i have owned my fair share of pita old-cars as daily transportation (eg: 944 turbo) and don’t mind wrenching but mail-order parts availability was easy in the states from places like pelican.
any fzr owners willing to comment on how much of a pain these things are to keep running well? particularly parts-wise. want to reiterate that i don’t mind wrenching as long as parts are available. i am looking for a semi-disposable commuter bike that is also fun.
i got on a wolf and personally hated it. thinking mini-sport bike might be more fun as a kicker commuter. i do intend to get a “heavy” (red plate) bike eventually but need to be licensed for the year first.
[quote=“mabagal”]are these things a serious pita or not so bad?
I have owned my fair share of pita old-cars as daily transportation (eg: 944 turbo) and don’t mind wrenching but mail-order parts availability was easy in the states from places like pelican.
any fzr owners willing to comment on how much of a pain these things are to keep running well? particularly parts-wise. want to reiterate that I don’t mind wrenching as long as parts are available. I am looking for a semi-disposable commuter bike that is also fun.
i got on a wolf and personally hated it. thinking mini-sport bike might be more fun as a kicker commuter. I do intend to get a “heavy” (red plate) bike eventually but need to be licensed for the year first.
thanks![/quote]
I personally don’t think FZR’s are much of a pain in the ass. You just need to find the “right” mechanic. Once the engine is tuned or rebuild properly they are strong bikes. Not that fast stock, but strong. Parts are not hard to find either. I think farrings are not being made any more in Taiwan, and those can be a little hard to find. If I can still find parts for my NSR, then for sure FZR parts are available. I know of a mechanic that specializes in Yamaha FZ/FZR’s, but he is located in Yingge (close to Banqiao/Taipei), not sure where you are located. You can also make FZR’s super fast if it is done right.
I bought a POS FZ a while back ago for $5000nt. I didn’t touch the engine, just fixed the leaky front suspension, changed the oil, changed the air filter, got the carbs tuned properly, changed the tires and rode it. My roommate and I ran the shit out of it at the race track for about a rear until the engine finally blew (We were trying to blow the engine too.) He still has it, now with a bored SRV 270cc engine in it. He has never had any problems with finding parts or maintaining it. It runs great, sounds great too, and is pretty fast.
They are easy enough to work on, being aircooled, SOHC. Nothing complex. The only thing that makes them hard for the average mechanic to get to run correctly is the extra cylinder. Either find a Yamaha shop that actually has a pair of vacuum gauges to balance the carbs, or make your own manometer with plastic tubing and colored water.
When this bike came out Yamaha did special training sessions with the better shops, certified the mechanics and sent them home with the gauges. That was a long time ago.
These days there are a lot sitting in shops with very clean plastic but badly tuned engines. Watch out when buying.
The motor is a short-stroke version of the Japan market SRV250. The carbs are the same size as the 250cc version so it’s very popular to swap in the SRV crank and rods, though the motor will vibrate a lot as the balance factor doesn’t suit the FZR frame, and you will have a bit of a problem locating the correct jets and needles.
FZ and Breeze models have an awful rear drum brake which makes more noise than stopping power. Be sure and use OEM brake shoes if you want to avoid that. The disc brakes are very good opposed-piston units. Otherwise it’s a solid-feeling bike with good equipment and not enough power for it’s weight. Comfortable rather than exciting. The front fork is a bit out of sync with the rear shock, being very soft. Add some spring preload by cutting the springs shorter and using spacers to bring the ride height back up, and run heavier fork oil to reduce dive.
Typical for Yamaha, the voltage regulators are weak and fail regularly. Easy swap, and a few hundred NT$ each time. You can improve matters by sanding the patch of bracket the regulator is bolted to so it makes good contact and can dump heat into the frame.
[quote=“Ducked”]
OK, I feel a red face coming on, but I have to ask. How do they do SOHC on a V-twin?[/quote]
One camshaft above each cylinder. Think two SOHC singles on a common crankcase.
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Ducked”]
OK, I feel a red face coming on, but I have to ask. How do they do SOHC on a V-twin?[/quote]
One camshaft above each cylinder. Think two SOHC singles on a common crankcase.[/quote]
[quote=“Ducked”][quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Ducked”]
OK, I feel a red face coming on, but I have to ask. How do they do SOHC on a V-twin?[/quote]
One camshaft above each cylinder. Think two SOHC singles on a common crankcase.[/quote]
Don’t think I’ll be able to do that.
TWO camshafts = SINGLE overhead cam?
In biker-binary, maybe[/quote]
Dude, let’s try to stay on-topic okay? One cam above one head is single or double? My WRX has a boxer engine with four camshafts in two heads. Is it DOHC or QOHC?
I don’t make this shit up. This is standard nomenclature.
[quote=“redwagon”]
Dude, let’s try to stay on-topic okay? One cam above one head is single or double? My WRX has a boxer engine with four camshafts in two heads. Is it DOHC or QOHC?
