Yamaha Fazer 600 (2002)
Various periods between 2003 - 2012
Nick's 3 Fazer 600s - overview
Nick has owned a total of 3 of Yamaha’s parts bin special, one of the very early slab fairing versions and two of the much more modern looking later models. All had the retuned 600 cc Thundercat motor and R1 ‘blue spot’ front brakes. The first two were bought from new, the last a ten year old example as a winter hack. A bike with many virtues, 220 miles from a 20 litre tank, plenty of power (peak 90 odd bhp) from the motor and lots of low down grunt too. Comfortable and easy to ride, plenty quick enough when required, safe and predictable handling and with plenty of practicality, especially with a decent top box fitted. Easy and cheap to service, and during a total for some 40,000 miles across all three, total reliability. Highly recommended although sadly getting a little long in the tooth now, the newest being some 12 years old now (written in April 2015)
Two bike strategy back again - well for a limited period only!
Regular Passport Tours readers will know that Nick has alternated between one and two bike strategies over the past 10 or so years. The idea of a commuter/all round bike and a tourer/summer bike is very appealing. Having bought his Tiger 800 in March 2011 and putting nearly 6,000 miles on it in the first 3 months, despite slowing down slightly, towards the end of 2011 Nick decided to look for a winter hack/commuter to keep the miles (and salt) off the Tiger…how did he get on?
A trawl through MCN Bikes for Sale turned up a number of possibilities. I didn’t want to spend more than £2000 and having had two previously, liked the idea of a third Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer. I found what looked like the ideal bike at Carl Rosner Triumph in South Croydon; 2002 model, towards the end of the production run before being replaced by the FZ6, 11,000 miles and £1,900. Being sold by a dealer, and a franchised one at that, the bike was unlikely to be a poor choice and indeed came with a 3-month warranty. I bought the bike unseen over the phone.
Collection day loomed and despite being the oldest bike I have bought, I was still excited. Chris kindly gave me a lift from central London (on the back of a Honda CB1000 he was borrowing from Jack Lilley following the demise of his Rocket) to Croydon and I was pleasantly surprised when he saw his new bike. In great condition for its age, in fact in great condition full stop. Riding home I was reminded again what a great bike the Fazer was and the shame that emissions laws killed it off. Torquey 600 motor, powerful enough (90 odd bhp at 12,000 rpm) for a bit of fun, comfortable for me for an hour or two and an easy 225 miles from a (20 litre) tank of fuel.
I fitted a Scottoiler (every chain driven bike should have one as standard), a new front tyre and a cavernous Givi V46 top box; the last item was a lucky purchase being exactly the same shade of red as the bike although judging by the dust that was on it in the shop, and the discount I got, not itself a popular choice! Although I would always favour the atheistics of bike manufacturer luggage, not to mention the same key, there is no arguing with the capacity of Givi luggage, the V46 easily fitting 2 full-face lids…
And since then, I have used the bike mainly for commuting between St Albans and Central London with the occasional shopping trip. It has been nearly faultless, requiring only regular services which I performed himself, a change of brake pads and lines. The latter was only really done because I had a set go Hel performance brake lines bought for a previous Fazer that I didn’t get round to fitting! The only non-routine item was a failed speedometer drive. All in all, a very successful purchase.
Nothing lasts forever though; a change of circumstances at work meant less time commuting and the Fazer was not being used. I sold the bike to friend and advanced training colleague Paul Mostyn for £1,600 in the summer of 2014. Both of us were very happy, Paul got a still low mileage (less than 20,000) Fazer in great condition and I lost only £300 in just over 2 years; got to be happy with that!
2001 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer No2
Bought new in September 2001, my second Fazer was a great bike, comfy, practical and easy to maintain. Over the 3 years I owned it, I covered 25,000 miles, just changing the oil and filters every 6,000 miles. Nothing went wrong and apart from tyres and brake pads, only required fuel. A truly great bike, if lacking a little soul. My first and only long journey on it was my first trip to the NEC bike show in November 2004.
1999 Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer no 1
In 1999 I moved back to the London area from Edinburgh. Having endured traveling into London by train previously I was keen to look at alternative commuting options. Before leaving Edinburgh, I took my CBT and at the age of 32 sat on a motorcycle for the first time. I bought a red Honda CG125 from a colleague who had recently been successful passed the Direct Access test. I didn't ride the Honda to London (!) but once I'd moved to St Albans in September, I started riding to the station with a view to doing that through the winter and then looking at Direct Access in the Spring. After a few weeks of getting togged up for the 4 mile station run, I decided I wanted to try commuting all the way to London so I took some lessons and then the Direct Access test on 30 November 1999.
