Yamaha FZ8 / FAZER8 news

By Kevin Ash - 30/10/2010

Yamaha has finally released full details of the new Fazer8 and its unfaired sibling, the FZ8.

As with other FZ models the bikes are pitched at the higher spec, sportier end of the all-rounder market, although the 779cc engine capacity places them in a new area.

Yamaha says the engine size was chosen for offering the best balance between the high rev performance kick of a 600 and the broad spread of torque associated with the litre bike class. According to Yamaha: “Many riders find 600cc supersport engines to be hard work on the open road, and 1000cc superbike engines to be overkill.”

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The engine appears to be strongly biased towards a high torque output, far more useful on the road even for sports riders, with a peak output of 105bhp (106PS, 78.1kW), considerably less than the 120bhp or so you‘d expect if it was in the same state of tune as the 148bhp FZ1. Peak torque is 60lb.ft (82Nm, 8.3kg.m), which is in line with expectations for an engine this size, but what will matter more is how strong it is at low to medium revs, and judging by the specs it‘s likely to do well here.

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The engine is based on the FZ1 unit, retaining its 53.6mm stroke but with the bore size reduced from the FZ1's 77mm to 68mm. It‘s still an oversquare design then but less so than the revvy FZ1. Rather than a ride-by-wire system there are two throttle butterflies per cylinder, Suzuki style, the first controlled by the throttle cable and the second by the engine management via a stepper motor. Yamaha claims this is better for smooth low rev torque output, and another indicator of this torque bias is the unequal length intake funnels - those on cylinders one and four are 125mm, the other two are 150mm. This will broaden the spread of torque, at the expense of some peak horsepower.

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The chassis is conventional, with the engine is a stressed component of the aluminium twin spar frame, an aluminium swingarm, inverted 43mm forks and rising rate monoshock rear. The front brakes are high spec Sumitomo four-piston monoblock callipers on 310mm discs. The seat height is 32 inches (815mm) though Yamaha promises a narrow rear tank area to help access to the ground.

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The wet weight figures are FZ8: 465lb/211kg, Fazer8: 474lb/215kg. ABS adds 12lb/5kg. Fuel tank capacity is a slightly disappointing 3.7 gallons (17 litres, 4.5 gallons US).

No UK price has been announced yet, but with Yamaha‘s high pricing policy this will be keenly awaited.

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