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Scooby Drew
06-02-05, 11:34 PM
Took one for a test ride today, so much power it's a bit bonkers. My only concern was coming off the power when turning and it starts to fall into the turn quite quickly, not because of engine braking (there is none). Does anyone know anything about them/it/anyone with one? I am probably going to Europe in June and want a sports tourer but no acres of plastic etc. It's comfortable at the ton and offers probably as much or more wind protection than the SV and is far more comfortable.

BURNER
07-02-05, 12:45 AM
They're crackin'. I'd love one but without a garage it'd cost loads.
The bike mags rave about them and it's right up there on the RiDE power list.

a1a
07-02-05, 06:30 AM
Took one for a test ride today, so much power it's a bit bonkers. My only concern was coming off the power when turning and it starts to fall into the turn quite quickly, not because of engine braking (there is none). Does anyone know anything about them/it/anyone with one? I am probably going to Europe in June and want a sports tourer but no acres of plastic etc. It's comfortable at the ton and offers probably as much or more wind protection than the SV and is far more comfortable.
Scooby, Is the Fazer 1000 made by Yamaha? If so its called a FZ1 over here. I rode one at Daytona BikeWeek motorcycle Demo's, not on the speedway track. But in an escorted tour around city and highway roads. I found this bike to be very comfortable and very fast. The bike comes with a sportshield/half fairing, like the SVS and also has a centerstand. I remember the gearbox shifted very smooth and neutral was real easy to find. I don't remember having noticed any engine vibration, regardless of speed. The bike has everything you could possible want, with the exception of fuel injection. I personally love this bike, but the insurance will be very expensive. A little over twice what the SV costs, depending on your age of course. Also the bike will do the ton with ease and a lot more. So if your throttle hand is heavy, be prepared for speeding tickets.
Cheers, Richard

mysteryjimbo
07-02-05, 07:59 AM
I had one for 5 months as a courtesy bike late 2003 into 2004. It's a really good reliable bike. It never once let me down during the winter.

I took my partner on it on a 250 mile round trip and her only real complaint (apart from the December cold) was the height of the pillion pegs gave her a little knee ache after an hour. I cant say i had any complaints, it is really comfortable and the ride height is nice and upright. A little high for me but if youre 6ft then it would suit a treat.

As you say there is no engine breaking to speak of, unless you're really reving the engine to keep the speed up. But being a torqued up R1 engine it is a monster accelerator and wheely bike. Brakes are top notch, cant beat them. Suspension is a little soft but adjustable.

My next bike would be a toss up between the Fazer thou and a VFR800 for a long distance commuter/tourer.

Jabba
07-02-05, 09:12 AM
Fantastic bike in my view.

Really good on fuel, apparently - one mag was getting 57mpg on the motorway :shock: They put this down to an efficient FI system and the fact that the engine was hardly working at all at those speeds.

They need a little looking after if you're going to ride all winter, but what bike doesn't?

Clunk
07-02-05, 12:56 PM
Another member of the Fazer fan club here.

If I could choose any bike right now it would be a Fazer 1000, in blue of course.
Does everything I would ever need from a bike with loads of power.

Scooby Drew
07-02-05, 01:49 PM
Well I just got an insurance quote which I can afford and I can afford the bike (2nd hand 02 in black with 4600m) but the dealer offered me £1600 for my SV. It is an 03 with 14000m and I still owe £2700 on it so that is not going to happen. It has scrapes from being dropped a couple times at slow speed but the cost of fairing plus sidepanel is £250 and he was knocking £900 off book price of £2500 for 'the work that needs doing'. He obviously doesn't need to sell me a bike then...

BURNER
07-02-05, 01:54 PM
They put this down to an efficient FI system and the fact that the engine was hardly working at all at those speeds.



Sorry Jabba but it's got carbs like the original R1.

Here's a bike test from 2001 http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcyam/01fazer.html

Steve H
07-02-05, 03:29 PM
That will be why the fueling is so good then.
No doubt Yamaha will be forced by the EU to bugger it up shortly with fuel injection like they had to with the new Fazer 600.

Mythkind
07-02-05, 04:28 PM
Well I just got an insurance quote which I can afford and I can afford the bike (2nd hand 02 in black with 4600m) but the dealer offered me £1600 for my SV. It is an 03 with 14000m and I still owe £2700 on it so that is not going to happen. It has scrapes from being dropped a couple times at slow speed but the cost of fairing plus sidepanel is £250 and he was knocking £900 off book price of £2500 for 'the work that needs doing'. He obviously doesn't need to sell me a bike then...

