FZ-1 vs FZ-10 on the track

I have been riding my 2009 FZ1 on the street for 6 years, and also on the track for the last year. I had an opportunity to ride the FZ10 at the track through Yamaha demo days, which I was excited to do to see if it would be the eventual replacement for my FZ1. I'd like to see if my experience matches up with others.

On the track, the low end of the FZ-10 fly-by-wire throttle is a serious problem. You're entering a turn under braking, then start to pick up the throttle to "maintenance throttle" mid-turn. Turn the grip infinitesimally, and nothing. A little more, nothing. A little more, nothing. A little more, and it abruptly surges forward enough to unsettle the suspension and pull you off line. Letting off a hair to correct turns it back to completely off and unsettles the suspension with engine braking, then you repeat the surge and jerk as soon as you cross the magic throttle threshold again. It was so unsettled I cut my ride short by several laps because I just wasn't having fun. I had to coast through the turns completely off throttle and not pick up the throttle again until I was starting to stand the bike up again and it was safe to take that power surge. I didn't play with the settings, and I believe it was in the more aggressive power delivery mode, but there was basically no such thing as maintenance throttle. After reading about the fuel cut elimination sagas and computer tuning options on this forum, I had been led to believe my FZ1 was perhaps a bit abrupt when first coming back on the throttle, but riding it back to back with the FZ10, my FZ1 felt butter smooth in comparison, and I've done none of the FCE stuff or tuning to it (almost completely stock).

Once you get past the initial throttle shock, things were pretty good. Fairly similar body position, though the bars felt a little different to me (higher, maybe, not as flat?). The power in the mid rpm range was worlds better than the FZ1. At the top end, it felt about the same though on paper it's definitely more power. I'm too much of a novice to compare intelligently how the suspension felt; it wasn't adjusted for me but it didn't feel unstable. Brakes were fine. I think they turned the ABS off for the track; I didn't aim to test it. Cruising through the paddock, the lower gearing and the aggressive power delivery mode made it jump off the line much quicker than the FZ1. Definitely would make it a whole lot easier to be a hooligan on the street.

I hope they can resolve the issue with the maintenance throttle through tuning in the next model year. If it would deliver the power more gently at just-barely-open throttle it would be a lot more controllable. There's no way I would want to ride it on the track the way it was.

So my conclusion: I'm happy to keep my FZ1 until the kinks are worked out of the FZ10. I also still hate the bug-eyed look of the front end; would like the engine and tech advance but I like the FZ1 looks better.

Anybody else tried out the FZ-10 on the track? Same or different experiences? I think the one I rode had been tweaked somehow with a software update but I'm not sure what they did.
 
read the fz10.org posts about it. the ecu flash fixes all of that and gets a significant bump in performance. the fz1 and fz10 are worlds apart in terms of performance
 
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