grom-fz07?

[Justin]

I’m currently on a 2017 Honda grom I’ve been riding it for about a year and put about 5k miles on it. I really want to get a fz07 as my next bike because I’m really in need of a upgrade or would it be to crazy to get a fz09? 

[3crows]

46 minutes ago, Justin said:

I’m currently on a 2017 Honda grom I’ve been riding it for about a year and put about 5k miles on it. I really want to get a fz07 as my next bike because I’m really in need of a upgrade or would it be to crazy to get a fz09? 

Why stop there, just go ahead and purchase the baddest 1000/1200 machine you can imagine.  Heck, go for the big Duke! Or be more reasonable and go from a faux motorcycle/mini-bike to something like a Kawasaki 400 class machine? 

And, BTW, I own a Monkey Z125. It is not a start, it is not an end, it just is. 

[stickshift]

Depends what riding you do. Both the 07 and the 09 are good bikes, but they’re designed for slightly different ‘missions’. I find the 07 better for commuting and around town riding, while 09 is better on open road (highway). Just my opinion. 

Test ride both, that way you’ll have an informed opinion of what might work best for you.

[Beemer]

First of all, why the need for an upgrade? Do you feel you need more top speed, more low end torque, more carrying capacity, a taller ride height, a bike that sucks more gas??? Id say the 07 is the ALL AROUND better bike. The 09 is a better hooligan bike. I say get a ……

 

Ruckus

[sorkyah]

 

10 hours ago, Justin said:

I’m currently on a 2017 Honda grom I’ve been riding it for about a year and put about 5k miles on it. I really want to get a fz07 as my next bike because I’m really in need of a upgrade or would it be to crazy to get a fz09? 

why not just fab up a swap for the fz07 motor into your grom

[Cinimod]

Wow. Not much serious advice here.

 

But like stickshift said, it depends on what you want. Obviously everyone here really likes the 07, but the 09 really is a different animal. 

 

I went from an R6, and test rode the 07 and 09. I ended up liking the 07 better - I use it for commuting and riding in the Appalachians. 

The 09 will hooligan better out of the box, but the 07 is no slouch either. I suggest you test ride each and go from there. 

[kylerhsm]

On 7/20/2019 at 5:41 PM, stickshift said:

Depends what riding you do. Both the 07 and the 09 are good bikes, but they’re designed for slightly different ‘missions’. I find the 07 better for commuting and around town riding, while 09 is better on open road (highway). Just my opinion. 

Test ride both, that way you’ll have an informed opinion of what might work best for you.

Exactly this. I went from XSR900 to MT07, and because 95% of my riding is commuting I find the MT07 a much better, easier and more fun bike to ride. The XSR900 outdid it on the open road for sure, but in the city it's hard to compete with the little twin.

[wingbit]

I went from a grom to a mt07 this season! The 07 reminds me of a big powerful grom. It's a great next step imo. They are pretty similar in concept, the grom is just much smaller and less powerful. If you want to hoon around at city speeds and basic highway driving, the 07 is the better bike imo. The torque is awesome and the power numbers don't do it justice as to how fun and fast it feels up to 80. But if you are are going to do a lot of driving at or above highway speeds, definitely go with the 09 imo. The 07 certainly can handle 80mph but it's starting to rev out pretty high and fuel efficiency suffers. You can tell it was really optimized for those 0-80 rips. But continuous high speed cruising it's just not gonna be as good as an 09 at. Either way it's a good upgrade. 

[EarthViews]

My friend went from an FZ07 to a Grom lol. It just all depends on your needs and what you prefer.

Personally my first bike and current bike is an FZ07 and I absolutely love it. It has the upright feel that doesn't kill your wrists and easy to maneuver while still having the torque and speed to get on and through the highway. I'd love an FZ09 for faster highway pulls, but I don't need it.

[Wintersdark]

On 7/22/2019 at 7:13 PM, wingbit said:

I went from a grom to a mt07 this season! The 07 reminds me of a big powerful grom. It's a great next step imo. They are pretty similar in concept, the grom is just much smaller and less powerful. If you want to hoon around at city speeds and basic highway driving, the 07 is the better bike imo. The torque is awesome and the power numbers don't do it justice as to how fun and fast it feels up to 80. But if you are are going to do a lot of driving at or above highway speeds, definitely go with the 09 imo. The 07 certainly can handle 80mph but it's starting to rev out pretty high and fuel efficiency suffers. You can tell it was really optimized for those 0-80 rips. But continuous high speed cruising it's just not gonna be as good as an 09 at. Either way it's a good upgrade. 

I dunno; I take my MT07 on long highway trips regularly, and it never feels limited.  For sure, the MT09 is going to do more, but I average around 140kph/87mph cruising, and still get good fuel economy as well as looooots of available umph left for quick passing, though admittedly at higher cost.  

