2017 Yamaha FZ-10 - FIRST LOOK REVIEW

         2017 YAMAHA FZ-10 FIRST LOOK

Naked version of the latest-generation R1 makes it to the United States as a 2017 model

When Yamaha announced that it was selling an R1-based sport naked for the European market in 2016, we felt left out. Bastards! How could they do this to us, we wondered? But the reality is that in this age of global markets, there was still a good chance that U.S. buyers would get this new sportbike that uses a version of the current generation “CP4” (cross-plane four-cylinder) engine. This is not an engine repurposed from a mothballed couple-gen-old model, a la the FZ1. Well, guess what? Not only is Yamaha bringing the FZ-10 into the States as a 2017 model, but it goes on sale this month, like, as in any day now.

ON SALE: Now

BASE PRICE: $12,999

DRIVETRAIN: 998-cc inline four, six-speed manual transmission

OUTPUT: Around 150 hp at the wheels, maybe?

CURB WEIGHT: 463 pounds wet (mfg.)

PROS: Near-superbike performance in an everyday livable package

CONS: No fancy inertial measurement unit, price is steeper than a few competitors

VIDEO: 2017 YAMAHA FZ-10 FIRST LOOK

Naked version of the latest-generation R1 makes it to the United States as a 2017 model

 Video.  

. There are also FZ-07 and FZ-09 sport bikes from Yamaha and, while they’d also be fun here, they have less power and their handling isn’t quite as razor-blade precise. There’s also a bike above the FZ-10 in the Yamaha sport bike lineup, the YZF-R1 (which we’ll just call the R1). But the R1 is up a full class -- what you call a super sport bike. It’s made to dominate pretty much everything else on two wheels, anywhere in the world. The FZ-10 shares most of its construction with the R1, but the R1 is more comfortable on a track where it can wring itself out all the way to its 14,000-rpm redline – places with more straightaways and wider turns. For taming the short, tight turns of The Tail, the FZ-10 is just perfect.