongside of them. It may sound hack, but I don't think it is, and it
worked leak and problem free. The clutch sucked from the day I got it
running till the day I crashed. I was never able to get a good 1/4
time because it wouldn't grab between hard shifts. I was planning on
doing the famous yamaha clutch mod, but didn't get to it in time.
P.S. The engine didn't really have anything to do with the crash
though, just a wet, rainy night and one of those things that never
happen. I bought that bike in 1996 with 17,000 miles on it. When I
crashed it had over 60,000 miles on it, probably 10,000 of those miles
were with the FZR1000 engine. I rode that thing in everything but
foot-high snow, and I even considered doing that at times.

Doug McLain

JAN2003

Some more nice words by Duane (Spewy98)
Posted originally on the Yahoo FZX Fazer club
Reproduced here by kind permission

Hello everybody, it has been awhile since I posted anything, first I
hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate it, no
matter what your religion, I hope you are doing well.

I still don't have enough miles on my bike to register it in this
state and since it has been somewhat cold I have not been riding it
as much as I should. However I did take off on a Friday night heading
out to Phoenix, Arizona for my first long trip on the Fazer. I had on
my full leathers and a backprotector, put a small backpack under the
Wolfnet, made sure the tires were aired up, had fresh batteries on
the firefly wheel light and off I went. I got a late start and hit
plenty of rush hour traffic through downtown Los Angeles, it was a
trip of many first for me on the Fazer, first time riding it on the
Freeway, first time riding it through Freeway Rush Hour traffic,
first long trip on it and eventually, first time running out of gas
on it.*LOL* The first hour was slow, made a few enemies while slicing
through traffic, the 4 into 1 pipe gave a nasty little noise to a few
of the cars, eventually things cleared out some and I got to stretch
the throttle cable a bit. I comfortably made the first tank last 120
miles, after filling up I started to get into the desert at twilight.

Things got dark and just outside of Indio there was some rather
terrible roadwork being done, over each bridge the pavement was torn
up, grooves and large bumps became the riding surface. I would slow
down to 70 going over those sections, and even then it was scary
stuff. After the 20 miles of construction the road cleared again and
the bike cruised at 90 miles per hour doing 6500 RPM, it was running
great. The lack of fairing let the windblast work me over, but it was
fun riding out there. A car pulled up beside me and was staying with
me, a couple of ladies were looking over and watching, guess the red
firefly light on the front wheel had them mesmerized or
something.*LOL* Either that or me wearing all black leathers with a
red fullface helmet on a red and black bike, and my hair
flying...naw, that is not the reason.*LOL*

Towns and places for gas thinned out I saw some signs and knew I
could make Desert Center and thought I could make it to Blythe of
need be. Well, as I came up to Desert Center the bike shut down and I
flipped over to Reserve, I didn't see any signs for fuel at Desert
Center and very little lights, so I was hoping I could make Blythe 29
miles away. Not quite. The bike started to sputter and died about 20
miles away from Blythe. I stopped and pulled out the cell phone and
called the auto club. An hour later a tow truck shows up with some
fuel. It was nice, by this time I had gone over 230 miles and my butt
was sore from that damned seat! *LOL* A walk through the desert at
night was a welcome relief.

Finally I was back on the road cruising to Phoenix. At 410 miles I
finally pulled into my friend's house, even with the full leathers it
was cold.

The next morning I got an early start back toward Los Angeles, I
pulled into a station and filled up, this time I was going to stop
every 50 miles or so just to be safe! *LOL* Some guy said "Nice
bike!" and asked where I was headed, He said he has a '98 Soft Tail
Harley but it was too cold for him to ride that day.*LOL* Rolling
through the desert during the day was nice, I pulled into a one horse
town just inside Arizona, the gas station was old and had old pumps,
I started to walk to the window to pay, the guy told me to pump the
gas first. I went up to pay afterwards and he said "Wow, that things
sounds FAST! I heard you when you pulled up, it really sounds like
something." I told him it is a good bike and is pretty quick. As I
walked back to the Fazer the guy came running out with a camera and
asked if he could take a picture of it, I said he could. The bike was
dirty and needed to be washed, but the guy was still impressed, he
asked what it is and said he had never seen a bike like it before. I
told him it is an old bike and not very many were made and not many
people know about them. He said "I like to take pictures of all the
cool and unusual bikes that come into my station, I have a friend in
California which owns a station too, we swap pictures of bikes that
come in." he said he would send a the picture of my bike to the other
guy on the Net.*LOL*

