Yamaha FZ150i

After waiting for ages for a new full fairing replacement of the jurassically old TZM of mine, i decided to settle down for the so called sports naked FZ150i in late March this year. After running in the bike for a good 3000km, i decided to improve this very slow machine. Believe me, a Yamaha LC135 could smoke this fella and have it for breakfast. Huhu.. So, wat's new? Erm.. let's see.. i decided to start off with a change of oil to Castrol Fully Synthetic after the first 1500km. The sluggish performance of it was drastically improved with just the change of the engine oil. It was giving that rough growling while cruising at approx 110km/h and the Castrol Power1 Racing 4T dampened the engine noise that was felt earlier.

Later at around 2000km, i came across a friend who advised me on the change of CO using a Fuel Injection Diagnostic (FID) Tool and realized the original preset was -5. I change the value to 15 as advised by the mechanic who is a friend of mine that was familiar with the bike. The engine did give a better mid to high range response but still felt that something was not right with the setting.

Around 3200km, the fuel pump gave problem and that gave me a trip back to Hong Leong Yamaha for a warranty claim. It was replaced free of charged but the incident almost cost me missing my graduation rehearsal that day when my bike didn't wanna start after a ride to work. My CO value was changed to ZERO after the replacement of the fuel pump. The mechanic said that it was wrong to set the CO to 15 because it would give me an increase in fuel consumption and i believe he was right. The bike was consuming more fuel than it should but it did give me a chance to hit 140km/h on a straight windless day back home from Sepang sometimes and i didn't mind the increase actually. :p

The visit to the workshop at almost the interval of an oil change made me stick with the same Castrol Fully Synthetic oil which cost RM38 per litre. The oil filter was an additional RM12. One prominent distinction from the previous oil change was the colour of the drained oil. It was black with some fine sediment of asbestos suggesting that the clutch was either burnt or slipping. I suspected that it could have been due to my insisting of achieving higher top speeds. Huhu.. This LNM bike wasn't able to exceed speeds of 130km/h on a straight road against other LC135.

On an occasion, I was pretty frustrated that the LC135 was able to easily overtake me and yet wiggle infront of me while i struggle to catch up with it. I bet you guys would be feeling the same way i did if you were on a much higher cc bike that was being beaten by a kapchai. I had it with that incident, it made me upgrade the exhaust and i decided to install an air/fuel controller. And so, the bill got up but the changes it did pay-off.. Hehe.. Now i could eat some LC135 for breakfast.

By the way, LNM is the nickname i have given this machine of mine. Sounds like the cigarette brand but it is not. Leave me a note if you wanna know what it stands for.. I have left some general info of this so-called 1st Malaysian built Fuel Injection bike below for your appreciation.

Technical Specifications:

Overall length x width x height : 2,000 x 705 x 1,035 mm
Seat Height : 770 mm
Wheel base : 1,282 mm
Minimum Ground Clearance : 167 mm
Dry weight/ Curb weight : 114 kg
Fuel tank capacity : 12 litres
Clutch type : Wet, multiple-disc
Transmission : constant mesh 5-speed
Cooling System : Liquid
Brake front / rear : Single disc brake / Drum Brake

Performance:

Top speed : 130km/h
Average cruising speed : 110km/h
Fuel consumption : 35~40 km/litre

Price: RM 8200

Items recommended doing for power improvement:

1. Air/Fuel Controller (RM280)
2. Exhaust system (RM280)
3. Fork brace (RM90)
4. Sprocket (tried to reduce the rear sprocket size to 41 and 40, so far the original 15-42 is the best pairing set)
5. Hi-Cam
6. Oversize Block and Piston
7. ECU

Generally, the FZ150i is a great bike for mid range distance travelling with great savings on fuel. The bike's handling is fair and a little floaty into corners approaching the apex. I have more confidence handling TZM at higher speeds into similar cornering. Beware.. Leaning too much and the double stand would graze the ground too. In terms of looks, the current 2010 version without the round lamps do look better and hopefully Hong Leong Yamaha would consider coming out with the full fairing version YZF-R15 someday. Some of the upgrades above are merely suggestions to improve it's performance and i have yet to try them out. I shall keep everyone posted on it as i gradually upgrade.

Until we meet again, do ride safe and responsibly.