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I received this anonymous comment yesteday
i have read the exact same review somewhere else.. either you copied from them or they copied from you... and i doubt you.. you could have at least noted that it was taken off from an another site.. its really patheticFor this post.
JC sent me this link today. I read it and liked what I read. So I thought I'd post a link here. Here's a quick excerpt."The group that rode motorbikes posted higher marks in cognitive function tests," Kawashima said.
Sometimes, in traffic, you will naturally start classifying people as
slow or fast. I'm not entirely sure what goes into classifying them,
but you know as well as I do, that you do this. Without going into the
degrees of good-fast versus reckless or good-slow versus
idi-effing-ot, I was thinking about it and I realised that I consider
myself pretty quick through traffic. And for a fair amount of time,
I'm last or nearly last in traffic. Does that describe you too?
I figure that it's because my take-off from the traffic lights and
progress through traffic tends to be on the rapid side, and most of
the time, I catch up with the traffic that's ahead of me. In
traffic/transport planner terms, a group of traffic that leaves
together from a traffic light is called a platoon. Each cycle of
greens causes a platoon. Er, the point is, that I'm usually at the end
of the platoon. Doing what? Passing them, of course. And I'm sure
there's more riders like this out there.
Point? Don't automatically dismiss those at the end of the platoon,
they're probably just taking some time to get ahead. I think this
point has wider meanings that purely in traffic, but that's purely
unintended.
Remember this post?
Well, I got a letter from the chaps who created it - pasted below - and they've pointed me to another little video. And once more, while it was intended for cyclists, I think it does apply to us as well. Watch it, and leave a comment about whether you passed or failed. I almost passed, I have to admit.
My name is Martin Uttley and I work on behalf of Transport For London (TFL). We were very pleased to see your mention of our DoTheTest video on your website.
As you liked the DoTheTest video campaign we thought you might be interested in our latest cycling awareness videos Whodunnit?
We have posted them up on www.dothetest.co.uk and on YouTube. We would love to hear what you think of the latest cycling awareness videos from TFL. Thank you so much for your original post and I look forward to hearing your thoughts
Hey, I found both of these spoofs quite hilarious, so I thought I'd post a link here.
Yesterday, something obvious struck me while I was emptying an overfull bladder. Wrinkle your noses all you like, but here's the situation - most men should be able to understand this easily. I'm standing above the pot and I've got my legs split up really wide. Don't know why, but there it is. At this point, let us focus only on the events occurring at the sole of my, say, left foot, although either will do nicely.
The floor of this particular loo is one of the those new-fangled textured jobs where grip is easy to find and the chances of you breaking you head in by falling in the wet are low. But, for some reason, my foot starts slipping outwards. Not being a gymnast, this immediately was a cause of concern. For once, family jewels landing with a sickening thud on the rim of the pristine but unforgiving edge of the toilet bowl is a painful image even to conjure up. And second, landing on the floor in a split would ensure that a tortured groin would put an end to motorcycle adventures for some time to come.
To recover, I tried pushing down on the sole - more weight equals more traction, remember? It worked. But then, reassured, I tried varying where the extra weight was. And in there, lay the light bulb that lit up above my head like a Diwali rocket. I found that if I put my weight on the inside edge of my foot (the arches side), the slide started again. However, the moment I used the outer edge of the foot, the left edge of the sole of the left foot, the slide was arrested with a ferocity I haven't consciously thought of before.
Now, how does that apply? Here goes.
You know that the ideal position for cornering involves you hanging off the inside, weigh on the inside peg, using the outside thigh to lock you into position etc, right? However, weighing the inside peg is the same, in effect, as exerting the pressure from the arch side of the left foot in the toilet situation. As long as traction is good and the demand for it is reasonable, the feeling is of stability. However, the moment, traction is at a premium, like in the wet, more weight on the inside will as usual, reduce lean angle, but will also provoke a slide earlier. Which is why, they tell you to weigh the outside peg in the wet, and in off-camber corners. Both are places where traction is relatively little and the pressure on the outside helps the tyre dig in harder and postpone the slide.
Yeah, yeah, all OCD disclaimers apply. And feel free to disagree, try this etc.
Just don't pee outside the bowl, ok?
As I said earlier, it's become harder and harder to find the time to blog. I must apologise to all the regular readers who have inspired me to continue to write here.
Since August 1, 2008, the last real post until these, I've changed jobs, moved to another place and it's even busier than before. However, I'm expecting to end up with an even more pronounced online presence, as you shall see shortly. As an extension of that process, I'm considering integrating the blog, archives and all, into that 'online presence.' I'd deeply appreciate it if you could write back and tell me what you think of that kind of a move. My idea is that once the blog becomes part of my official duties, my freedom to post frequently will become less of an issue. Which means I can write more, and whenever I like. And no one can object, since it is, after all, official work.
