Yamaha Fazer 153cc Ownership Review by Masum

I was inspired by one of my senior officers. Who told me that, “The first thing you need to enjoy your life is Mobility”. That can only be achieved by Motorcycle. In Bangladesh traffic jams are very common part of our life, especially in Dhaka and major cities.

I started motorcycling in 2007. My first ride was a Chinese bike. I don’t like to say nothing about that, as I have suffered a lot. Then I bought a pulsar 150 DTS-I, UG-II. That was second hand. Initially that pulsar’s performance was awesome. I still miss that. Pulsar means raw power. By the vistas of by gone time, I started spending more time in the service centre than on the road with my pulsar. The maintenance cost of my Pulsar was raising. I ended up with my Pulsar by changing the piston, piston block, whole clutch assembly, CDI unit and lot of things. Then I have decided to quit from my pulsar. I sold my bike in last April 2010.

After that I was in total dilemma. Which bike I will buy? I have started reading lots of bikes reviews of various bikes. Is this aspect BikeAdvice.in helped me a lot. I am thanking all for those reviews. After 2 months of online research I have decided to buy a Yamaha Fazer 153cc. Finally I got my ride 06 June 2010. It’s a black Yamaha Fazer 153.

Now I want to share some of the features and experiences with my Yamaha Fazer.

Stability

First thing I appreciate about this bike is stability. It’s very stable both in high speed and low speed. I got superb maneuverability in the traffic jams. I feel no problem while going through narrow passage between traffics, though the bike is fitted with a huge headlight fairing. The bike is very agile.

While cornering, I can lean as much as my foot pedal touches the road. After crossing the speed 80 kph, the real fun starts. Its really so fun to ride this bike at high speed. No vibration, no extra noise, its smooth like car. I am giving a practical experience. My girl friend is afraid of bike. In my Pulsar I never could cross the speed 60 kph.

She started shouting from my back to slow down. She told me that it feels like the bike is vibrating and falling down. But in Fazer I ride in 90 kmph with her. Then I asked her, she told “I didn’t feel anything.” I am so happy to have this bike. Riding Fazer is a fun. This bike is packed with mono cross rear suspension. Mid ship muffler, this improves the mass centralization and lower center of gravity.

Tyres

Within five months I rode my Fazer 8000+ km. Fazer has the “140/60-17” size rear radial tyre with a 60% aspect ratio, contributes to better grip and handling stability. I had some serious riding with my bike. The bike feels awesome almost any type of road. Though it’s not an off road bike, I had off road riding with it.

Engine & Performance

Fazer is packed with a 153cc single cylinder engine. The thing I want to say about this engine is it’s bore stroke ratio. The bore and stroke of Fazer is 58mm and 57.9mm respectively. This is almost a square engine. In some famous cruiser bike, long stroke engine is used for better torque at lower rpm.

In long stroke engine friction is higher. Short stroke engine is used in racing and sports bikes. In short stroke engine low friction and better torque at high rpm. In the Fazer, max power 14 bhp at 7500 rpm and 14 Nm torque at 6000 rpm. As it is a square engine, I get the pleasure of cruise riding and the fun of city riding. Its perfectly a balanced engine for all types of road and riding. I got top speed 119 kph in my Fazer, it can go more. Nice engine note.

Aero Dynamics

The Yamaha Fazer 150 is fitted with half fairing – This seriously improves the bikes stability, riding quality and comfort. Yamaha says that the Fazer is wind tunnel tested to manage the wind blast and increase aerodynamic effect on the bike wile cruise in the highway. From my personal experience, the fairing is really superb. While cruising at high speed it reduces the effect of wind blast.

Bike’s dashboard is impressive, feels like cruising in a car. Good visibility of the speed meter. But I really miss a clock in the dashboard. Rear view mirrors are fitted in a perfect position with great visibility.

My Opinion

Yamaha says that Fazer 153 is a touring bike. I think touring bike must have some features like:

  • Large displacement engine. But its only a 153cc engine.
  • Good fairings and screens that offer good protection against wind and weather. Fazer packed with good fairing but the screen could be better.
  • Large capacity fuel tanks for long ranges between fill ups. The Fazer has only 12.2 liter capacity fuel tank. I think its enough as I can cover 400 km per fill up in respect to the engine size.
  • Upright seating sitting position. In Fazer its not upright. I have to lean about 20° forward. Its feels like sports touring bike.
  • Passenger accommodation. Fazer’s passenger accommodation is very poor. Its very small. And the seat is not comfortable as there is no adequate cushion. I had two long ride with my Fazer. Me and my pillion both suffered from soring butt. Yamaha should improve its seat’s cushion.
  • Heavy weight. Touring bikes should be heavy in weight. Like Honda Goldwing is about 400 kg of dry weight. Where Yamaha Fazer is only 131 kg dry weight. Even though I don’t have any heart burning. As it’s a 153cc engine, 131kg is enough. More the weight of the bike more the fuel consumption.
  • In every touring bike there must be a luggage space is the norm for this class. But in Fazer there is nothing. And the pillion seat is also not big enough for luggage. There is no place to keep your gadgets like mobile, GPS, sunglass etc. Yamaha should think about it.

I think Fazer is a very good standard bike rather than a touring bike. Because it is light weight (but looks heavy), agile, very stable in all types of road. Only speed and power is not everything for a bike, return home safe and sound, drive safely and responsibly.

I have lots of thing in my mind to write about it. And one thing its my first writing about my experience. I will be happy if you put your valuable suggestion, this will inspire me to write more.

With regards,

Md. Masum-Al-Mizan
Dhaka, Bangladesh