FZ-07 at the track

[Greenhound386]

I finally got an opportunity to take my FZ-07 out to the track last weekend. I headed out to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway for Round 3 of the CVMA Winter Series. I typically do the Friday trackday to practice, and then we race Saturday and Sunday. I decided to ride the FZ-07 all day during the Friday practice, and then I raced my normal bike as usual on Saturday and Sunday.
 
So, first thing is first: track prep. The bike is 100% stock other than bar-end mirrors. I pulled the fuses (2 in total) for the headlight and turn signals. I taped up the mirrors, headlight, turn signals and reflectors. I left the entire license plate assembly on and everything. It was super easy, and the most time consuming part was simply removing the seat.
 
I decided to just use the OEM Bridgestone BT-023 tires for the trackday. I didn't want to bother throwing good rubber on there just for the day, as the OEM tires are fine for the commuting that I normally do. I had absolutely no idea where to start for tire pressures, as I haven't run a street tire on the track in many, many years. Google searches yielded absolutely nothing; I guess this isn't a popular tire for the track. I fiddled with the pressures throughout the day, and I think I ended up settling around 34 front, 30 rear (cold pressures).
 
So, the bike was ready to go, and I headed out on track. Even with cold tires, I was dragging the feeler pegs within seconds of hitting the track. They are insanely prohibitive, and I pulled off after 1 lap to remove them. I thought they would be good to keep on the bike while I got a feel for it on the track, but they were a huge liability from the start. I headed back out and put in a few slower laps to get some heat in the tires. It didn't take long before I was having clearance problems again. This time, it was the kickstand on the left-hand turns. We were running the track counter-clockwise that day, so there were a few more lefts than right. Crap!
 
It took me a couple of sessions to really get comfortable riding the bike hard. It is markedly different than any other bike I have ever ridden on the track. My current race bike is a 2011 ZX-6R, and the 2 bikes couldn't possibly be more different. I had to figure out shift points, braking markers, turn-in markers, etc. By the middle of the day, I was pushing the bike as hard as I felt comfortable and as it would allow.
 
Here are the pros and cons.
 
Cons: There were 2 limiting factors that held me in check all day: tire grip and ground clearance. Chuckwalla is known for fast, long duration turns with a lot of lean angle. If I wasn't dragging the kickstand, the rear tire was slipping out from under me whenever I would try to lean over. It wasn't the predictable, manageable slip that a race tire does. Rather, it would be a very sudden and very sketchy slip. No matter how hard I rode or what I did with the pressures, I could never get the tires super hot. Straight off track, the tires would still feel hard and non-compliant if you touched them with your hands. They would be warm, but certainly not hot like I am used to feeling.
 
Pros: Just about everything else! The motor felt really strong. It took me quite some time to figure out the optimum shift points and gearing selections. Once I did, the bike felt fantastic getting out of corners and motoring down the straights. I had to make some strong and deliberate throttle blips to keep the rear from chirping on multiple downshifts and into hard-braking areas. The bike felt really stable just about everywhere. I would get some headshake out of 1 corner in particular: a fast section where you are at lean going over a rise with the throttle pinned. With that being the exception, the bike felt great. I certainly could have used some more adjustability in the suspension, but I wouldn't consider making modifications unless I were to race the bike.
 
Overall, I was really only able to ride the bike at about 75%. Part of me didn't want to dump my pristine commuter, and so that held me in check a bit. However, I could have ridden it significantly harder with some higher rearsets and a set of track or race tires.
 
There is already a guy racing with us that has his FZ-07 decked out with a belly pan, rearsets, case guards, clip-on style bars, complete R6 front-end grafted to the front, steering stabilizer, stainless steel lines and probably a few other things I am forgetting. It's a far more track-worthy machine than the stock bike, but the stocker was still really capable and a ton of fun! I think it'll make a great racing platform, but I am going to wait until parts are more easily available and priced accordingly.
 