That didn't happen to be Carrick Yamaha in Leith did it? A work colleague priced a Fazer 600 from them and they wouldn't budge from the list price. He ended up going west to Hamilton or somewhere like that and bought one there. He took it for repair to Carrick after he was hit by a van and said their service was s**t, they took weeks to fix some fairly minor damage, 'forgot' to fix some fairly major damage and didn't even provide a courtesy bike. Definately wouldn't go there!

MK

Scooby Drew
07-02-05, 05:29 PM
No it wasn't Carrick's, they didn't have a demo for me to ride so I went to Two Wheels Honda and they just proved their usefulness. Carricks actually gave me a trade in price of £2600 with damage against an ex demo R6 @ £5250.

BTW the R6 is very bland :( , you don't want one. If you have to go for a 600 try a ZX6 :lol:

Am only going to go for second hand anyway so who the dealer is doesn't matter, it's the deal that counts.

Jabba
07-02-05, 05:54 PM
Sorry Jabba but it's got carbs like the original R1.

Here's a bike test from 2001 http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcyam/01fazer.html

Don't apologise, dude - you're right, too :shock:

4 x 37mm Mikunis..............

northwind
07-02-05, 06:24 PM
I take it you've spoken to Steve at the School? He's got one you know...

You cannot trust Carrick Yamaha in any way, they're thieves, liars, and either dangerous incompetents or criminally negligent. I wouldn't buy a bike that had a Carrick stamp in the service book.

(there follows a lengthy character assassination)

I bought my 125 from Carricks… When it left the shop, it had a patch on the exhaust system that they “forgot” to tell me about, but which fell off just outside the warranty period, after maybe 250 miles. When I returned it to the shop and pointed it out, the manager said “For all we know you broke that yourself and put the patch on, I’m not fixing that” and offered me a whole new exhaust for £300, plus £150 labour. Now, this was my mistake, I should have washed my hands of them there, and spoken to a lawyer, but I messed up.

Anyway, I had Roy at OS Stainless build a better, stainless, polished downpipe for me for £90, fitted it myself, and despite breaking off a stud and having to have it spark abraded out, still did the whole job for £40 pro labour and an hour of my time, and £90 in parts.

A while later, the starter failed. With help from the Virago Star guys (who were fantastic, by the way) we traced the fault to the starter solenoid. I bumped it and rode over to Carricks (like a knob) and left a fault report “Suspected starter solenoid failure, check and repair”

3 days pass and I hear nothing. I phone them up, and they say “Oh, that was done 2 days ago. We stripped the whole electrical system and found no faults, fitted a new battery, but eventually it turned out to be your starter solenoid” Really? “So that’ll be, let’s see, £100 for the starter, £40 for the battery, and 9 hours labour at £30- call it £400.”

An ugly scene ensures, lawyers names are brandished, and I go and check out the bike. I swap back in my old battery- it works perfectly. I check out the starter- it’s clearly the old part. The mechanic who actually did the work turns up and tells me they replaced an o-ring and the solenoid, £15 parts. His boss goes nuts at him…

We go back into the shop, where customers are watching with interest, and come to a new deal- £70. Still a bit steep, but I was just glad to be away. Rode off into the rain, and…

15 minutes later, the bike dies suddenly in a stream of heavy traffic. Engine dies, rear locks, lights go out, the full deal, in the dark. By pure luck I’m not crushed by a truck, get over to the side of the road, and phone my friends at Carricks. They agree to put it right but “We can’t pick it up today, van’s out, we’ll have to get it tomorrow.” They seem apologetic so fair enough.

I go back to the bike the next day and phone them up “Sorry mate, our van driver’s on holiday- we can’t pick it up for 3 weeks, you’ll need to take it somewhere else.” “You promised to fix your mistakes yesterday” “Ah, no proof it was us… You’ll just need to fix it. If the mechanic says it was us, we’ll pay half the labour to fix it.” F*** off, I phone the RAC and they charge the battery, check the charging system- it’s barely working. So with an RAC bodyguard, who is also a biker and is none too impressed, we go back to Carricks.

