Yamaha is making waves nowadays with the FZ-09 naked triple, but our European riding brethren have been able to enjoy powerful naked bikes with the tuning fork logo for years. A distinct example of this would be the Yamaha FZ1 – the fantastic engine of a R1 (albeit retuned for more of a sport touring application) with a riding position you could enjoy all day. It’s a bike that makes a lot of sense, though it doesn’t sell all that well in the US. In the US, this bike is only offered with a fairing, but in Europe you could buy the Yamaha FZ1N, a naked variant with comfortable ergos and all the wind flow you could handle. Here we’ve got a FZ1 sold in the US that’s been converted into the FZ1N naked version. Nifty!
Yamaha’s Australian page calls this “the thinking man’s R1”, which seems like an odd way to alienate the much bigger customer base that just buys the R1…but that’s a discussion for another day. In the US, 2006 was the start of the current generation, which was completely revised with a new chassis, suspension, body work, and more. The engine produced 150 horsepower, good for a top speed of 160 miles per hour. Whether or not you liked this bike really depended on your riding style – most sport touring riders expected a little more power down low, but weren’t expecting the nutty power up top above 8,000 rpm. I guess that’s what happens when you stuff a liter-bike race rep engine into a ‘thinking man’s’ bike.
This specific Yamaha FZ1N has a healthy 68,800 miles, over 50k of which were put on by the current owner. It’s got a few changes, like the front suspension from a ’06 R1, Rizoma bars, CRG mirrors, but obviously the big difference here is the naked conversion, which was done by a previous owner and done with full OEM Yamaha parts. The ’06 FZ1 had some fueling issues (which were sorted out by ’07), but this bike has been fixed up with a PC3 and some tuning, and the seller claims there’s no more fueling issues. There’s also an incredibly faint oil leak, but the seller does a good job explaining the situation.
Find this Yamaha FZ1N for sale here on the Bay Area Riders Forum in San Jose, California for $3,200.