Global Moderator mjh937 Posted April 19, 2017 Global Moderator Share Posted April 19, 2017 The May issue of Cycle World is out and they do a comparison of the FZ-07, Z650 and SV650. Guess which one they liked the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator mjh937 Posted April 19, 2017 Author Global Moderator Share Posted April 19, 2017 Here is a screen shot of the end of the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteinpa Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Mess with the best, die like the rest. Got new red 2015 FZ-07 on 7/22/16! Black 2006 Honda ST1300 53K miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member norcal616 Posted April 19, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 19, 2017 Yamahas magical tuning forks hit the right notes... 2015 fz-07- Hordpower Edition...2015 fj-09- 120whp- Graves Exhaust w/Woolich Race Kit- tuned by 2WDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member snowdriftless Posted April 19, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 19, 2017 Don't ruin it for me, I have a subscription to CW and Motorcyclist and haven't received the issue yet! P1: Vice? I have no vice, I'm as pure as the driven snow! P2: Yeah but you've been drifting All the gear all the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faffi Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 See here why the MT/FZ engine makes so much funhttp://www.sportrider.com/sportbikes/2014-middleweight-entry-level-sportbikes-dyno#page-7 At 3000 rpm, the -07 makes nearly twice as much power as the R6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beemer Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Don't ruin it for me, I have a subscription to CW and Motorcyclist and haven't received the issue yet! Uh oooooh! Someone's gonna get El-kabonged! On a side note, it seems like this forum is always one step ahead of anyone that does these reviews. At least in the sense that we already know the specs of the other bikes compared to the FZ's and have already calculated which bike would be the winner. Good group of people here, including Sorkya. (teasing) Beemer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member snowdriftless Posted April 19, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 19, 2017 Don't ruin it for me, I have a subscription to CW and Motorcyclist and haven't received the issue yet! Uh oooooh! Someone's gonna get El-kabonged! On a side note, it seems like this forum is always one step ahead of anyone that does these reviews. At least in the sense that we already know the specs of the other bikes compared to the FZ's and have already calculated which bike would be the winner. Good group of people here, including Sorkya. (teasing) I figured it would win, but I want to read the whole review first. I was confused when it was put against the Triumph Street Twin and Ducati Scrambler and lost. Also confused why it hasn't won a 10 best yet. P1: Vice? I have no vice, I'm as pure as the driven snow! P2: Yeah but you've been drifting All the gear all the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator mjh937 Posted April 19, 2017 Author Global Moderator Share Posted April 19, 2017 Don't ruin it for me, I have a subscription to CW and Motorcyclist and haven't received the issue yet! Oops, sorry. I fixed the thread title so I will noy spoil it for anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member avanti Posted April 19, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 19, 2017 A couple of the three "Downs" were pretty nitpicky, such as, "Extra steps to reset trip," (man, what a deal killer) and "Tallest seat height." Reading the latter I thought, well, there is always a tallest if not all the same. Anyway, the final "Down" was the many times noted "Soft suspension," but that did not disturb their rides nor overall rating/results, as the lifted summary above verifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faffi Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 The instruments suck. I find them worse than the suspension. Heck, even the 1982 Honda V45 Sabre gave a lot more information at a glance than the FZ-07. Ignore for a moment that I have a very strong dislike for digital readouts because they for me take much longer to read than analogue needles, and let's look at pure function: The instrument pod sit too low and too close to the rider (takes more time with eyes off the road) And what about not having engine temp, trip and odo displayed at once? (even the 1972 GT750 and 1975 Gold Wing provided that) Resetting the trip, depending on what's displayed at the time, can take a lot of pushing butttons (even my car's digital trip resets with one button pushed once) Nah, Yamaha could have done much better. Simply by allowing more information to be displayed at once would have helped, then moving the pod up and forward would have made it almost acceptable. Good thing the rest of the bike is so great, then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Mr.Puss Posted April 19, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 19, 2017 Ive got a foot in @faffi s court. The digi is alright (albeit ugly) for our modern styled bike but I would still love to have a sexy analogue available; IMO its far easier and faster to read and there's something exciting about seeing those needles bounce around. Gee whiz, what happened to the FZ-07 killin' Harley? ...oh, right, its way back there still trying to slug its way through the testing process not realizing everyone else has already packed up and gone home. Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women. Fuss Life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainspottingbaby Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 I feel so validated! ? When I went to the dealership thinking I'd be buying an SV650, the 07 had to have been something special to sway my decision for such a major purchase, since I hadn't even considered the 07 prior to that day. In the 1.5 hours that I took to make my decision, surfing reviews on my phone in the dealership's lounge, every publication *seemed* to indicate that the fz-07 was more fun, while still toeing the line and not coming right out and saying it. But this article states the verdict more plainly than any others. And as somebody who's owned an SV650 in the distant past and who now owns an FZ-07, I can now completely vouch for it. Even after so many years, the difference was obvious in the first ride. More obvious than the article indicates even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregjet Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 The biggest problem with the SV650 is the overall design of the motor is getting very dated. It is a big heavy lump. It should be the best of the bunch but Suzuki is turning it into another GS500. Just keep using the proven format. A new modern designed lightweight v twin and a lighter chassis and forks would give the 07 a run for it's money. All Yammy has to do to keep in front though is put an aluminium version of the Tracer07 swingarm on and a proper set of USD forks. Better rear shock would seal it but the sv rear shock sucks as well. I raced a er6 and it is a great bike (stripped down to less of a lump), but it's sheer mass and single pivot rear suspension will always lose out to the other two no matter what you do to it. A new chassis and wheels would help ( proper linkage rear suspension apply here). Go forth and modify my son...go forth and modify... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainspottingbaby Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 The biggest problem with the SV650 is the overall design of the motor is getting very dated. It is a big heavy lump. It should be the best of the bunch but Suzuki is turning it into another GS500. Just keep using the proven format. A new modern designed lightweight v twin and a lighter chassis and forks would give the 07 a run for it's money. All Yammy has to do to keep in front though is put an aluminium version of the Tracer07 swingarm on and a proper set of USD forks. Better rear shock would seal it but the sv rear shock sucks as well. I raced a er6 and it is a great bike (stripped down to less of a lump), but it's sheer mass and single pivot rear suspension will always lose out to the other two no matter what you do to it. A new chassis and wheels would help ( proper linkage rear suspension apply here). I was going to argue that 40lb isn't that much heavier, but yeah... it is. They really messed up with the Gladius, and by the time they finally started listening to the Suzuki loyalists and going back to the formula that initially made the SV a big seller, it was too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregjet Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 I had what was basically the SV650 motor with a few italian tweaks and a Cagiva/ducati chassis etc. It was 20kg lighter than a (then) sv650 naked. It handled better and the motor was a gem. All the good points of a sv605 and a Ducati/cagiva and none of the bad. Possibly one of the most underrated motorcycles ever. Love or hate it looks were a problem ( I loved it. It was called the Cagiva Raptor 650. Suzuki have the ability to even just make one like tha and it would be a winner, but the real need is for a more modern lighter donk ( and a slipper clutch to stop the vtwin rear wheel hop). Go forth and modify my son...go forth and modify... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainspottingbaby Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 I had what was basically the SV650 motor with a few italian tweaks and a Cagiva/ducati chassis etc. It was 20kg lighter than a (then) sv650 naked. It handled better and the motor was a gem. All the good points of a sv605 and a Ducati/cagiva and none of the bad. Possibly one of the most underrated motorcycles ever. Love or hate it looks were a problem ( I loved it. It was called the Cagiva Raptor 650. Suzuki have the ability to even just make one like tha and it would be a winner, but the real need is for a more modern lighter donk ( and a slipper clutch to stop the vtwin rear wheel hop). Why don't you have it anymore? It looks remarkably like the 2017 SV650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faffi Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 According to this test, there really isn't a lot that has happened with the SV650 over nearly 20 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregjet Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 Faffi, Yeah it is like the Suzi GS500. They have found a working setup and basically just fluffed around the edges. I am currently doing a " make it a current engineering bike" with a project gs500 and the amount of things that the manufacturers just don't do anymore is amazing. At least the SV got fuel injected in the early naughties. Don't get me wrong it is a very good motor but when you put it beside the 07 it is heavy and dated ( well most things are really). The big thing for the Suzie is the bolts aren't made of swiss cheese... trainspottingbaby, Selling it was a mistake. They WILL be a collectors item. Rare ( the 1000 is rarer and more stylish) and wonderful to ride AND for an italian bike RELIABLE!!! Magnetti marelli ecu is a bit hard to get around but I have heard it can be done. Biggest problem was the SV650 wheel hop made worse by Cagive upping the compression even furthur. It needed a slipper clutch ( being a SV650 motor that was easy to get). The guy who bought it from me crashed it and wrote it off on a mountain. I swapped it for a BMW F800R. Step backwards in so many ways. Should have been caled BMW error code model. All that said , the 07 may be cheaply made and my model ( the LAMS "beginner" model) was seriously underpowered when I got it, and the suspension was amongst the worst I have experienced in 40 years of riding , BUT it is sooo much fun to ride, once refined. When I first saw it , it whispered to me " Four stroke or not, I may be the most fun you can have on the road since your RD350LC". I wasn't kidding. Needs a special run model with better quality materials and a longer swingarm to get the weight bias undercontrol ( queue the tracer700 swingarm), R6 suspension front and back and a tank that holds more than a thimble of fuel Go forth and modify my son...go forth and modify... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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