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Yamaha FZ25, first impression

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12 January 2021
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By Frankline Wamere Ogutu

This weekend was definitely going to be awesome, I had two events scheduled for Saturday, both of which were going to be awesome.

On top of the list was the @Yamaha Kenya launch of two products they wanted to (re)introduce in the country: the Yamaha FZS v3 and the Yamaha FZ25 motorbike.

Earlier on in the course of the week, I had received a call from one of their representatives to grace the occasion, and there was no way I was going to pass out such an opportunity. I needed to know what made the company price the two products at KES 385,000 and KES 585,000 respectively. I attended the event and sample out both products. I had plenty of time to extensively try out the 250cc Yamaha FZ25 and had the following to say about the product.

The motorbikes engine is equipped with a five speed manual gear box with the conventional 1N2345 gear shifting sequence. The engine also boasts of a single cylinder, fuel inject system which, combine with its revolutionary blue core technology, ensure that the bikes fuel economy is off the hook for those using the bike as a daily commute. I was expecting that the bike would be liquid cooled. Unfortunately, the bike is oil cooled though the oil cooler works sufficiently to ensure the engine works optimally even when used heavily

 

Fuel capacity for any bike is always of major concern to any rider. The bike comes with a 14 litre fuel tank to ensure that you have sufficient fuel for your commutes around or outside the city. The digital fuel gauge on its dashboard will ensure that your bike's fuel tank never runs dry during rides.

As with other bikes within the 250cc category, the bike comes with disk brake systems, complete with ABS. It has a hand tyre of the dimensions 140 70 r17 and the front tyre has the dimensions 100 80 r17The bike is fitted with a bright LED headlight with its parking light set to be on any time of the day. The headlamp is quite amazing and I doubt there would be any need to buy any auxiliary lights to support the headlamp since it is sufficiently bright.

the pros

The bike is aesthetically pleasing hence an eye candy. The tuning fork badges, FZ25 & Yamaha decals, and Blue Core stickers – all have been used minimally. Its design incorporates both straight lines and round contours that result in a muscular, but chiselled look..

The bikes performance is amazing without a doubt. Gear one takes you upto 34kmph, gear to then flat lines at about 70kmph, then gear three pushes the bike to speed above 90kmph. The teat ride area was small so the maximum speed I achieved was 100kmph. But from the statistics I had, i determined that the bike could easily do speeds of more than 140kmph at gear five.

 

The bikes engine delivers amazing power and torque to its transmission system. This means that the bikes acceleration is exhilarating, overtaking vehicles while on the road is devine and without a doubt, those subaru guys who like daring riders on the road will have a hard time catching up with someone who owns the FZ25.

The engine is well balanced to ensure that the bike has no vibrations. Honestly speaking, I felt negligible vibrations when riding the bike even at high RPM. Anyway, that is exactly what one expects from a premium motorbike manufactured by a reputed company like Yamaha.

The upright sitting position of the naked street bike ensures that you can comfortably ride the bike for hours without rest and without exerting lots of pressure on your spine.


 

The feature that I love most about the bike was its ABS. That is a unique feature that I have only seen on the yamaha fz25, FZS v3 and benelli trk 250 within the Kenyan market. Other motorbikes that are 250cc or below, don't have ABS. The bikes ABS is incredible. While riding the bike at 100kmph, I was able to stop the bike instantly without the bike skidding. This was on the plus side of any rider and would definitely boost any riders confidence while riding thia bike on our treacherous roads that are full of surprises.

The dealers of the bike confirmed to me that they have plenty of spare parts for the bike. Anyway, this is a story I have heard many times before only for it to be negated later on in the future. Anyway, very soon people will start buying the product and only then shall we know the truth of the matter.

 

the cons

For that price, I expected the bike to come with rubber tyres by default. Unfortunately, the bike comes with nylon polyester MRF tyres that wont serve any justice to any rider when riding the bike on wet surfaces.

 

The instrument cluster is also basic and annoyingly lacks a gear indicator. It only shows the rider when the bike is in neutral position. The rest of the gears are left for the rider to figure out while riding the bike but eventually one get used to not having the gear indicator on the instrument cluster.

For those who love swapping the stock muffler of the bike with after market ones, you wont love this bike a wee bit since it has two catalytic converters that significantly minimize noise levels harmful toxic gases released by the engine to the environment. This is good to the environment but means that, for one to swap the stock muffler for an after market one, you will have to do away with the the catalytic converters and interfere with the back pressure of the bike hence eventually damaging the bikes engine, in a quest to make the bike louder..

 

parting shot

From my perspective, the yamaha FZ25 is an amazing motorbike. It delivers top notch performance in terms of power and torque while also standing out in terms of its looks. The FI engine coupled with blue core technology will ensure that any rider gets exemplary fuel economy while riding the bike around the country. Its built in ABS ensures that any newbie riding the bike wont crash when engaging sudden, emergency brakes as is always the case. With the assurance by the bikes dealership that they have plenty of spare parts standby, look for replacement parts wont be a toll order. Anyone who has KES 585,000 can always go to any Yamaha Kenya outlets countrywide and buy a unit.

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