I passed the test and collected a brand new Fazer the same day. And the following day I rode it into central London, possibly one of the scariest things I've done! It was fantastic though and the feeling of not being stuck on a train every day was just wonderful. Over the next 16 months or so, I thoroughly enjoyed the riding until one morning in March 2001, I highsided whilst joining the M1 at junction 6. This is not as odd as it might sound as the southbound slip road is a tight bend. I have a vivid recollection of sliding down the inside lane with the cats eyes passing by may face! Oddly, it didn't hurt that much, I was wearing the right gear. The guy in the van behind me who stopped to help retrieve the errant Fazer from the outside lane was much more shaken up than me. The bike was not badly damaged having not hit anything; a new lever, mirror and starter motor cover plus some gaffer tape on the fairing and I was ready to get back on the road.
Sadly, only a few weeks later, a scooter turned right in front of me on a wet Friday afternoon in Cannon Street and I locked everything up, sliding along the road and into the kerb. Only the wheels remained straight! I managed to ride the bike home (leaking brake fluid and no footrests did make for an entertaining journey...) and the bike shop took one look at the sick Fazer and declared it a write off…
Nick has owned a total of 3 of Yamaha’s parts bin special, one of the very early slab fairing versions and two of the much more modern looking later models. All had the retuned 600 cc Thundercat motor and R1 ‘blue spot’ front brakes. The first two were bought from new, the last a ten year old example as a winter hack. A bike with many virtues, 220 miles from a 20 litre tank, plenty of power (peak 90 odd bhp) from the motor and lots of low down grunt too. Comfortable and easy to ride, plenty quick enough when required, safe and predictable handling and with plenty of practicality, especially with a decent top box fitted. Easy and cheap to service, and during a total for some 40,000 miles across all three, total reliability. Highly recommended although sadly getting a little long in the tooth now, the newest being some 12 years old now (written in April 2015)
Two bike strategy back again - well for a limited period only!
Regular Passport Tours readers will know that Nick has alternated between one and two bike strategies over the past 10 or so years. The idea of a commuter/all round bike and a tourer/summer bike is very appealing. Having bought his Tiger 800 in March 2011 and putting nearly 6,000 miles on it in the first 3 months, despite slowing down slightly, towards the end of 2011 Nick decided to look for a winter hack/commuter to keep the miles (and salt) off the Tiger…how did he get on?
A trawl through MCN Bikes for Sale turned up a number of possibilities. I didn’t want to spend more than £2000 and having had two previously, liked the idea of a third Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer. I found what looked like the ideal bike at Carl Rosner Triumph in South Croydon; 2002 model, towards the end of the production run before being replaced by the FZ6, 11,000 miles and £1,900. Being sold by a dealer, and a franchised one at that, the bike was unlikely to be a poor choice and indeed came with a 3-month warranty. I bought the bike unseen over the phone.
Collection day loomed and despite being the oldest bike I have bought, I was still excited. Chris kindly gave me a lift from central London (on the back of a Honda CB1000 he was borrowing from Jack Lilley following the demise of his Rocket) to Croydon and I was pleasantly surprised when he saw his new bike. In great condition for its age, in fact in great condition full stop. Riding home I was reminded again what a great bike the Fazer was and the shame that emissions laws killed it off. Torquey 600 motor, powerful enough (90 odd bhp at 12,000 rpm) for a bit of fun, comfortable for me for an hour or two and an easy 225 miles from a (20 litre) tank of fuel.
I fitted a Scottoiler (every chain driven bike should have one as standard), a new front tyre and a cavernous Givi V46 top box; the last item was a lucky purchase being exactly the same shade of red as the bike although judging by the dust that was on it in the shop, and the discount I got, not itself a popular choice! Although I would always favour the atheistics of bike manufacturer luggage, not to mention the same key, there is no arguing with the capacity of Givi luggage, the V46 easily fitting 2 full-face lids…
And since then, I have used the bike mainly for commuting between St Albans and Central London with the occasional shopping trip. It has been nearly faultless, requiring only regular services which I performed himself, a change of brake pads and lines. The latter was only really done because I had a set go Hel performance brake lines bought for a previous Fazer that I didn’t get round to fitting! The only non-routine item was a failed speedometer drive. All in all, a very successful purchase.