I don’t make this shit up. This is standard nomenclature.[/quote]
[quote=“Ducked”]
OK, I feel a red face coming on, but I have to ask. How do they do SOHC on a V-twin[/quote]
thanks guys! getting kind of excited about this. will start looking. if anyone knows of one, please do let me know.
that internal swap trick sounds cool. what are implications of doing a block swap here (say if one were to build a motor off-the-bike and swap in)? if the block serial says it’s a 150, will they question that it’s not the motor that came with the bike?
i personally hate carbs, and have always had a (mostly unjustified) bias against them… probably since the first time i was working on a bike engine was in relation to fuel injecting an fzr600 motor for a formula sae car. does this motor have a decent toothed wheel / crank angle sensor? i still have an old standalone sitting around back at my folks place back in the states.
ok, really off topic now, but can someone suggest a good place for custom machined parts here? as in i give them the solidworks, iges, step, etc. specify tolerance, material, finishing and get a part in the mail or for pickup. thanks!
[quote=“rk1951”][quote=“redwagon”]
Dude, let’s try to stay on-topic okay? One cam above one head is single or double? My WRX has a boxer engine with four camshafts in two heads. Is it DOHC or QOHC?
I don’t make this shit up. This is standard nomenclature.[/quote]
[quote=“Ducked”]
OK, I feel a red face coming on, but I have to ask. How do they do SOHC on a V-twin[/quote]
Are you red faced yet!!! [/quote]
Thinking about it a bit, whats happening in a single cylinder is whats fundamental. IIRC one of the DOHC Fiat 124’s had 4 camshafts. I’d forgotten.
FZ and FZRs are in my opinion super reliable when properly maintained and tuned right. I rode mine for an entire year at the track without trouble, then replaced the engine and ran it for another season along with a trip around the island. Just for added power i finally swaped in the SRV engine as RK mentioned, but ive still got the spare 180cc engine as a reserve. I see far less FZ and FZRs needing repairs at the track than i do NSRs.
They’re not fast by any means in their stock form, but fun to ride and quite solid overall. The suspension is pretty good and the brakes are decent. They are over weight and under powered, and if that ends up being an issue, you can trip some fat and add some steriords if money is not an issue.
With the basic 220cc upgrade to the stock 150cc engine, you’ll feel a major difference without needing serious surgery. Otherwise you can swap in SRV internals and go as big as 350cc’s. The problem with that big though is overheating. Since the FZR is aircooled, prolonged runs with a 350cc engine will cause problems.
It seems at the track that a safe and strong engine size is a little over 300cc’s. Ive got the 270cc SRV engine and its plenty powerful enough and hasnt had any problems. Ive had the engine in there for 4 TIS races and numerous track day practice sessions.
[quote=“mabagal”]
that internal swap trick sounds cool. what are implications of doing a block swap here (say if one were to build a motor off-the-bike and swap in)? if the block serial says it’s a 150, will they question that it’s not the motor that came with the bike?
[/quote][url=Swap engine or powertrain? for you[/url].
There are a million momma-poppa CNC factories in Taiwan. Most all of them can create programs from .igs or .stp files. You will have to find one willing to do one-off stuff, and negotiate a price. Forget about mail-order. You will have visit in person many times and do a lot of hand-holding to get what you want.
Ok so Ive owned a few bikes back in the US and never really fixed them up as they were usually pretty new. Just threw things like K&N Filters on and a pipe. I just bought a FZR here. Im a biiig dude…6’3" and like 100000lbs. I need a few things so that I can be more happy with this bike…first I want to find some foot peg extenders. I saw some on yahoo, but cant figure much out as to rather they are extenders or something else. Anyone have an idea where I might find what I am looking for? Also I am not too fond of the blue, also I like the updated front end better than the dual round headlights. Anyone know where I can find the plastics and such for the bike…and something that would make it even more comfortable would be if the plastics would give more butt room. One more thing is because I am a big guy, I think I need to throw in a stronger front forks. Anyone have any suggestions on this?
If you’re really such a mechanic I have one (FZR) mouldering away at the side of a road you can get for a song. I got tired of trying to get mechanics to fix, refurbish, or even replace the many things that were frequently giving me grief. Grief to me means that things such as brakes and suspension are not up to par. I finally just bought a 250cc scooter and never rode it again. The FZR was reliable, comfortable, and good enough, but not ideal for commuting. It’s just much better to have storage, floor space, and to not be constantly shifting gears just to match the bloody shit box scooters that surround you in Taipei traffic.
In my opinion, you would have more fun with an NSR if you were into the mini-sport-bike thing.
I guess I could contact that mechanic and get him to pick it up and restore it, but I guess I don’t see the point.
gonna be getting some rubbers, lube, and a tune done this weekend…wait…what am I talking about? oh yea a bike hah. Anyone know if they sell a streetfighter style headlight conversion so I can remove this ugly front end?
You can graft the top yoke and headlamp brackets from the Breeze on in order to run a single round headlamp and tubular handlebar. Maybe the lock stop will need to be modified, I don’t remember. Clutch cable can be rerouted but you’ll need a longer upper brake hose. The Breeze hoses will not work with the twin disc set up.