Anyway, I got home with an extra 830 miles on the Odometer and one
very sore body. Found out my Fazer loves to cruise at 90 miles per
hour and has an effective range of about 120 miles on a tank cruising
at 6500 RPM. My next long ride will be to Hollister to have Corbin
make a custom seat for the Fazer, that stock seat is a piece of shit!
*LOL* The bike ran GREAT and handled awesome, the new fork tubes and
Progessive Springs worked over the rough construction sections
perfectly. At times I bumped it up to 105 and 110 miles per hour and
the bike felt solid.

Duane
86 FZX700
02 S4

OCT2002

Some real nice words about the Fazer by Duane (Spewy98)
Posted originally on the Yahoo FZX Fazer club
Reproduced here by kind permission

"My first riding impressions of the Fazer"

Hello all,  yes, I finally got what I wanted for 16 years, and after
waiting for pick up, to be delivered and it sitting at the shop for
over 3 weeks, I FINALLY picked up my Fazer last Saturday morning. I
had never ridden one, only sat on one in the dealership in 1986, I
never realized what I was missing.

I was nervous, I started it up and it is LOUD, my bike has a 4 into 1
exhaust system on it so I am guessing it is louder than the stock
exhaust. It is even louder than my Ducati with the Termignoni Racing
Exhaust system on it.

I was happy my feet were flat on the ground, I am somewhat short and
for many sportbikes I have to be on the tips of my boots to touch
from the seat, with the Fazer I had no problems. I liked the riding
position and thought it is much more comfortable than my old Ninja or
current Ducati. When I started to go I felt weird when I put my feet
on the pegs, I am not used to sitting in that position and having my
legs so high up, most times when my legs are that high I am either
riding a horse or my Ducati and am slightly bent forward.
My next impression as how smooth the Fazer was just taking off, no
concerns about stalling, it was docile.

After 5 minutes the position seemed natural and VERY confidence
inspiring. The exhaust sounded like an ungodly ANGRY bee right off my
right ear. The bike was comfortable and I really started having fun
just riding it. I hit my first sweeper to the right and the bike kind
of felt like it lurched a little. It has new Michelins front and
rear, and I had new tubes and Progressive Springs put on, that may be
the reason for it and the tires were not warmed up at all. I did not
take it fast so I was a little surprised, but had no fear, the bike
felt stable.

The more I rode it the more fun I had and the more natural it felt, I
even got used to the exhaust noise. I was constantly doing
comparisons between my Monster S4F and the Fazer while riding it. The
Ducati has better front brakes, handles turns much better and it is a
little faster. The Fazer has better rear brakes, is very comfortable
and is overall much easier to ride.

I have ridden the Fazer everyday since I picked it up on Saturday, in
my opinion, with no hesitation this is without a doubt the most fun
to ride of any bike I have ever ridden. I LOVE this thing! I loved
riding before, and got a little ansy after a nasty wreck in 98, and
still loved to ride though thoughts of the wreck were always in teh
back of my mind. The Fazer has taken my enjoyment of riding to a
level it had never been at before, it inspires so much confidence
even the thoughts of my wreck are gone when I ride it. I didn't
realize how much it showed until I visited a buddy, he came out and
was saying he wanted to see what sounded so mean, he had also been
cautioning me about buying another bike, when he saw it he stopped
and said it is absolutely gorgeous and he knew why I fell in love
with the bike in 86. He also said it is evident I am happy with it
from the giant smile plastered across my face. And here I didn't even
think or know I was smiling, not even a little.*LOL*