I suppose I'm not disagreeing with you per say, but rather just want to highlight that the MT07 is just fine for regular highway cruising.  I've got mine at 160kph/100mph for fairly long periods on the highway every single day (yay for longish commutes!) and while fuel economy suffers somewhat there, it's still pretty reasonable.  I wouldn't hold 100mph for really long trips, though, just because you'd need to be more cognizant of the distance between gas stations  

Doing the intake/exhaust/tune dance makes a big difference, as stock the restrictive setup results in breathlessness at high RPM.  

Mostly, I suppose my wandering point here is that while the MT09 is going to be objectively better if you're doing >140kph for long trips, but at least my experience is that very, very few people actually do that.  It's an awesome bike for sure, but the gains the MT09 has over the MT07 are ones that few riders are really going to utilize.  Hell - and again, this is just me and my experiences - I ride with a bunch of guys on liter bikes, and they're the ones who lag behind.  Not that I'm particularly talented, just that few people really push their machines past where the limits of the MT07 are. 

I suppose, more directly to the OP:

The MT09 is a fantastic machine, and a hooligan's dream, but my choice boiled down to these things:

• The MT07 is cheaper to buy, insure, maintain, and fuel.  
• The MT07's limits are beyond what I should be doing on the street as it is.  Very fast acceleration, 200kph+ top speed, easy wheelies.  If I had more, I'd use it, but I shouldn't.  The MT09 has more of each, but even after a couple years of ownership, my MT07 still makes me squeal with glee when doing 0-100 pulls from a stop light at WOT.  I never feel slow on this bike.

 

[topazsparrow]

18 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

• The MT07's limits are beyond what I should be doing on the street as it is.  Very fast acceleration, 200kph+ top speed, easy wheelies.  If I had more, I'd use it, but I shouldn't.  The MT09 has more of each, but even after a couple years of ownership, my MT07 still makes me squeal with glee when doing 0-100 pulls from a stop light at WOT.  I never feel slow on this bike.

 

This was my exact finding when I tried to upgrade to an FJ-09. The FJ-09 did everything better than my nearly stock FZ-07. It was faster, comfier, better suspension, had room for bags and lots of room for my SO on the back... it just wasn't... fun?

The FZ07 feels fun ALL THE TIME. After I did all the mods (suspension, tune, exhaust, intake, bars, gears, etc etc) it leaves me wanting just a little bit more.... but in the best possible way. It never ceases to deliver enough, and you'l ALWAYS crave more... if there's one thing that I learned from the FJ-09, more isn't always better.

I have yet to find a worth replacement for my 2015 FZ-07 and I'm honestly a little bit scared I might not find a better bike in the same class. Only options I have left to test ride are the MT10 and the Street/Speed Triple.

The 10 gets shet range and the triple has goonie looking headlights... but it sounds like they're refreshing the engine in 2020 so I might be able to look past that

[Wintersdark]

20 minutes ago, topazsparrow said:

 

The FZ07 feels fun ALL THE TIME. After I did all the mods (suspension, tune, exhaust, intake, bars, gears, etc etc) it leaves me wanting just a little bit more.... but in the best possible way. It never ceases to deliver enough, and you'l ALWAYS crave more... if there's one thing that I learned from the FJ-09, more isn't always better.

It's funny, I've always been squirrelly about letting other people ride my bikes, but I basically push my MT07 on people.  It's just such an insanely *fun* bike to ride.  A bunch of guys I ride with have 600-700 class's bikes too, and all of them frequently talked about needing to upgrade to a "bigger bike".  Right till they ride the MT07.  

 

I figure it's because the MT07 will get as fast as I'm willing to go, and it'll be screaming all the way there.  I can launch from lights and redline it, gear after gear, keeping my weight forward and working to keep the front mostly on the ground.  It's why smaller bikes can be so much fun (the classic "more fun to ride a slow bike fast" line) except it's not slow.  It's just fast enough that it's scratches both the engine screaming itch and the zoom zoom itch at the same time.

 

To do the same acceleration and top speed on an 09 wouldn't be as thrilling, as you wouldn't be pushing the bike so hard.  And pushing the 09 as hard - going WOT pulls - while exciting is substantially more dangerous.  The end result is for most normal humans you've got a bike capable of so much more than you'll ever use.

 

The 07 is just a really perfect middle ground imho; fast enough to hang with the big boys, while being supremely agile, light, and allowing you to use 100% of it's capabilities.

[jeffkisthename]

How much do you weigh?

When I owned a FZ-07, I loved the heck out of that thing, and loved riding canyons with it. I always felt kind of husky on it though.  I’m not a huge person either, about 5’6” - 190lbs. Ish.  Got up to around 48k miles and sold the bike to a friend who was getting into riding.  He loves it.

My brother has a MT-09 and I’ve commuted it several time, never any canyon riding, and I like it, but it’s a very different feeling than the FZ/MT-07.  They’re both nimble, both very quick off the line, albeit the 09 a tad quicker, but the 07 has that grunty twin that sounds awesome down low. The 09 though, while sweet sounding in its own right will take off like a bat out of hell and put you back in your seat.  I didn’t like the way my legs wrapped around the 09 tank though; it’s super thin, and then wide.