I will, of course, endeavour to not let the 'rules' that come with an official blog to alter or curtail the freedoms this blog has enjoyed, or for that matter, the sort of content that I've posted here.
What say you?
So you want to know how the FZ16 is , is it?
Styling
As you can see for yourself, the styling of the FZ16 was central to the project. At least that is the official line. They first created the look and the 'fitted' the engineering into the design. No, really. That is why the FZ16 runs those fat tyres, has the faux pivot plate in aluminium colour, the faux aluminiun subframe look sidepanel and all. Like they scaled the R1 down for the R15, they scaled the FZ1N down for the FZ16. Personally, I'm just happy to be looking at an Indian bike that would hold its own anywhere in the world. As is usual with Yamaha, build quality, fit and finish levels are all great and I don't get the feeling that something will rattle loose, soon or later.
Engine
This is where the actual engineering began. The FZ16's aircooled engine is significantly different from the R15. Despite much prodding, for instance, Mizuno San, the project leader refused to accept that the R15 and the FZ16 motors shared more than a bare minimum of aggregates.
Creating two significantly different engines for what is effectively the same displacement band is a significant thing. It means that Yamaha is willing to look past economies of scale and parts sharing to create motorcycles that clearly adhere to a pre-defined role. Which is why the FZ16 feels quick of the line. Not quick enough to blow your socks off, mind you, but quick enough for you to notice the performance. I've read that the top-end isn't all that great and that FZ16 is reading from the same chapter on top-end as the Unicorn, but I don't subscribe to the same school. I think the FZ16 is clearly defined as an urban tool with styling and effortless low-rev performance being the two central themes, and this the engine does. That said, it is lighter than the competition, which should fill most performance gaps that the FZ16's peers might expose. The gearbox is a regular Yamaha job - slick and I don't think too many people will complain of the FZ16 being a laggard. In fact, I'd be very surprised if despite the low-rev focus, the FZ16 didn't equal or outperform its immediate competition.
Ride Quality, Handling and Braking
Personally, going into the test drive, I was expecting the storming tyre sizes to cause much trouble. Needless to say, my confidence in Yamaha's engineers was redoubled. Not only does the FZ16 handle well, it seems not to notice the extra rubber at all. I later found one of the reasons while helping some Yamaha staffers transfer a set of spare MRF tubeless radials from one car to another. The weigh nothing. Really, with tyres that light, it's no surprise that the not only does the FZ16 feel grippy, stable and responsive, it feels happy rather than that 'anchored' feeling that overtyred bikes seem to develop.
Ride quality is stiff and sporty, though. Again, personally, I've had the privilege of riding enough bikes to know that while plush ride feels great, stiffer setups encourage you to push harder and explore the envelope more... sometimes at the expense of your back. This is a compromise I have no problem with. You, on the other hand, might. Some riders who had the foresight to lower the preload to the softest settings reported instant, and noticeable ride quality improvements. I found the setup bouncy only over the worst of the roads, where the tyres do seem to bounce up off the surface entirely. In any other situation, the ride quality never comes to the point where you will leap off the motorcycle hurling abuse. I like it, but I think this is a personal choice so you should, ideally, ride an FZ and form your own opinion. Your experience will vary.
The braking is superb. No surprise there. Fat forks offer flex-free feedback-rich braking which the fat tyres respond to really well by mashing the larger contact patch firmly into the ground. I do wish that Yamaha'd put in a set of radially mounted brakes for brag value alone... but the whole wishes-horses thing applies to that line of thought, right?
Features and other stuff
Full LCD instruments, baby! But all is not well in that department. Internationally, Kawasaki came in for all-round notoriety for the all-LCD revcounter on their Ninjas from two generations ago because of readability issues. On the other hand, Ducati are currently running a slick, large race-spec all-LCD instrument cluster on the 1098, 848 etc. So it can be done. Yamaha haven't cracked it, I must admit. The tacho readout is cluttered by lots of design elements and the effect is that gathering info off the LCD meters takes some getting used to. Only the speedo is easy to read and the surfeit of carbon fibre, orange and white stickers makes the otherwise sleek instrument cluster a bit, how shall I put it, overdone. I do also have to point out that there's a few random stickers (like 'Monocross' on the side panel that add no value whatsoever to the motorcycle's style and could easily have been skipped.
Overall
As you can probably tell, I'm as impressed with the FZ16 as I was with the R15. But, there's a catch. The FZ16 is expensive compared to the 150s it wants to beat and the question is, is that extra money worth paying. This is something you must decide for yourself. I would have no hesitation paying the Rs 6000-odd extra for the solid feel, international looks and the general competence of the motorcycle. But would you? Tell me, leave a comment.
Image from Yamaha India
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