Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (2004-current)

I have the Fz6 S2 of which I am incredibly impressed with and that's coming from a Honda Blade. It simply just ticks all the boxes,easy to handle, goes as quick as you could ever want, economical, and impeccable reliability. Covered 6k miles on mine one tip get some michelin tyres as the stock ones are rubbish!

Had my Fazer now since '07 and for a first bike it's great fun. Easy riding when you want it and razzing it when it needs it. As the salesman said "Don't be afraid to go up the rev range. It's what's there for". Great all round, sunday riding, work or touring around Europe. Carrying pillion means a bit more rev's but still good, Wife likes it. Get one.

I had my Fz 6 for 2 years and covered about 15k miles. During this period it never missed a beat, always reliable, even when used right through the winter. The fairing offers a good level of protection, it has excellent handling and is well planted in the wet. The fuelling does snatch a little under 4000rpm, but nothing too worry about. Overall a great little bike.

My first big bike was a MK1 Fazer & I hankered after returning to a Fazer following about a year on a sports bike. This looks a lot better than the old Fazer although some of the bonuses of that bike, like the massive underseat storage are compromised by the looks where there is now underseat exhaust. Let's get it straight, this is a great all rounder, will get you where you want to go & has reasonable looks. Compared to a sports bike it's like sitting in a comfortable armchair. I can't understand though all these comparisons to sports bikes, it's not. All too quickly you're in top gear with the lower & mid having almost no range. It can go & go well in that top gear but it's a bit of a boring ride. It trundles along effortlessly like a big engined diesel car but there's no excitement in there. Good commuter but no thrills to be had.

This is my first big bike and it has been perfect. It is comfortable to ride for long distances and has a good upright riding position. Most of the power is higher up the rev range but this makes it good for beginners as it is not too threatening while riding around town at lower revs. When you do decide to open it up, it will keep up with pretty much any 600. While slightly more expensive than the budget 600s the build quality is much better and it comes with extras such as center stand that you dont get on most bikes. It looks and sounds great with the twin underseat exhaust and is brilliant fun.

I've had my FZ6 18 months now and covered 14,000 miles. Overall I think the bike is more for people who ride as a hobby than serious commuters. It’s got alot of good points, nice strong engine, good brakes and great looks. You can have alot of fun on it in good weather. The fairing / screen offer limited protection and seem to generate alot of wind whistle / noise, addition of a touring screen makes this worse (I've now realised this is a common complaint amongst FZ6 riders). The headlights are so terrible they're dangerous, when riding at night I frequently miss my old CBR125 which had much better lights. Also as noted in the MCN review corrosion is an issue, despite waxing and using anti-corrosion spray this bike simply doesn't like all year round use. My bike didn't have any rust when I bought it, but 18 months on you'll struggle to find a bit that isn't corroding. In terms of reliability it’s only let me down once, water got into the fuel injectors, so another sign the bike is not that great for all year/ all condition riding.

I've had my bike for just over three years now and it does everything I bought it to do, commute and be reliable. The fuel economy is okay with my bike averaging around 50mpg, the ride is soft enough to stay in the seat for a number of hours and it's nice and narrow for filtering. The best feature of this bike is its reliability. I have put on over 30 thousand miles riding all year round and it has never let me down. I keep it outside on the street and although the finish tarnished quickly at first it has not worsened since so still looks good. You can have fun on the bike but the revs must be kept high as the mid range is not great but from 8-12000 revs the bike pulls well and I can stay with my mates on vastly more expensive models. The downsides are few but include a clunky gearchange which makes you feel like the engine will drop out and when pushed hard the suspension and brakes are left wanting. I have toured France on the bike two-up which was okay but covering distance (over 300 miles each day) was energy sapping. Overall I think my bike is a great commuter and can do other jobs adequately if you need it to.

I bought an '06 plate S2 as my first big bike. It had the feel of a 'proper' bike & the riding position really seemed to suit me. Not sure I could recommend it to new riders though, primarily because I found the handling to be twitchy & unnerving at anything more than slow to moderate cornering speeds. The burst of top end acceleration was tremendous fun in the right situation, but the trade off (lack of any usable low-mid rpm torque) became a source of frustration, especialy when carrying a pillion.

I've had my fazor 600 for just over a month now ! So far i'm really impressed. Straight away you feel very comfortable with the more up right riding position, although surprised at how responsive and lively the engine feels even at low and mid range , rev her past 9000 and there's an obvious surge of power ! I've had gsxr's and cbr's over the 7 years i've been riding, and i'm confident I could keep up with the sports 6oo's on a sensible ride out, the handling is good, but being used to the gsxr, it's a little steadier now around the corners, but there's plenty of feel, which does inspire convidence. Brakes are an absolute peach, feel 3 x as good as gsxr k1 brakes! Only critisism is the seat is a little hard, other than that, what a fantastic bike. I brought a fazor because I want to do some touring aswell as weekend riding, but because of the all round capability of the fazor, I will be communting too !

Shocked at how fast this bike is considering it’s a budget bike. When on the FZ6 I manage to keep up with my mates who are on litre bikes as long as I keep the revs up. A bit of a Jeckel and Hyde character as it's calm and sensible when riding low down in the revs but turns into a monster when you open it up. In other words it’s a good bike if you want to commute to work Monday – Friday and use the same bike for a fast ride out on the weekends. I would also add it’s very comfortable I have toured over 300 miles a day on this bike and found it no problem. Overall very good all round bike for under £3000