Well, she no longer owns the FZ6R! FZ1 is HERE! ***REVEAL with NEW PAINT!!***

[FZ1inNH]

My wife has cut a deal to move on from the FZ6R to this nice ride!

I'll be lowering this beast for her, adding a full fairing set and a higher windscreen. I'm also going to get it painted the Candy Red color she originally wanted. The full fairings coming in are already in the Candy read.
:thumbup:

 

[JSP]

NICE!!! 2 FZ1's.... I'm jealous :thumbup:

 

[FZ1inNH]

Thanks! It will look a lot like this one when I'm done with it.

 

[Detrich]

wow, congrats. what was the trade in value etc?

 

[Diluted]

Nice Eric! So, yeah what was the trade in value? How many miles did your wife have on the 6R? Was that her first bike?

 

[dart1963]

Congrats! The candy red and fairing look really nice!

 

[FZ1inNH]

Nice Eric! So, yeah what was the trade in value? How many miles did your wife have on the 6R? Was that her first bike?

The FZ6R was her third bike. She came over to sport bikes after two cruisers. Her R is an '09 with 5700 miles on it. We are trading with a friend, straight up, for his 2007 FZ1 which has 7500 miles on it and is in mint condition. He is then selling the FZ6R to a good friend for the same $4500 steal/deal he got on the FZ1, then he is going out to buy a newer unused FZ1. It's a three-way deal and I think only two of us are really making out. The person giving up the FZ1 is VERY humble and generous and knows he is not getting the same value, but the end result is that he's not really out any money as he only paid $4500 for the 1 and is trading for the 6R then selling it for about $4500. His 1 retails for almost $600 more than the 6R but he's not looking to make money from friends. What a GREAT guy!!!

As for my wife... the main reason she wants the FZ1 is the electrical capacity. She cannot plug in even heated gloves on the 6R without killing the battery inside of 5 minutes if she is under 3500 RPMs. The 6R just has enough charging capacity to keep up with the bike and a couple SMALL accessories. The FZ1 on the other hand, weighs almost the same (18 lbs heavier but more on this...) and carries enough charging capacity to run a full set of heated gear AND accessories like a GPS and IPod.

Back to the weight... I have already removed from my FZ1 about 27 lbs of weight and only added back 6 of those netting me 21 lbs. That puts the FZ1 under the weight of the 6R. I'll do the same to hers but will be adding back a few more lbs. The net result she will have is a bike that weights no more than what she was used to riding. Because of the design, the FZ1 has a lot more lowering options than the 6R so I can get it as low as she wants.

If you'd all like, I can repeat the FZ1 build thread here and it might help some of you who want to switch up and find yourself like my wife.... vertically challenged. :thumbup:

Also, she is not an aggressive rider. She does a fair job in the corners but she KNOWS how to ride her own pace and never gives in to peer pressure. She understands that throttle on this beast is vastly different than the little brother she rides now.

 

[Diluted]

Very cool! Glad everyone is happy with the deal.

I'd be interested in following the build progression of her bike. I snuck over to the FZ1-Forum and saw the stuff you did to yours.

 

[toddjcruz]

Hmm, not enough power? That's odd, as I run heated grips and a heated jacket on top of GPS and phone power. Never had any issues with any of it. I even run a +1/-3 so I turn low RPM when touring. Still, very hard to ride the bike under 4000 as anything over 50 mph will get you there.

Been using it this way ride now and never had any battery issues. No additional lighting on the bike, all stock.

 

[dart1963]

As for my wife... the main reason she wants the FZ1 is the electrical capacity. She cannot plug in even heated gloves on the 6R without killing the battery inside of 5 minutes if she is under 3500 RPMs.

Hmm, not enough power? That's odd, as I run heated grips and a heated jacket on top of GPS and phone power. Never had any issues with any of it. I even run a +1/-3 so I turn low RPM when touring. Still, very hard to ride the bike under 4000 as anything over 50 mph will get you there.

Been using it this way ride now and never had any battery issues. No additional lighting on the bike, all stock.

hmm, now I'm perplexed... I'm looking at adding some heated gear and was curious about how much extra the 6R has... I know Jay ran the grips with no issues.

All I run right now is a GPS, but want heated grips and/or vest... but those come in at roughly 130-170 W... I'd imagine if you were just sitting at a light for a while you could kill the battery, as it only charges above 5k or so... is it that the FZ1 charges all the time? and is expected to run more gear so has extra capacity as well?

 

[FZ1inNH]

The FZ6R doesn't have a lot of wraps on the small stator. While you can run some gear on it, she is not one to ride anything but back roads and at slower speeds. We spend a fair amount of time in slow traffic (typical seacoast NH) and she cannot keep the bike rev'd enough to stay up with the draw so she looses charge rather than gains it. Those running the heated gear, what is the draw in AMPS? watts? What is the brand? Settings on low, med high?

Grips don't draw as much as a lot of the good heated gear like FirstGear, Gerbing, etc...

The FZ1 has a LARGE stator with many wraps and the amount of "left over" output after discounting the needs of the bike is a LOT! There are no issues with a complete compliment of heated gear on it.

The FZ6R has 330 watts @ 5500 RPMs. The bike pulls 205 watts and the available is 125 watts. That isn't a lot at all. It is marginally better than the FZ6 because the R runs a single headlight. You can increase this available wattage by converting as much as you can to LED lighting.

 

[sammy56]

I do not challenge the available wattage at all and I typically ride at or greater than 5500 RPMs, but I do use heated gloves.
I have Gerbings that came with a "fuse" specially for gloves and I use a controller and as I understand it, the controller tames the draw from the battery some. Anyway, I think in most cases, heated gloves are okay with the FZ6R, but I do not doubt that in some cases the draw may be too much.

LB

 

[Heineken]

Congrats on the upgrade. Maybe one day I'll do the same.:thumbup:

 

[WenMark]

Eric;
Congrats on the upgrade just curious maybe you should get her one of these so you could come to FL to visit more often.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Eric;
Congrats on the upgrade just curious maybe you should get her one of these so you could come to FL to visit more often.

You know, if I order her the Top Saddlery seat, she is apt to come down on the FZ1! She did go from here to Michigan and back on her FZ6R.

I'd LOVE to have the feejer for cross-country touring!

 

[FZ1inNH]

The deal is done! I delivered the FZ6R to the new owner today then drove down and picked up Michele's FZ1. Here's a couple shots (sorry for the Blackberry quality) after I loaded her on the trailer and then a shot of the "siblings" in my garage.

My wife came out and jumped on the bike, started it and wanted to take off around the cul-de-sac with it! She was in her PJ's, my sneakers and her winter coat. I told her "No. not yet and not like that!"

 

[Diluted]

Very nice!!

 

[Roaddawg]

Nice! I wish I could find a deal like that.

 

[Rat]

Nice! Congrats FZ1inNH!
Love how FZ1 looks in fairing! Started thinking about FZ1 as second ride now.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Nice! Congrats FZ1inNH!
Love how FZ1 looks in fairing! Started thinking about FZ1 as second ride now.

I think you'd like it and find that it just might edge out the R1 for daily use. It isn't a cross plane but it sure has a lot of available HP and it is just THAT comfortable to simply ride all day on.

I'd love to have an R1 as a second bike but my old bones just cannot take the aggressive ergos so the FZ1 was the clear cut winner. If you were closer, I'd let you test drive mine.