Nothing lasts forever though; a change of circumstances at work meant less time commuting and the Fazer was not being used. I sold the bike to friend and advanced training colleague Paul Mostyn for £1,600 in the summer of 2014. Both of us were very happy, Paul got a still low mileage (less than 20,000) Fazer in great condition and I lost only £300 in just over 2 years; got to be happy with that!
2001 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer No2
Bought new in September 2001, my second Fazer was a great bike, comfy, practical and easy to maintain. Over the 3 years I owned it, I covered 25,000 miles, just changing the oil and filters every 6,000 miles. Nothing went wrong and apart from tyres and brake pads, only required fuel. A truly great bike, if lacking a little soul. My first and only long journey on it was my first trip to the NEC bike show in November 2004.
1999 Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer no 1
In 1999 I moved back to the London area from Edinburgh. Having endured traveling into London by train previously I was keen to look at alternative commuting options. Before leaving Edinburgh, I took my CBT and at the age of 32 sat on a motorcycle for the first time. I bought a red Honda CG125 from a colleague who had recently been successful passed the Direct Access test. I didn't ride the Honda to London (!) but once I'd moved to St Albans in September, I started riding to the station with a view to doing that through the winter and then looking at Direct Access in the Spring. After a few weeks of getting togged up for the 4 mile station run, I decided I wanted to try commuting all the way to London so I took some lessons and then the Direct Access test on 30 November 1999.
I passed the test and collected a brand new Fazer the same day. And the following day I rode it into central London, possibly one of the scariest things I've done! It was fantastic though and the feeling of not being stuck on a train every day was just wonderful. Over the next 16 months or so, I thoroughly enjoyed the riding until one morning in March 2001, I highsided whilst joining the M1 at junction 6. This is not as odd as it might sound as the southbound slip road is a tight bend. I have a vivid recollection of sliding down the inside lane with the cats eyes passing by may face! Oddly, it didn't hurt that much, I was wearing the right gear. The guy in the van behind me who stopped to help retrieve the errant Fazer from the outside lane was much more shaken up than me. The bike was not badly damaged having not hit anything; a new lever, mirror and starter motor cover plus some gaffer tape on the fairing and I was ready to get back on the road.
Sadly, only a few weeks later, a scooter turned right in front of me on a wet Friday afternoon in Cannon Street and I locked everything up, sliding along the road and into the kerb. Only the wheels remained straight! I managed to ride the bike home (leaking brake fluid and no footrests did make for an entertaining journey...) and the bike shop took one look at the sick Fazer and declared it a write off…
Yamaha Fazer 1000 (2005)
Various periods between 2005 - 2008
Yamaha FZS1000 Fazer
2005 was shaping up to be a vintage bike year for me when I decided that the Zed was too extreme for anything other than the occasional blast, I took it to Brighton one Sunday (180 mile round trip) and it took me a week to recover! I fancied the larger Fazer and found a 6 month old, 4,000 mile example at a nearby Yamaha and Kawasaki dealer. Perfect! The Fazer 1000 was fantastic, to that point, the best bike I'd owned. Extremely fast, practical and fantastic fun. Commuting, touring, scratching, a genuine all rounder. Capable of an easy 50mpg commute along with 150mph on a southern German autobahn on the way home from the 2007 tour.
I covered over 37,000 miles on the Fazer Thou and other than routine servicing and tyres, replaced only the chain and sprockets and the rear shock. Not bad for so much use. A fabulous bike and definitely one of my favourites.
2005 was shaping up to be a vintage bike year for me when I decided that the Zed was too extreme for anything other than the occasional blast, I took it to Brighton one Sunday (180 mile round trip) and it took me a week to recover! I fancied the larger Fazer and found a 6 month old, 4,000 mile example at a nearby Yamaha and Kawasaki dealer. Perfect! The Fazer 1000 was fantastic, to that point, the best bike I'd owned. Extremely fast, practical and fantastic fun. Commuting, touring, scratching, a genuine all rounder. Capable of an easy 50mpg commute along with 150mph on a southern German autobahn on the way home from the 2007 tour.
I covered over 37,000 miles on the Fazer Thou and other than routine servicing and tyres, replaced only the chain and sprockets and the rear shock. Not bad for so much use. A fabulous bike and definitely one of my favourites.
