2017 Yamaha Fazer 25 Test Ride Review

Performance – Boy oh boy! Was I happy about Yamaha coming up with something in the quarter-litre segment! It’s got the exact same powertrain as the FZ25 with no changes to it. But here’s the thing, it still feels pretty sluggish post 130 km/hr and the increase in weight might have something to do with that but the engine produces the lowest power in its segment. There is no such thing as quick overtakes, it’s just an overtake. At slow speeds, the mill feels quite refined and pulls strong all the way up to 6000 RPM but the moment you’re past it, you realize that it starts losing its breath and has none left in the top-end while it redlines at 9500 RPM. The vibrations start as soon as you rev anywhere above 7000 RPM, beyond which the footpegs and fairing start to buzz. These do eventually make their way to the handlebar which doesn’t exactly feel relaxed while touring at higher speeds. Maybe this is what Yamaha wanted all along, more on that later.

The Fazer 25 isn’t a highway muncher, rather more of a highway nibbler

Yes, you really feel like it could use another gear each time you start riding and I must specify that anything around and beyond 7000 RPM sounds and feels terrible. Once you accept this bike as a motorcycle for the city, all of this is something you can live with. We managed to achieve a speedo indicated top speed of 143 km/hr (137 km/hr on the VBOX) but it took its own sweet time to get there once past 125 km/hr. The gearbox is quite a smooth shifting one and apart from a few false neutrals, it gave me no hassle whatsoever.

Let’s look at the characteristics of the motor, for instance, peak torque of 20 Nm kicks in at 6000 RPM and the engine gets noisy and stops being refined past 7000 RPM. Peak power kicks in at 8000 RPM but the motor is done revving at 9500 RPM and most of all, the constant feeling of wanting a sixth gear each and every time you’re at triple digit speeds is always there. As you can tell, this isn’t the best highway cruiser as it always feels like it’s either lacking a gear or running out of breath, it’s only in the city that all of these factors don’t matter and the powertrain feels great. The motorcycle goes like you want it to. From the moment you get on this machine, it’s quite evident that it’s set up more for the city and less for touring.

Riding Dynamics – The Yamaha Fazer 25 isn’t the kind of bike that you enthusiastically throw into corners but it does like to change direction and cruise well at the same time. The problem here is that the suspension is soft but maybe a little too soft for our roads. At low speeds, it’s very comfortable but as you get going, the soft setup lets you feel a lot of undulations on typical Indian roads. The motorcycle feels a little unstable at higher speeds and robs you of the confidence provided to you at lower speeds. The brakes feel decent and since you can’t really go too fast, the feedback is strong, bites hard and can handle dropping anchor at the speeds it is capable of.

The Fazer 25 feels unsettled at high speeds and through fast corners

At higher speeds on the Yamaha Fazer 25, you feel discomfort due to the wind hitting you. In case you’re wondering why that’s happening even though there seems to be a very helpful visor given, well truth be told, I was very disappointed with it. The visor barely provides any protection at triple digit speeds, even while riding in a tucked in position, go figure! However, while being kept at double digit speeds, the motorcycle feels like it is in its elements. I see how Yamaha wanted to set it up for comfort but unless you’re riding something really sluggish, most people ride at triple digit speeds once they’re on an open highway and that’s something I would have liked Yamaha to address. The tyres could have offered a little more grip but it’s a small complaint since that can be dealt with.

Let’s face it, no one enters a corner at slow speeds. Once you build momentum on this machine and enter the corner hot, your immediate reaction is to slow down mid-corner because of how unsettled the ride feels, so I suppose it just likes riding in a sort of relaxed manner. As I rode the Fazer 25 more and more like I previously said, this is probably how Yamaha wanted to set it up all along. Maybe a city tourer is what they were intending to make all along. Once you look at it from that perspective, it all makes sense. The bouncy ride at high speeds but compliance at low speeds, the lack of agility through corners but the confidence to zip through traffic and the power in the low-end and a little in the mid-range but none at the top, ‘city tourer’ is what comes to my mind after taking almost everything this machine has to offer.