2018 Yamaha FZ25 long term review, third report

The FZ25 is on its way out of our long-term fleet and I have to be honest – I didn’t ride the motorcycle as much as I would have liked to. While I did ride it on varying roads through all three of our seasons, most of that riding involved getting from home to work and back home.

As I explained in the previous report, this motorcycle managed to make my commute fun, thanks to its peppy acceleration and impressive flickability in traffic. While it did that very well, it wasn’t quite the highway mile-muncher. This, aside from my laziness, is the reason I didn’t rack-up too many kilometres on the FZ25.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that the FZ25 isn’t capable of long-distance high-speed stints; but it’s just not that great at it. After having ridden lower-capacity bikes with 6-speed gearboxes and enjoying how relaxed they felt cruising at around 100kph, the 5-speed box on the FZ25 just didn’t do it for me – or my colleagues, for that matter. At around 100-110kph, the motor doesn’t feel relaxed and sits at a point in the rev range where you invariably keep looking for that upshift into the missing sixth gear; my left foot kept doing that even after nine months of riding the motorcycle – and that is a problem.

The other big drawback was the much-discussed, almost unusable headlight on the bike. While not much can be done about the 5-speed gearbox, aftermarket auxiliary headlights should help light up the road when needed. There was also another issue that recently cropped up – the toggle switch for the indicator had developed a mind of its own and activated the indicators only when it felt like doing so.

On the plus side, there have been far more positive experiences than negative ones during my time with this motorcycle. It’s been a reliable, comfortable and effective partner.

The FZ25 also reminds me of my first motorcycle – the FZ16 – and that’s nice. Like the FZ16, back when it was launched, the FZ25 features aggressive naked-bike styling that still turns heads, quick acceleration and really good handling. However, the time has come to bid it adieu and look forward to the bike that enters our long-term fleet next.