Jan 30th: After two months of research, which here means reading motorcycle websites, views, opinions and advices of fellow members of a bike forum that I’m a part of, and finally have a really excited talk with another FZ 16 owner, I, with my hard earned, hardly saved money, and a bit of financial backing from the family, decided to take a plunge and bought myself a brand new Yamaha FZ16. It was followed by a nice dinner with close friends followed by a night out at best friend’s place. Next day an early morning ride back to my place on this bike which seemed to glide on road rather than ride it.
It was a like a four year old kid’s first toy bike. I went on with its different ride feel, the way it picked up speed, the way it braked, the way it I could lean with it, the way it begged to be thrown into curves and came out smiling, as if it was born to do all this and hold me in a state of motion forever. It was my bike, made to suit me and fuel my motorcycling passion. The first few weeks went in riding it carefully taking care not to exceed certain limits. A month full of holding myself back from letting the throttle open wild, and escape into eternity.
Everyone close to me was almost equally awed if not exactly pleased by the level of comfort and ease the bike offered. Everyone thought it was the perfect choice for me since, I do not believe in racing down city roads, challenge a few buggers who think their bikes were designed to break records, but yet be fast enough to set my own personal records. With the running in limits off, I was all set to take it out on its first long run, something I that I will never forget….
…Not because it was the best ride yet, but because the return trip changed my bike forever. And this change, I have well realized by now was not anything close to any positive feeling that I ever associated with the bike. A few bumps on the way back, and my bike completely lost its ride feel. It became jerky, difficult to handle and later developed braking problems too. Now there was no comfort to rave about, no cornering capabilities to swear by and definitely no stand out braking to depend on. From being the hero of the day, the machine had gone to become my friend in misery. Yes it was not just my friend; it was itself in a misery, something that has not changed till today.
Despite long arguments with service managers, taking things through the right channels, a few (apparently true) suspension changes, another few tweaks, oil changes, the bike has now become a completely different machine. It has lost the ride feel that I could relate to, something no one else has come to terms with. Even riders with bikes of the same make thought there was nothing wrong with it.
Three of the authorized so called service centers maintained that nothing is wrong with it and continued to give hogwash reasons right from ‘its in your mind’ to the best one so far, something which could put the best physics experts and motorcycle experts to shame. ‘The bike veers to one side because of the slight angle of banking of the road’. And if the road banked “slightly” towards the left and the bike veers towards the right, according to these guys such things are not possible, at least on this planet.
Even an accident did not change anything. It only helped changing the parts that I thought had problems with. To my good luck, the exact parts which I wanted to change got damaged in the accident. Today, three months down, the probable culprits for the bumpy ride, the jittery feeling and the loss of control… that being the front and back suspensions each has been changed at least once. Yet the love is lost between me and bike. It refuses to offer the kind of feeling it did, three months ago, when I had it ready to run with its full heart, and slowly I am losing all my faith in it. And apparently of all the bikes that the company has sold, which I know of, mine seems to be the only one plagued with these issues. So may be its just me and not the bike, whose forgotten what it felt like before everything went wrong.
As a last resort I have decided to put an end to this issue by making enough arrangements and selling the bike at a respectable price. There’s nothing wrong with the bike. It’s just like: “we broke up and now I have gotten over her. I don’t have the feelings that I had for her before.” Nothing about this bike, my liking for it and my passion for bikes is worth letting it affect my life, with my family, friends, co workers and every new person I come across. I want it to be a part of my life and not take over it entirely. All attempts at restoring it have gone in vain, and now the suggestion box in my mind lies empty.
It was a like a four year old kid’s first toy bike. I went on with its different ride feel, the way it picked up speed, the way it braked, the way it I could lean with it, the way it begged to be thrown into curves and came out smiling, as if it was born to do all this and hold me in a state of motion forever. It was my bike, made to suit me and fuel my motorcycling passion. The first few weeks went in riding it carefully taking care not to exceed certain limits. A month full of holding myself back from letting the throttle open wild, and escape into eternity.
Everyone close to me was almost equally awed if not exactly pleased by the level of comfort and ease the bike offered. Everyone thought it was the perfect choice for me since, I do not believe in racing down city roads, challenge a few buggers who think their bikes were designed to break records, but yet be fast enough to set my own personal records. With the running in limits off, I was all set to take it out on its first long run, something I that I will never forget….
…Not because it was the best ride yet, but because the return trip changed my bike forever. And this change, I have well realized by now was not anything close to any positive feeling that I ever associated with the bike. A few bumps on the way back, and my bike completely lost its ride feel. It became jerky, difficult to handle and later developed braking problems too. Now there was no comfort to rave about, no cornering capabilities to swear by and definitely no stand out braking to depend on. From being the hero of the day, the machine had gone to become my friend in misery. Yes it was not just my friend; it was itself in a misery, something that has not changed till today.
Despite long arguments with service managers, taking things through the right channels, a few (apparently true) suspension changes, another few tweaks, oil changes, the bike has now become a completely different machine. It has lost the ride feel that I could relate to, something no one else has come to terms with. Even riders with bikes of the same make thought there was nothing wrong with it.
Three of the authorized so called service centers maintained that nothing is wrong with it and continued to give hogwash reasons right from ‘its in your mind’ to the best one so far, something which could put the best physics experts and motorcycle experts to shame. ‘The bike veers to one side because of the slight angle of banking of the road’. And if the road banked “slightly” towards the left and the bike veers towards the right, according to these guys such things are not possible, at least on this planet.
Even an accident did not change anything. It only helped changing the parts that I thought had problems with. To my good luck, the exact parts which I wanted to change got damaged in the accident. Today, three months down, the probable culprits for the bumpy ride, the jittery feeling and the loss of control… that being the front and back suspensions each has been changed at least once. Yet the love is lost between me and bike. It refuses to offer the kind of feeling it did, three months ago, when I had it ready to run with its full heart, and slowly I am losing all my faith in it. And apparently of all the bikes that the company has sold, which I know of, mine seems to be the only one plagued with these issues. So may be its just me and not the bike, whose forgotten what it felt like before everything went wrong.
As a last resort I have decided to put an end to this issue by making enough arrangements and selling the bike at a respectable price. There’s nothing wrong with the bike. It’s just like: “we broke up and now I have gotten over her. I don’t have the feelings that I had for her before.” Nothing about this bike, my liking for it and my passion for bikes is worth letting it affect my life, with my family, friends, co workers and every new person I come across. I want it to be a part of my life and not take over it entirely. All attempts at restoring it have gone in vain, and now the suggestion box in my mind lies empty.