Now about the looks of the bike and the attention it gets. My bike is
a little rough around the edges, little bits of rust here and there,
two minor hardly noticeable tiny dings, seat ripped at the corners,
handlebars bent and a cheap paint job. I see all the little
imperfections because I know how it is supposed to be and am overly
critical because I love this bike and have loved the Fazers for 16
years. Others do not notice, I cannot believe how many people stare
at it, how many people come up and say "Nice Bike!" how many people
ask if it is new and can't believe it when I tell them how old it is.
Even people who love Harleys have come up to look at it and have been
impressed. It even gets more attention than my Ducati and that is a
special bike. Three people have asked me for rides on it already, 5
kids have come over to see it and are so impressed they were giddy.

When at traffic lights some women will stare at it with a lustful
look in their eyes, and men gawk at it wondering what it is. My buddy
Larry freely admits he knows nothing about bikes, but he said it is
absolutely gorgeous, and he said it even looks fast, faster than how
my Ducati looks! *LOL*

Now the real convincing story. The mechanic who worked on my bike
took it for a spin, this is a major dealership for Ducati, KTM,
Yamaha and Kawasaki, they get all sorts of bikes coming in. The
mechanic rode it and came back with a huge smile, he said that bike
is so much fun to ride.

And, we will have a new member joining the Group. The service manager
was so impressed with the bike and how limited they are, he is
looking to buy one and will be joining this group when I send the
address to him. *LOL*  How is that for a testimonial??? *LOL*

JUN2002

Text by donscottmacphee
Posted originally on the Yahoo FZX Fazer club
Reproduced here by kind permission

Well, the best thing about not selling the fzx this time around
is that i had a really nice sunday morning ride around the Ahr area (it is south of bonn, germany)
7am, no one else on the roads, loads of bikes parked up outside the hotels.
Everyone sleeping off their hangovers....
Roads are dry, warm in the sun and still chilly in the shade.
The FZX picks the line through the bends. I am just the guy holding the bars.
She whines up to 2nd and going up the rest of the gears
makes a throaty growl as she gasps the air in under the seat.
All too soon I turn North, leaving the river behind and hitting the autobahn as fast as i dare, heading home. And now, safely tucked up in the garage, waiting for the next outing.
You can't beat a sunday morning burn on the bike.
ride safe

FEB2002

These beautiful words and pic by Curtis Lewis from the USA.

Excalibur

Removed from stone, Excalibur wields with strength and grace for one to rule

This photo brings back memories of daydreaming for months prior to owning Excalibur aka Fazer. When all I had were brochures and magazine articles to gloat over, scraping up enough money $3700.00 back in "86" to buy one, I was just happy to have this photo on my coffee table as a conversation piece. Just to be able to say someday I will have one sitting in my living room as my coffee table.
Well dreams come true and not long after I was spending endless hours cleaning and detailing the bike that my neighbors would say " Curtis, you spend all day cleaning that bike that I do not think it even runs, are you gonna ride it some day ?" and I would always reply "Naw! I'm just cleaning it so I can bring it into the living room and put it on my coffee table"
Saturday mornings were spent prepping the bike for a scoot down the boulevard to the seaside, and when the night was bright with city lights, the tires would ignite forthcoming the fight.
And when the the lady of the lake brought forth one, not to be late in the quarter, for he should not fear the dragon when wielding the fazer from left to right, be that it be, that only one can ride the night, and it might as well be you.......right?
The photo was found in my archives and with some digital magic the wall was created, along with some retouching of the original image.
I have found this photo passed a-Round Table through out the years with many fond memories of Knights spent polishing until wee hours of the night. Be true to your bike and she will guide you through the night. Until the next fight, keep the light on for another night.

