Buz – my wonderful Fz6s was bought new from On Yer Bike four and a half years ago and became the object of my affections – bling was king! and my beloved Fazer was made over several times in return for his devotion to duty. Our time was spent pootling about, holidays in France, getting lost rather a lot! and occasionally kissing tarmac 😛
The Fazer gave me a whole new world of biking after the GPZ500. (Read about him on My bikes: No 1) Power, performance and once we’d got the rubber hoses off and proppa braided ones on, great stopping ability :-). The strangest thing had to be that it took me about three years to even think about getting the bike lowered….well I never said the Good Lord gave me a brilliant mind! Once I’d had the forks dropped an inch and the back the same courtesy of the fab team at Flitwick Motorcycles, it gave me an even greater lease of life. I loved being out on this bike and often, on waking to a dreary rainy Saturday morning I’d pull on some waterproofs and head out knowing that I’d still be sure to have fun lol!
My love affair with biking really took on new levels with this set of wheels – in four and a half years I racked up 36,000 miles enjoying the British countryside including fun times in Wales, Poole and of course a few trips round its French counterparts.I even did a track day – which got that out of my system!
Buz did appear to be bullet proof – I had a terrible tendency to drop him when caught off balance, which was nicely sorted once I’d had him lowered and could get 3/4 of each foot down. Then it became a case of watching my beloved bike being dropped by others – yep Fat Boy Ginge I name and shame you lol! To be fair, he did his best to recover the situation by gently laying down all 186kgs of bike before straining a muscle in his back and falling on top of it 😉
Plastics were dirt cheap – particularly off fleabay and there were plenty of spare parts available! I can see why the FZ6 was redesigned in 2006. Having a screen that is actually a full part of the nose cone makes it prone to snapping if you drop the bike!
Over the course of owning this bike I’ve had many lessons to tackle niggles here and there that I just wanted to be better at and not rely just on the pre-test training. These have included countersteering (don’t get me started!) clutch control, braking, stopping with right foot down, Bike Safe and of course I began my advanced Rospa training on this bike. Each time the Fazer leapt to the task and seemed to have oodles of patience when its owner clearly didn’t have a clue 😮 I distinctly remember its ability to go round a corner without being in gear and sort of waiting for me to catch up lol! Many a less tolerant model would have thrown you off but not Buz – he was ever the gentleman.
Having had one or two accidents (non fault I hasten to add), I would be a trifle anxious getting back on this bike but knowing that I’d done everything in my power to ride fit for the road and conditions, soon knocked anxiety on the head and got me back into enjoying my wheels and the sense of freedom it gives you.
Sadly as you will know Buz went to scrapyard hell after an incident with a driver on another planet and is sorely missed. He’d just had an MOT the day before and had a clean bill of health – not even a headlight adjustment needed. So I imagine we’d have been set for another few years riding. Having said that, his demise has given me the opportunity to take the step of upgrading to my Triumph sprint 955i which I’d thought about but could see no valid reason to. The Fazer has been phased out by Yamaha and replaced with the Diversion and XJ6. (Frankly they feel like a Fazer with just another name!) But technically truly the end of an era!
Buz’s spec:
- Engine size – 600cc
- Engine spec – 16v inline four, 6 gears
- Top speed – 141mph
- Power – 90bhp
- Torque – 42ftlb
- Weight – 186kg
- Seat height – 795mm
- Tank range – 180 miles
Accessories:
- Double bubble screen
- Air horn
- Sat Nav
- Autocom
- Braided hoses
- Gel seat
- Bagster tank cover
- Steel radiator cover
- Touring Scottoiler
- Small indicators
- Rear brake with built in indicator
- Top box and rack
- Heated grips and leads for heated riding gear
Ride Safe,
A bird's eye view to biking! 