Yamaha FZ Series – A Range of Street Kings
After the Pulsar until 2003, Yamaha was the second motorbike brand to revolutionize the Indian market with its performance. Before the advent of the FZ series by Yamaha, the Pulsars and the Karizmas were the best performers with no specialized classification as a street fighter. While the RD and RX, the very own models of Yamaha were up in the market, there was a need of a modern, muscular street fighter and so, the Indian FZ was introduced.
The Indian FZ was inspired by its ancestor, the enormous FZ1, which was in fact not feasible for a country like India. Indian models of motorbike need to have some characteristics that are mostly not present in the international brands of motorbikes. The engine size should be reduced and alongside mileage should be increased and then a motorbike complete with the traditional Indian standards is made. Here Yamaha was successful in keeping the muscle spirit alive with its FZ series. However, after the engine specifications, it was the Yamaha FZ price which made the company uneasy to launch the FZ-1.
Beginning from the original FZ-1, a real conqueror of the streets, the series continued down to the FZ-16, which is again a revolution bike for the Indian streets. The FZ-1 has a 4-cylinder, 998 cc engine giving 148 BHP at 11,000 rpm and a maximum torque of 106 NM at 8,000 rpm. It has a manual 6-speed transmission and one 245 mm hydraulic disc for the rear and twin hydraulic discs (320 mm each) for the front. The motorbike houses an enormous 18L fuel tank.
The successors FZ-07, -08 and -09 are still being awaited to be released in India. Of these, FZ-07 has a twin-cylinder 689 cc motor, the FZ-08 has a 779 cc motor and the FZ-09 has an 847 cc motor. An aggressive body styling and massive tyres are two of the most common characteristics of these bikes.
However, the FZ-16 v1.0 and FZ-S v1.0 proved the game changers in India. These naked affordable street bikes had minimal shade and styling difference with the internal power source the same 1-cylinder, 153 cc engine which gave 13.8 BHP at 7,500 rpm and 13.6 NM at 6,000 rpm. Their riding pleasure made them hugely popular over a short period.
Next the FZ-16 v2.0 and FZ-S v2.0 were launched by Yamaha that were built on the same frame as that of the versions 1.0, but there were some technological changes. These new models had fuel injection as standard with the most recently built engine (149 cc) giving 12.9 BHP and 12.8NM torque.
With the excellent Yamaha FZ mileage the FZ series has been an all time favorite of street bike fans though the growing competition made a huge impact on sales. Still the FZ series contains the kings of streets.