 
 
 
 

[Cruizin]

Man, if you haven't already, please start a free gallery and have a good place to post update pics as they occur. Great to finally see someone race prepping an FZ-07 and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
Bravo!

[scordiaboy515]

     Way cool post......I can definitely see the potential in this bike, that's why I'm doing my homework over the winter and can't wait to hit VIR in the spring.  I have a couple of cool things for my race prep that I will be doing and will post pics as I proceed.
 

[Riverfox]

Thanks for the first track review. It seems as though it is a bit more stable than some people have been indicating in the turns. For a daily communter with some spirited riding from time to time, only a set of better tires and maybe pulling off the feeler pegs would do for most of us. Thanks for the report!

[Greenhound386]

I know for a fact that a purpose-built FZ-07 racebike is already in the works here in Southern California. The bike is being swapped between a couple of different companies that are doing R&D on it. I don't know if I am permitted to share who is doing what, so I'll leave it at that. I'll definitely post up more information once available.
 
The bike is certainly stable, but I'd still love to put a stabilizer on it. I actually get more headshake on the street than I did the track. That could be attributed to a relaxed body position on much bumpier roads while riding the street. The track was generally very smooth, and I was riding in an exaggerated body position with my weight over the front of the bike.
 
I am sure I could evoke a lot more problems with the bike if I could actually push it. For example: my ZX feels fantastic circulating the track at a 2:00 lap time. If I drop 6 seconds and start doing 1:54s, I start having issues that didn't exist at the slower speeds. To be fair, I never truly pushed the envelope on the FZ. The tires didn't let me get away with much. I couldn't trail-brake hard, I couldn't whack the throttle fully open at lean on corner exit, etc.
 
It's a phenomenal platform with a ton of potential, and it's definitely the PERFECT street bike for what I wanted.

[TwistedTorque]

Really nice pics. Can't wait to see some more.

[scordiaboy515]

     Just curious Greenhound386, can a GPR stabilizer be mounted on a FZ-07 due to the facts that the gauge cluster is in the way?..or it can it be mounted in another location.
 

[Greenhound386]

 
There is an excellent thread on this in the Parts and Accessories sub-forum. Look for the GPR Stabilizer Subject line.
 
To be clear: there is a big difference between stability and headshake. A lack of stability means you’re getting feedback throughout the entire chassis. Headshake is pretty much self-defining: your front wheel oscillates from side to side. One can contribute to the other, but they are separate things.
 
The FZ chassis was exceptionally stable at the track. Granted, I wasn’t putting it through nearly as much stress as you could with some better rubber. However, the steering did feel a bit light, and my personal preference would be to mount a stabilizer prior to racing it.
 

 
     Just curious Greenhound386, can a GPR stabilizer be mounted on a FZ-07 due to the facts that the gauge cluster is in the way?..or it can it be mounted in another location

[hippiebikerchick]

My heart's all aflutter! That's a beautiful thing right there, I could look at this all day long!
 
 

[scordiaboy515]

     Excellent, thanks.......Just got off the phone with GPR, wanted the complete scoop.  They retail for $550.00, seems very expensive but here's why......they had to machine up 3 brackets and a new handle bar clamp to mount it properly, all billet aluminum.... nice, they are having a $100.00 off the price till the end of the year.  Here's the part # 5011-415......http://www.gprstabilizer.com/contact
 
     imo, when the club racers get a hold of these bikes they will spread like wild fire.....and the venerable SV650 will be rendered obsolete...I can see it now.........full fairings and clip-ons
 

[pgeldz]

Awesome!
 
I got the chance to flog mine at the track as well, just haven't had time to post about it. I think you're right though, in that the FZ-07 is like a modern day SV 650, and it's just a matter of time
 
- Paulie

[fzhooligan]

Rad review! Also, I've heard nothing but great things about the guys at TrackDaz. I'd definitely like to hit that up sometime in the next year or so. Once I get new tires on it ;-)

[huskydave]

Thanks for the review! I am impressed with the beating you put to the back tire!! YAMAHA deserves a standing ovation, for coming out with this bike!! It's a totally blank canvas for us to paint on. The motor is super high tech, the and low weight, and low price.

