Purchasing an 06 FZ1, need advice please..

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Hi all,
This is my first post on these forums. I'm a longtime rider and MSF rider coach. So I have plenty of experience with motorcycles. I've owned an R1 for the last several years and am looking to get something a little more comfortable and something I can do a little longer riding on. But I still want to have the sport factor available from time to time LOL. I came across a great deal on an 06 FZ1. It has about 14k miles on it and I'm thinking about picking it up.

I have done some research and just wanted to see if there are any specific issues with the 06 I should look out for. It's pretty much stock, but has a slip on exhaust and a few other small mods.

The bike is lowered, which kind of concerns me a bit. I plan on raising it back to stock height and having the suspension set up for me. How hard will it be to put the bike back to stock height? Should I plan on setting aside a little $$$ to have the forks rebuilt? I didn't know if lowering the bike would put a little more wear and tear on the fork seals. I appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks in advance.
 
I have a 06 and love it, the frame cracks are a small fraction and mine nerver made any problems in 41k miles. Other than that the bike has no flaws beside the fuel line which can be cheaply modded and the ignition coils (pleanty of R1 coils which fits are cheaply available from ebay). Some people complain about the throttle response but it's fine for me if you are an experienced rider you will get a long with it. In case not it can be changed with an ECU flash which will be about 400$.

I would check usual wear and tears. I changed my fork oil and seals with 30k but the oil was still perfectly transparent and the seals in excellent condition. Yamaha gives no interval for replacing them and I guess the lifetime can be much larger than 30k.

I really like the Fz1 for being a universal sport tourer. I use it for sporty long touring, commuting and twisty carving and it does everything well so it is not the comfortable car like tourer nor the ultra precise sports bike but it can do all of these things very well.
 
I know I'm gonna get blasted for this but here it goes. I personally wouldn't buy an 06. Out of all the years, 06-present, the 06 has the most reported problems. Sure, a lot of people that own the 06 have been fortunate not to have many problems, but some of the issues with the 06 can be serious and cost a lot to fix.

First, the cracked frame issue. There have been several, not one or two, reports of cracked frames. Although corporate Yamaha has taken care of this even out of warranty it would still be a PIA to get it fixed. Not to mention there have been a few reports of possible accidents resulting from said crack.

Second, possible weak valve stems. A few reports of the valve stems wearing down. Something I have never seen in my 31 years of riding and wrenching on bikes. Yamaha changed the part number in 2008, which in my eyes proves they knew there was a problem.

Third, horrible fueling. This one can't be denied. Some are quoted saying the bike is unrideable. While others just live with it. I guess it depends on how sensitive you are to such a thing. It's something you might not realize until you get on the bike and bring the revs up. You won't feel it on your average test ride. Do a search on fuel cut snatch, there are libraries on the subject. Some will say it's an easy fix. Only if you have 300 to 700 dollars laying around depending on what route you want to go to cure it.

In 2008 most of these issues and some others were fixed. Fueling got much better through ecu updates by Yamaha. No more reports of weak valve stems probe due to new part number. No more frame cracks reported. Also there was an update to the suspension to make it more compliant.

If it's that great of a deal then go for it. I would save my money for a deal on an 08. If you go for the 06, I wish the best of luck with your new ride. Like stated earlier, many have had a lot of trouble free miles. But you asked, so I told.
 
I can't really add anything that kpd1031 hasn't already said, excellent advice in my opinion. Put it this way I sold my '06 because of the fuel snatch issue, bought an FCE eliminator to try and, well, eliminate it, but it didn't work, sold that and sold the bike in the end as it really pissed me off! Now have an '08 which had much better fuelling, and went and had the ECU re-mapped, the bike is now an absolute beast! I can honestly say having owned both an '06 and '08, save your money for an '08+ if you can. Just my opinion.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I really appreciate it. It certainly gives me a lot to think about. The other thing that's been on my mind is how long the bike has been "lowered". What's the suspension going to be like after being lowered for a few years. Plus, I don't even know how they lowered it, so I don't know what's going to be involved in raising it back up. Thanks for the info, I have a lot to think about for sure.
 
Hi mate lowering kits can be as basic as different dog bone. And dropping forks though the yokes. But the side stand will definitely have been shortened. If your lucky the seller may still have the original parts
 
Got my 06 for $3400 with 14K miles three years ago during the worst of the recession. I have added about $4k in upgrades and now have a machine that that has been transformed light years ahead (in terms of power, power delivery, handling, comfort, utility etc) of the stock GenII. See my signature for details. I will get Ivan's reflash over the winter and sell the ignition module and FCE as they will no longer be needed . . .

Frame cracks occur on a very small percentage of the early bikes out there and will in all likelihood have already surfaced on an 06 that has been ridden. The welds are either improperly done or not. Read up on the subject and look over the spots very carefully.

All the GenIIs suffer from poor fueling and throttle snatch to some extent with the early bikes the worst and the later ones being SOMEWHAT better. Yamaha also corked up the intake and exhaust and actively reduced power in the lower gears with ignition restrictions. Regardless of year if you want to unleash true liter bike power as well as transform the quality of the way power is delivered you will need to do some mods. IMHO, those who think the bike is fine in stock form have absolutely no idea what they are missing . The mod path is well traveled and you can read up on it here and at the FZ10A site.

Also regardless of year, the rear shock on the GenII is poor. Later years had a lighter spring rate but that's hardly a reason to celebrate. If you have the $ an aftermarket shock like the Penske offers major improvements. You can also use a R1 shock with an adapter for less money and good results. Again, regardless of year the GenII rear suspension needs help.

