Thursday, January 8, 2009

Yamaha FZ6 Fazer S2 and FZ6 S2

It seems they have all the fun over in Europe. According to the Official Yamaha Motor Europe website, they have two really nice Yamaha FZ6 models over there across the pond: the Yamaha FZ6 Fazer S2, and the Yamaha FZ6 S2.

The Yamaha FZ6 Fazer S2 seems to be the closest to what we have here in the states with the standard Yamaha FZ6 (looking more boring all the time). The FZ6 Fazer has the fairing up top just like the U.S. FZ6, and looks very similar. The FZ6 S2, on the other hand, is fully naked with no fairing up front with the headlight. According to the Yamaha website, the only technical difference between the two is the body design, as all the performance and specifications match exactly.

So, how do the European models stack up to the U.S. offering? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I'd like to know myself. Let's take a look:
Surprise! There are no mechanical or performance differences between the U.S. and European versions. Whew! I thought that since they had cooler looking bikes that they'd be going faster, too. Not the case, I guess. They do get a couple of nicer features, though. One is the electronic immobilizer that comes standard on each FZ6 Fazer S2 or FZ6 S2. It also appears that, if you want it, you can have ABS installed as an option (with a slight weight penalty of course). That's not even an option in the U.S.

Anyhow, it's not as bad as I'd feared. Yea, the European FZ6 S2 looks awesome, and yea they can have ABS if they want, but at least I'll be able to go just as fast with my 2008 Yamaha FZ6 U.S. version!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are both called the S2 models in the EU. Tha naked bike is the Yamaha FZ6 S2 and the faired is the Yamaha FZ6 Fazer S2. They both have ABS as an option - although there was talk of making it standard in 2009.

Unknown said...

How did things ever work out with the fz6?