Late Bloomer

A new FZ has big shoes to fill. But Yamaha has a way of filling them in a uniquely understated manner. So, does the new FZ25 follow the same pattern?

- Shivank Bhatt

Yamaha has one peculiar habit. Whenever they launch a new product, they under-promise and over-deliver – at least in India that’s been the case for quite a while now. We’ve seen this happen with the first-gen R15 in 2008 and more recently with the R3. Both these bikes didn’t have splendid numbers to flaunt on their respective spec sheets. But, boy did they deliver in the real world! Now the reason I bring this up is because Yamaha’s latest offering, the FZ25, seems to be following a similar approach.

When Yamaha launched the FZ25 roughly a month ago, it left many – including me – a bit under whelmed with its specifications. But, before forming a premature opinion of the bike, I thought it best to wait to ride the motorcycle first. Fortunately, I got to ride Yamaha’s brand new street-naked in sunny Goa. And I think I’ve come back with some relevant findings…

Backstory

Since its launch in 2008, the FZ16 has been mechanically unchanged. Yes, it did get multiple facelifts – including the introduction of a fuel-injected version – but, in terms of performance, Yamaha didn’t really push the game forward with the FZ series of bikes as we had hoped. In fact, Yamaha admits that they were losing existing FZ16 customers to other manufacturers, owing to the fact that there was no upgrade available in their own range. So, more than anything, the FZ25 is the product with which Yamaha intends to make up for lost ground. So, has it worked? Well, let’s find out…

Aesthetic Appeal