Basically I wouldn't skip an early bike if it checks out fine and the price is good. Honestly I can't understand why anyone would by a new or nearly new GenII with many nice older examples being out there for ridiculously low prices. The improvements over the years are minimal and with the saved money you can \/ \/ \/ \/ (those are supposed to be arrows pointing to my signature:) )
 
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Inspect the welds, flash the ECU and be done with it. Don't believe half of what you read on the web. The '06 is a fine bike. I bought mine with 22K on it, sold it with about 26K, if I remember right. No issues.
 
Don't believe half of what you read on the web? I have to assume that was directed toward my response and I have to ask why. Everything I said is well documented and can easily found with the search button either on this forum or the other. I simply answered the question given.
 
To the OP, you are going to get many different opinions on forums, and that's one of many reasons they are so good, you'll get different viewpoints from different people who have different experiences, and from that you can make a more informed decision.

I can only tell you from what I know owning both an 06' and my current bike, an '08, and in my opinion the 08' has significantly better fuelling, I enjoy riding this bike, on the 06', the throttle snatch sucked the enjoyment out of riding it for me personally.

I didn't actually have to re-map the ECU on the 08', it was just that curiosity got the better of me, are the 1st 3 gears restricted in power? how much more power is actually hidden inside this R1 mill? The answer is quite a lot! Another benefit is seemingly better fuel economy too, which is a very nice by product of having more power as well.

This is all I will say on the matter. Good luck with your decision. ;)
 
Thanks everyone, I actually decided to pass on this specific 06 a few days ago. Too many things weren't working out. The seller wasn't sending me some promised pictures regarding a little body damage, the fact that it has been lowered the last few years (what kind of condition is the suspension in), the current owner didn't know how it had been lowered or what it would take to put back to stock, and the fact it was about a 4 hour drive there and back. It would have cost me a lot of gas and time to go down and back if things didn't work out or weren't what I expected.

So I'm still on the hunt.....
 
The '06 will be fine but I'd recommend getting the ECU flashed by Ivan to rectify the bad snatch issues associated with that year as well as remove all the restrictions.

As for the frame issue, there was a limited batch of frames that missed the three-pass weld process that can pose a problem. The factory rectified the situation and continued production. The reports of this are rare and few in numbers. I find it almost laughable that a few rare cases cause such a pandemic :wilynily: rumor about that year FZ1. In all the forums, can we even find 10 cracked frames? And one of them was induced stress that had nothing to do with the quality of the weld. ;)

As for lowered... do you know what kit was used to lower it? If it was the Soupy's link, the bike can be returned to stock height using that same link. One other company also has that option while a few others are solid links that will require stock parts to get back to normal. The kickstand is the same... Two adjustable ones that I know of or it could be a solid one, or a re-welded stock cut down.

Can you get some pics? Find out what, if any, mods were done? Those would help a lot.
 
A quick search on the other forum shows almost 10% of the almost 400 people that took the the survey had their frames cracked. Do the math. Definitely more than ten. And definitely something I would worry about.
 
Kpd1031 said:
A quick search on the other forum shows almost 10% of the almost 400 people that took the the survey had their frames cracked. Do the math. Definitely more than ten. And definitely something I would worry about.
Click to expand...

And most of those never produced a photo of the damage.... taken with a grain of salt. It was 38 people and only 12 have shown proof it was cracked. 3 of the people had a cracked frame that wasn't an FZ1.

That's not a lot of people... it's also a tiny sampling of actual owners... there's thousands of these bikes from 2006 and early 2007 without cracked frames. Yes, there are more cracked ones that aren't forum members as well. The point is, it is still a very small number compared to the numbers sold.

What we need to kn ow is the VIN numbers to see the dates and places they were manufactured and only 7 people have actually come forward with that.
 
Do you really think Yamaha would bother to fix this out of warranty if they didn't consider it to be a significant problem. Sounds like you're in denial.
 
Kpd1031 said:
Do you really think Yamaha would bother to fix this out of warranty if they didn't consider it to be a significant problem. Sounds like you're in denial.
Click to expand...

I don't recall ever saying anything about Yamaha fixing it. Where did I mention this?

Are there cracked frames? Yes. Is Yamaha fixing them? Some, depends on the fight you present.

You've completely missed the point. People are telling potential buyers to steer clear of any 2006 or early 2007 because of cracked frames. The fact remains that the cracked frames are the exception, NOT the norm. I find it absurd that all 2006 machines should be lumped into one issue when it clearly isn't ALL of them. At no time did I argue any point of whether Yamaha was fixing them or not, nor did I state there were NO cracked frames. Please, do not try and twist my posts or words into anything other than what I have stated.
 
I didn't miss the point at all. Simply put. If you have two of the same bikes. One has the slight chance of having a cracked frame the other doesn't. Which one would you buy? Of course money would be an issue, but if I could afford the latter, that's the one I would buy. Just an opinion. I even stated in my original post that many people have had no trouble at all with their 06. I personally wouldn't take the chance. Obviously you would.

Where did I state you said anything? I was just quoting a fact.
 
I agree with Eric, it is not a common problem with the 06 or 07. It also depends on the miles of the bike, for most bikes this happened very early. Mine has 42k miles and no frame cracked and the frame will never crack until I dropp it really bad. The 06 is totally fine and if you get one cheap buy it. In case you do not like the throttle snatch (no problem for me and yes I use the bike in high rpm as well) flash the ECU that will help with all model years because it removes the restrictions in the lower 3 gears.

Since you decided already not for that particular bike this is meant for future options. In general overall conditions and history of a bike is important. If every maintenance was done and the bike is in very good conditions then a 06 is as good as later models and usually cheaper.
 
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