I currently ride a FZ1 and FZ-10, and that’s a whole different comparison.  Apples to Oranges for sure.

As mentioned before:

FZ/MT-07 PROS

- Cheap initial Buy-In

- Cheap insurance.

- Cheap to Maintain (less cylinders)

- Cheap to ride (MPG)

- Light (Easier to throw around)

- Super Durable (Dropped it plenty of times and it’s built tough)

- Size; great commuter; lane splitting = easy.

 

FZ/MT-07 CONS

- If you’re heavy, you’re gonna be slower; especially top end. This bike highlights that.

- Top End sucks and sounds lawn mowerish.

- Suspension upgrades are a must.

 

FZ/MT-09 PROS

- Torquey, but top end still leaves you desiring more. 

- Super nimble as well.

- That triple sound is very nice.

- Better suspension than the 07.

- Maybe more upgrades available than the 07.

- More wheelie happy.

 

FZ/MT-09 CONS

- The tank feel between the legs (personal opinion)

- Higher initial costs.

- Slightly higher insurance.

- Slightly thirstier motor.

- Speedometer placement is weird.

- Drive By Wire throttle can be snatchy.

 

[topazsparrow]

14 hours ago, jeffkisthename said:

 

FZ/MT-09 PROS

- Torquey, but top end still leaves you desiring more. 

- Super nimble as well.

- That triple sound is very nice.

- Better suspension than the 07.

- Maybe more upgrades available than the 07.

- More wheelie happy.

 

 

 

BETTER suspensin than the 07?

 

That has not been my findings at all. The 07 is surely lacking but that 09 was incredibly limited by that pogostick setup in the canyons and twistier roads. Just sitting on it in the showroom was a noticeable difference.

Edited August 1, 2019 by topazsparrow

[jeffkisthename]

2 minutes ago, topazsparrow said:

BETTER suspensin than the 07?

 

That has not been my findings at all. The 07 is surely lacking but that 09 was incredibly limited by that pogostick setup in the canyons and twistier roads. Just sitting on it in the showroom was a noticeable difference.

By design, yes it’s better. Also, the MT-09 has improved over the FZ-09. From riding the MT-09, I felt it rode and had better absorption of the road than my FZ-07 did. When I say better, it may not be much, but at least it’s an easier fork to upgrade as well.  There’s plenty of aftermarket companies offering cartridge upgrades versus what we have available for the 07.

[topazsparrow]

1 minute ago, jeffkisthename said:

By design, yes it’s better. Also, the MT-09 has improved over the FZ-09. From riding the MT-09, I felt it rode and had better absorption of the road than my FZ-07 did. When I say better, it may not be much, but at least it’s an easier fork to upgrade as well.  There’s plenty of aftermarket companies offering cartridge upgrades versus what we have available for the 07.

Curious to know now, What's different about the design that makes it better?

[jeffkisthename]

29 minutes ago, topazsparrow said:

Curious to know now, What's different about the design that makes it better?

Mostly just being stiffer.  Larger diameter and all, but let’s not get into it about suspension on a thread of someone asking about upgrading from a Grom to a 07 or 09. Not that kind of thread.  I’m entitled to my opinion and you yours.

Both stock 07 and 09 suspension are crap.

to Answer the OP, if it were my decision, I’d choose the MT-07.

[norcal616]

I find the -07 and the -09 suit each other... Both bike are pretty equal to the 1/8mile, after that the -09 will pull away without blinking... The -07 has that instant TQ feeling but the -09 has more refined tractor like TQ...

To me the -07 is like a A-10 warplane- great for handling city roads and busy back roads... The -09 is like an F-18- can play in the city but it's happy place is chasing down them silly crotch rockets... 

Both suspensions are crap but both could use decent entry level position suspension- no need for the top of the line stuff... 

The -07 really needs a Hordpower Airbox from the factory- it really irks me that much power/character/fun was left on Yamahas board room table ... 

[Wintersdark]

On 7/31/2019 at 6:22 PM, jeffkisthename said:

 

FZ/MT-07 CONS

- If you’re heavy, you’re gonna be slower; especially top end. This bike highlights that.

- Top End sucks and sounds lawn mowerish.

- Suspension upgrades are a must.

 

1) I'm 6'4" 300lbs.  I still get 205kph.   Slower?  Maybe, but not by much.

2) Stock, absolutely.  Really breathless after 7-8k.  However, with an exhaust and even just removing the snorkel top end is waaaaay better.

3) The MT07 suspension is much better than the FZ07 suspension.  Highlight of the second gen imho.

[Beemer]

@Justin Have you decided on a bike? If not, be that crazy guy, have some fun and buy the one your heart desires and let the chips fall where they may.