We get there, and the van pulls up, drops off a bike, and leaves- they'd lied about that to try and make me go elsewhere...

This is my favourite part… Another fault report is duly filed “Charging system not working properly- suspect Reg/Rec is not wired properly or has leaked. URGENT, warranty repair” it’s printed on a big yellow sticker and attached to the fuel tank.

2 days pass, I phone up. “We’re still trying to track the fault mate, call tomorrow” Next day, “We’re waiting for a part, phone in 2 days”

I phone the next day and speak to a different mechanic. “We’ve not done anything to it mate, didn’t have to, it starts fine!” “Aye, but it’s not CHARGING! It starts, but it’ll break down in 15 minutes!” “Oh, didn’t know that,we’ll look into it.”

Later that day, the workshop manager phones “It’s about your bike. There’s quite a lot wrong with it, it’ll take a lot to fix, and I think you’re sending good money after bad- better to just cut your losses. I’ll give you £100 scrap for it as a goodwill gesture”

A solicitor is consulted, a letter is written and taken to Carricks… They fix the bike, funnily enough, in about 20 minutes. The fault? “Regulator rectifier seal was in wrong so it had flooded” The fault report diagnosing exactly that was still stuck to the tank.

“That’ll be £600.”
“No really, £400 for the new rectifier/rectifier, £40 for a new battery, £160 labour”

Another scene occurs. Eventually we agree that since they’ve admitted that the damage was caused by their own incompetence, maybe they should pay for it… And since I’ve already paid for that incompetent work, maybe they’d better refund me £55 labour from last time. And while we’re at it, that’ll be £20 for a solicitor’s letter.

I get my keys and my cash, they bring the bike around, I knock over some display stands, and leave… And it turns out that they’ve disconnected all the lights for some reason and I have to fix it at the side of the road to get home.

I came out of it with a decent bike running well, and not too badly out of pocket, but I was pretty lucky... I could have done better, I think, but I could have done a lot worse.

BURNER
07-02-05, 06:30 PM
Sounds like they shouldn't be allowed to stay in business.

Scooby Drew
07-02-05, 06:55 PM
Interesting... :-k After being screwed over by Alvins a number of times I don't trust anyone. I actually would have done the deal with TWO Wheels yesterday if they had ofered me a decent trade in but that dude was just taking the p$ss.

Looks like I am going to have to sell privately so if anyone knows where I can get fromt fairing and left side panel in sonic silver... I can get any colour but that on Ebay, it's quite maddening.

northwind
07-02-05, 07:10 PM
2 Wheels is supposed to be fantastic for aftersales support etc... They're expensive but I've hardly hard a bad word about them. But that's a daft price for Drew's bike, it's dinged up but in good nick otherwise.

Drew, I'll give you £1601 for it :) I'm knocking £999 off the list price because I know it's history and it's pointy ;)

Alvins are a million times better than Carricks- at least they'll generally do the work you ask them to. I trust them on everything apart from price, and you can protect yourself on that just by knowing exactly what you're asking for and what it should cost. Their work is very, very good- right down to details like polishing new parts etc, which isn't neccecary but shows a bit of pride and commitment to the work. Even if their courtesy bikes are legendarily bad.

Burner, one of the reasons they're so crappy is that they've had a few big legal actions against them... So they have terrible workshop facilities (I now know having seen what a modern workshop looks like) and they can't keep good staff. If there was another Yam dealer within easy distance they'd have gone out of business long ago.

(don't ask how I know, it's purely coincidental that their bank account is with the bank I work for :wink: )

If you spend long enough around Edinburgh bikers you'll get a nightmare story about them. For example, Steve at the bike school had a bike break down under him... Carrick's van spotted him and offered him a lift, but then at the end of the run decided to charge him for it. Now, one, Steve's ex-Army and a fairly intimidating guy, and 2, he's going to be training a good number of the new bikers in the city and so has plenty of opportunity to say "Don't trust Carricks"... Soit's not a good idea, but they're so shortsighted that they try and screw almost everyone, every time.

I'm a case in point... I know for a fact I've put people off buying high-value bikes from them (one of my customers was going to buy a used 998 for £5K off them and walked after I spoke to him :wink: ) So their terrible reputation means they're stuck at the bottom of the ladder.

a1a
08-02-05, 05:39 AM
Now thats a living proof of what goes around comes around!
Cheers, Richard