[potatochips]

I was worried about head shake after the first ride lofting the front, but didn't get any shake at the track too. At 220, I figured I should go full preload on the shock. I too ride toward the front of the seat when getting aggressive, but do slide back when tucking on straights, and still no shake when shifting. Also, went to 30 psi front and rear on the oem Road 3's. I can't say rear preload or tire pressure helped, but since I adjusted them, I haven't had any problems, maybe the bike just needed a proper shake down.
 
I don't think it will need a stabilizer with proper suspension setup, though they say that for every bike.

[mericc]

Nice!!! Yeah ive seen that r6 front 07 at gpr when i had to swing by so they can take pics of the gpr set up they did in mine, the r6 set up looks so nice!!!!

[mericc]

     Excellent, thanks.......Just got off the phone with GPR, wanted the complete scoop.  They retail for $550.00, seems very expensive but here's why......they had to machine up 3 brackets and a new handle bar clamp to mount it properly, all billet aluminum.... nice, they are having a $100.00 off the price till the end of the year.  Here's the part # 5011-415......http://www.gprstabilizer.com/contact 
     imo, when the club racers get a hold of these bikes they will spread like wild fire.....and the venerable SV650 will be rendered obsolete...I can see it now.........full fairings and clip-ons

 
 
Mention my name americus and talk to randy, tell him i referred you, he should be able to give you a little discount

[tvp]

Hello Greenhound386! Fellow CVMA racer. I am TVP [HASH]24 Femmewalla competitor. I just picked up one of these fine machines as my street ride. It still has 0 miles on the odometer, looking forward to riding it soon. Thanks for this write up as I have been wondering how it would do at CVR.
 
EvilDuc Racing Forever.

[Cruizin]

I think that the FZ-07 could be the new SV-650 at the track. Lightweight flickable bike with great torque. Just needs suspension work and maybe brake upgrade.
 
I'm gonna start a new FZ-07 Racing board. I bet that it will get popular over the years!

[Guest Ralph]

In the UK we have Super twins and Mini twin racing don't know if it's just a UK series
but the 07 is to big it's limited to 650cc I wonder if that's why the Australian bike is
650cc and Yamaha as a eye to the series, they will need to get about 85 hp from 650cc
to be in with a chance.

[tvp]

In the UK we have Super twins and Mini twin racing don't know if it's just a UK series but the 07 is to big it's limited to 650cc I wonder if that's why the Australian bike is
650cc and Yamaha as a eye to the series, they will need to get about 85 hp from 650cc
to be in with a chance.

My local race club also limits it to 650cc (middleweight twins), but since the FZ 07 does not fit into any of the current displacement categories, they are allowing it to race with the SV's (for now). If this bike becomes popular on the track, then they will create a new class for it. Currently the 650 twins class is dominated by full SV Superbikes, 85-90 rwr or more.  GSXR front ends, light weight everything, total loss systems, etc. For the FZ 07 to be competitive in this class, it would take a person with very deep pockets. It will be fun to see the first attempts! 

[Greenhound386]

Hello Greenhound386! Fellow CVMA racer. I am TVP [HASH]24 Femmewalla competitor. I just picked up one of these fine machines as my street ride. It still has 0 miles on the odometer, looking forward to riding it soon. Thanks for this write up as I have been wondering how it would do at CVR. 
EvilDuc Racing Forever.
 

 
 
 
Hey there! Congrats on the street ride. Still LOVING my FZ.  You will love it at Chuckwalla. Just needs rearsets, and throw on a set of takeoffs from your 600.
 
I miss Walt like crazy. That last CVMA round was tough without him. I am skipping CVMA until fall and will be racing with WERA until then.