Curtis

By Ricardo Damazio

First of all: Fazers don't handle bad! Ok. Now we can go on ... :-)

My Drag-Fazer: Why the name "Drag-Fazer"? Well, to be honest I didn't name it. A guy from the FZ/FZX mailing list, Robert Halpin, named it. He had this cool site about it (unfortunately the site doesn't exist anymore) and I sent him some pics and he posted them on his site. Then he called it Drag-Fazer because of its drag look (See "Early99" section). To subscribe to the mailing list send email to majordomo@tpigsd.com with "subscribe fz" in the BODY. MY Fazer has now (Jan2000) 58.000km and runs as smooth as the day it left the shop. Never let me down. I'm on my 3rd battery but that's it. It just needs air in the tires, gas in the tank, an oil change now and then, and a lot of WOT! :-)

The FZX750 Fazer: I don't know about all you guys around the world, but in Portugal, the FZX750 is the sort of bike no one messes with. This means that, if someone pulls next to you at the lights, they just look away and pretend they didn't see you. (Except if they have a 1000cc plus bike :-)))

The Fazer is a bike that you don't see often in our roads, although you can still get a brand new '99 FZX750 at your Yamaha dealer. Perhaps because it's not very well known; people know the Fazer basically for it's reputation of being an "outlaw" bike, with a "dark look", a very torquey engine, that can keep up with pratically any other bike on the road.

I use to say: anyone can ride a CBR600, but not everyone can ride a Fazer.

If you ride a Fazer thinking you are riding a CBR600, you're going to spend a long time in the hospital.

The frame: The Fazer's frame is somehow a little bit flexible, and the 38mm forks and 16"/15" rims don't help much.

The suspension: The stock front suspension is way to soft for my taste; the back shocks are ok, but could be better. That's why I installed WP progressive springs in the front, and my Vmax shocks in the back. Now I can enter a corner HARD, no problem. I guess this is the best way to go if you are short on budget. If not, just get some YZF750 upside down forks with OHLINS springs, brace the swingarm and put OHLINS shocks in the back.

The brakes: Brakes are ok to me. Just get some steel braided lines in the brakes and CLUTCH, and way you go.

The engine: What can I say about this engine? What can be said about 20valve Yamaha engines? I think they are the most torquey engines in the business. And in case you don't know, TORQUE RULES. The acceleration feeling we all love is torque, not HP. (See the "Tech section") This engine is the same as the FZ750, no longer in prodution. Apart from the cams, CDI unit and jets, they are identical.If you want true reliable power, I think the best way to go is a loud pipe, Dynojet stage 3 and K&N filter to suit. What else can I say? Just try one!

Wind protection: Who cares? If you do, you better get a GoldWing. :-)

Well, that's it. The Fazer is 12 years old, and is still compared with modern technology bikes. I guess this is an honour. ;-)

BABY MAX

Many times, people just stop and ask me: "It's a Vmax, right?"
Often called "baby Max", or "Vmax's little sister", The Fazer is a bike to remember...

To be continued...

Some time ago, I posted some info on the Fazer club regarding the prodution of the FZX750. Many times, people (mainly USA) write to me asking if Yamaha still produces Fazers. Aparently, Fazers were sold in the USA only for 2 years; '86 and '87.
Well, the truth is Yamaha continued to produce Fazers (in the 750cc version) to all Europe; at least here in Portugal we had brand new Fazers 750 until '98, but one fine day I called Yamaha Motor de Portugal and asked: "Hey man, what about our Fazers??
and they said me Yamaha stoped the prodution of Fazers in '98 and it's not likely they will make them again.

So now we are the proud owners of a piece of Yamaha History...

This is the info I got from Yamaha. If anyone knows this is not true, please let me know.

Fazer 700/750
- born '86
- RIP '98...?

10MAR2001 - After I posted the info above, many people told me that Fazers are still produced in Japan ONLY; no exporting.

MONSTER DRAGSTER
17OCT2000

One of my dream projects is to make my '92 a real monster dragster. Black paint with red/orange/yellow flames, '88 FZR1000 tuned engine, Wiseco 1029cc Big bore, NOS bottle, 4-1 competition megaphone exaust, beefy swing arm and wheel (like 190/50 - 17" would be ok :-), short rear shocks and lowered front forks, and skinny front forks/wheel with one brake rotor.
This is a dream I'll pursuit until I make it come true.