A Toss Up: Suzuki Gixxer/Yamaha FZ FI

Suzuki Gixxer, counted among the most anticipated motorbikes for Indian people will be landing on Indian turf by tomorrow, i.e 10th August 2014. Fortunately, it is the Rakhi day, where most of the brothers feel down in the mouth, because of heavy demands and expenses of their childhood enemy, but this time, they might get on the cloud nine with the arrival of this macho looking bike. It is expected to be having most of the bits carried over from the big daddy Suzuki GSXR and this is what India always wishes to have, big thing in small package.

Suzuki Gixxer in India Launch

Though, the bike has a lot of appeal, it hasn’t been experienced by many, and everything is either in the dreams or in the paper, and the papers are saying something resembling to what Yamaha has mitigated with its FZ series during the end of June this year. The newer version of the same i.e FZ FI series is housing a different engine with better efficiency and dynamics. Hence a comparison is worth mentioning.

Yamaha FZ FI visual

Looks and Design

Both the bikes offer similar looks and design, yet they are different in many aspects. Yamaha FZ FI looks a bit stable on the architecture front. The headlights go smooth on the mount. Front alloy wheel looks traditional with angular arrangement of spokes and the all new speedometer is adjusted wisely within the headlight visor’s shadow. The handle bar is still the same with single handle bar and not something to be called as clip-on. The fuel tank is the same, which was seen in the earlier version, but it still looks fresh and muscular, while the seats have been split into two by raising the sides to an extent for added thigh comfort. The rear tyre is not placed with a half covering mudguard along with a smaller unit, which houses tail light and blinkers.

Yamaha FZ FI speedometer

Suzuki Gixxer is on a lighter side in this perception. Though, FZ FI looks cumbersome and beefy, Gixxer looks lighter and endow glimpse of sportiness. At the first sight, it looks similar to the Yamaha’s kiddo, but at the same time, it adds a flash of inspiration from Suzuki’s GSXR series. The alloy wheels here are not in conventional custom, rather, they are assigned with three “Y” shaped spoke philosophy. The three spoke custom seems to becoming the new styling pattern of Suzuki’s semi performers, as it was noted in Inazuma as well. Gixxer’s fuel tank is bumped with a lot of curves and chisels to craft the final thing as an excitement. The seat is a single unit unlike the FZ FI and ends on a higher place for pillion. With a small rear mudguard, the tyre is visible clearly, making the complete appearance facile.

Suzuki Gixxer Speedometer

Engine and Technical

The engine specification of FZ FI is known to everyone, but the few things which didn’t reach the audience were some small mechanical changes over the last generation FZ. Few of the vital changes included in this bike are replacement of carburetor with fuel injection and redesigned rear sprocket with one extra tooth. There are many such things, which have made their way to the new FZ FI to maintain the performance of older one while increasing the mileage by upto 14%. Gixxer on the else side, is an impression of the older FZ with almost same specification. The visual appeal and Suzuki’s technology will take the bike to a good extent of positive world. The performance graph will be revealed only after the launch of this bike, but with the leaked spec sheets, the idea of its existence can be monitored.

  • Engine Type: 4 stroke, 1 cylinder, Air cooled, SOHC, 2 Valve
  • Displacement-: 154.9cc
  • Engine Output: 10.4kW +- 5%@8000 RPM
  • Torque: 14Nm@6000 RPM
  • Fuel System: Carburetor
  • Transmission: 5 Speed Manual 

It would be great to have these two bikes fighting together, but till then we have to wait. A full story review will be published soon.