The Fazer FZS600
It might have the looks that only a mother could love (debatable) but this is still one helluva bike.
When tightened European emissions regulations killed the original FZS600 Fazer, Yamaha’s response was to try the same trick once again; take the engine from something sporty (originally having used the Thundercat engine, the new FZ6 Fazer borrowed from the R6), retune it and slide it into a new chassis. The FZ6N arrived in 2003, followed by the faired Fazer version in 2004. It ran until 2009, morphing into the fully-dressed FZ-6R. We took out a 2008 S2 (same bike, but with upgrades).
Give me some spec
A 599cc transverse four-cylinder engine putting out 98hp at 12,000rpm with maximum torque of 63.1Nm at 10,000rpm and top speed of 141mph lives in a die-cast aluminium twin spar frame. Bringing this to a stop are twin 298mm front discs up front, supported by a single 245mm rear.
The bike we rode is an S2, the enhanced model featuring a high-spec lightweight aluminium swingarm, high-rigidity axle mounts, monobloc front brake callipers, enhanced instrumentation, remapped fuel injection and an upgraded cowl and screen derived from the R-series of bikes.
So what’s it like to ride?
If you want something comfortable with sporty pretensions, you’ll like the FZ6 Fazer with its wide bars, pegs slightly rear of centre and perfectly shaped saddle (there’s enhanced foam on the S2).
Detractors say you need to rev the nuts off to get anything out of it. Not quite true. There isn’t much going on low down, but at 6k it hums along sweetly, hits an unpleasant vibey patch around 7-8k then changes into an aggressive snarl from 9k upwards (it redlines at a sportsbike-like 14k).
The handling is superb. Point where you want to go and it’ll hit, inch perfect. There is tons of ground clearance but I never needed to exploit this, just carving geometrically accurate arcs into corners. Suspension is good, soaking up ripples and giving good feedback (but didn’t like running over crests caused by too many lorries). And the monobloc brakes on the S2 are brilliant, bags of power applied in a controlled, gradual way.
Niggles? The fuel injection is a bit snatchy (downchanges from third to second had a judder going on), the clutch is heavy (it was also slack, but the dealer will sort that at service) and the gearbox is clunkier than I’m used to from a Yamaha.
What nick is it in?
Nine years and 14,341 miles (pre-test) aren’t showing on this bike. Rusty nuts on the front discs (which would probably clean up) were the only thing of note.
What’s it worth?
The dealer is asking £2999 for a 2008 model. This puts it slap bang in the middle of the price range, reflecting it being the enhanced S2, but lacking service history (it will get a full service before release). The dealer search revealed a range from a 2004 bike with 33,438 miles for £1890 (with another S2 for £2995 with 14,989 miles) to a 2009 bike with 6542 miles logged for £3695. If you fancy the original 600 Fazer (you should – ugly as sin, great bike) I found a 1999 bike with just 19,862 miles clocked for £1699.