Yamaha Fz400

YAMAHA FZ400

Quick Ride

A taste of things to come?

IF YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO remember Eddie Lawson’s victory in the 1986 Daytona 200, here’s the bike for you-or more accurately, a pint-size precursor to the bike for you. Yamaha’s new Eddie Lawson Replica FZ400 currently may displace just 399cc, but like many other Japanese domestic models-Kawasaki’s Zephyr 400, Honda’s CB400 and Yamaha’s own XJR400, to name a few-it’s likely to double or even triple in size before being offered overseas. And it’s aimed not at teenage racer wannabees, but at mature street riders like you.

So popular was Steady Eddie’s ’86 Daytona victory (he won there in ’93, too) that enthusiasts are still clamoring for a street-going replica of his factory FZ750. While the Replica fills that need, its styling is

slightly skewed-the designer apparently only used the FZ750’s lines as inspiration for his own thoroughly modern creation.

The FZ400’s mechanical components, on the other hand, are

above reproach. Its liquid-cooled, 16-valve, dohc inline-Four is based on the slant-block FZR400, but its finned cylinders aren’t inclined quite as far forward as its Genesis forebear. Furthermore, the FZ’s camshafts,

valves and pistons are all new, meaning that some serious money was spent on re-engineering. Would Yamaha go to all this trouble to create just one new domestic model? Doubtful.

The FZ’s frame-patterned, the engineers explained, after 1980s endurance racers-is a time-honored double-cradle assembly fashioned from large-diameter steel tubing. The swingarm, however, is a modem box-section aluminum unit, as stiff and light as those fitted to current 750cc sportbikes. Suspension consists of a conventional fork and single shock, tires are moderately wide 17-inch radiais, and braking is handled by the same Brembo four-piston front brake calipers fitted to the XJR1200-complete overkill for a bike weighing just 390 pounds dry.

At first, I was tempted to make light of the FZ due to its paltry 399cc displacement, but after a few laps around Yamaha’s Fukuroi proving ground, I learned to appreciate its nimble handling. The riding position is sportier than the XJR400 standard and less sporty than the FZR400 racer replica-roughly comparable to the YZF600, but with the rider’s weight over the rear wheel instead of pressed onto the front end as on so many contemporary sportbikes.

The FZ’s 53 peak horsepower (at 11,500 rpm) sounds lackluster compared to the near-100horsepower outputs of today’s 600s, but its high-revving character invokes grins nonethelessit’s the spiritual successor to the venerable Yamaha RD400 twostroke. We can’t wait for the full-sized version. Maybe it’ll even come to the U.S.?

-Yasushi Ichikawa