Yamaha dealer says FZ1 is a slug.

[XLR8]

The problem with that is that where you used to only need some jets and a slip on pipe to make a noticable difference, now with EFI and EXUP style exhaust vavles you have to spend hundreds on Power Commanders and full systems...

But it's so cool when my neighbor stops by and I have a laptop connected to my FJR.

[Joey Stalin]

It's quite simple. A new model should appeal to the owners of the old model. That is your customer base. The old model had low end torque. They liked that. The new model does not have low end torque. They don't like that. Sure you can get some horsepower if you rev it high, but the customers don't want that.

I can't think of ever hearing a complaint about the first gen being down on power.

[JamesG]

There was some bitching about it not making as much HP as the R1.  
Yamaha fixed that.
Now they are whining because its too much like the R1.
 

[mcoyote]

Well, FWIW, the R1 engine does need some rev to get going -- it has a 13k RPM redline, after all. Even if the FZ1 is a "torque-oriented" derivative, I can imagine that it needs so twist to be in its own.

[FJRmgm]

most people want that powerful feel that only low-end torque can supply and if the doesn't have it, it doesn't do it for the rider.

Sounds like the new FZ1 doesn't have it.  At least according to my friend who just bought one.

[dleclerc]

Is it just me or for the last 3 years or so every magazine, and a large percentage of riders have been saying, begging, pledding that they wanted a manufacturer to build standard/naked truly based off of a Racereplica, by simply stripping it and making it more comfortable but keeping the engine as is.

Now that Yamaha has done there is an uproar about low end power, when the bike is design to be comfortable enough to tour yet, be a hayday in the canyons and right on your buddies 1000cc Repli Racer rear end.

I hoping to buy one this spring, cut windshield down, but a corbin seat and sport bags to put on some serious miles, and a bigger sproket to get a little more pick up down low, and I'll have the perfect bike for what I'm looking.

So I guess as said before different tastes. Yamaha has the FJR if you want the more touring oriented huge torque down low, that can still be fun in the twisties. If you want something closer to a sport bike you have the FZ1, and can still tour.

[R Doug]

OK, so I made it out yesterday and today and put about 250 miles on my FZ1.  The roads are still a mess around here with cyders all over the place, so I was just happy to be out.  

For the little time I made it out today, I just putted around (behind traffic mostly) in 3rd gear at 30 mph.  At each straight I had a chance to pass, I rolled on the gas in 3rd from 30 mph and easily reached 100 after one shift up to 4th.  I don't know about the journalists who have rode this thing, but it has plenty of get up and go for me.  I'm talking about 30 mph in 3rd with the engine at 3k rpm.  All I did was roll on the throttle, and she took off like a bat out of hell.

I'm not trying to defend my bike, per se.  This is just an observation from a new owner of one.  Heck, when I purchased the thing, I totalled expected it to be a dog in the low RPM range.  

[spitfiremk21]

Give Ivan a call. Slap on the goodies he recommends and VIOLA!! This bike is now nasty. You can thank the tree huggers for the way the stock bike runs. I have read other forums and other bikes such as the ZX14 have to get rid of the choking crap that they have to put on them to keep the tree huggers happy.

[EffJay]

For the little time I made it out today, I just putted around (behind traffic mostly) in 3rd gear at 30 mph.  At each straight I had a chance to pass, I rolled on the gas in 3rd from 30 mph and easily reached 100 after one shift up to 4th.  I don't know about the journalists who have rode this thing, but it has plenty of get up and go for me.  I'm talking about 30 mph in 3rd with the engine at 3k rpm.  All I did was roll on the throttle, and she took off like a bat out of hell.

It's not common knowledge, but the '07 R1 has two ignition maps.  It's to provide more control in first and second gear, and balls-to-the-wall from third gear on up.  Here's how it's explained in the current issue of Motorcycle Consumer News:

"Ignition curves in the first two gears have been slightly retarded to lessen abrupt power delivery.  Once shifted into third gear, the second map deploys, and maximum power becomes available across the rpm range from third through sixth gears. While performing top speed tests, this became very apparent as the R1 would rev to redline in third and fourth gears as quickly as it spanned first and second, despite the increasing loads and adroodynamic drag coefficients."

My experience with my own '07 R1 agrees with this.  In first and second, you can crank it wide open, and still stay in control.  This is especially nice coming out of a tight first- or second-gear curve.  Starting in third, gear, it goes nuts when you twist the grip.  Think "traction control."

If the new FZ1 is set up the same way, this might be what the unknowing are calling a problem.  Instead, it reflects the R1's refinement as a road racer.  That may be why you perceived no lack of torque in 3rd gear.

[Baz]

Give Ivan a call. Slap on the goodies he recommends and VIOLA!! This bike is now nasty. You can thank the tree huggers for the way the stock bike runs. I have read other forums and other bikes such as the ZX14 have to get rid of the choking crap that they have to put on them to keep the tree huggers happy.

Just remember that the choking crap they put on them is to keep the rest of us from choking!

Soon we will be legislated off the road. You know emissions tests on motorcycles are coming.