(First posted August 4, 2013) As the weather in Northern California turned from the normal “good” to the almost as normal “great”, my thoughts once again turned to two-wheeled transportation. After a few weeks of perusing Cycle Trader and other similar rags, I looked at a few offerings before finding this 1987 Yamaha FZ700 for sale in the suburb next to mine…
Having previously enjoyed my Suzuki GS450 and Kawasaki GPz550, this was sort of a logical step up the size and performance ladder. I never planned it that way, but that’s how it worked out. Anyway, I looked the bike over (nice) and discussed the maintenance program it had enjoyed until now (very satisfactory) with the owner, who then let me take it for a ride. (As an aside, many people will not let a potential buyer ride their motorcycle, especially if it has fragile plastics on it or has any kind of performance potential. That Allstate “Mayhem” motorcycle ad is absolutely accurate… There is just too much that can go wrong.) Nonetheless, I had come prepared, with my jacket and helmet; seeing the motorcycle endorsement on my driver’s license and confident I was not some reckless kid, he actually let me ride it.
So, how’d it go? In a word, Wow! I knew that going from a 450 to a 550 was a nice jump in power, but hadn’t really comprehended the difference between a 550 and a 700, which is significant. While most motorcycles are faster than the average car, this was just on a different planet compared with what I was used to. Massive, instant power, all the time, anytime. And much nicer than anything else I had been looking at. So I bought it (of course).
The FZ700 is a bit of an odd duck, being offered only for the 1987 model year. It was a result of new tariffs on larger-displacement motorcycles that were intended to protect the home team (Harley-Davidson) from foreign invaders. While the tariff was based on engine displacement alone, perhaps a little forethought should/could have gone into the style of motorcycle affected. It’s not like anyone cross-shops a traditional H-D with a Japanese sportbike, nor was H-D realistically going to compete in that market. Still, the Japanese were now trying to compete on H-D’s turf, which I guess started the problem.
Prior to 1987, the FZ was a 750. The engine was reduced to 700cc (actually 697cc) by destroking the crankshaft; the pistons ended up moving 48mm in the 700 and 51.6mm in the 750 (the 3.6mm difference is just over one-eighth of an inch–funny how such a tiny distance can make such a difference). In 1987, Yamaha also introduced their vastly more expensive and completely redesigned FZR750, but the tariff-beater was the better value for the casual enthusiast.
What really made the engine in this bike different than the competition was its five-valve “Genesis” design. Yamaha used five valves per cylinder (three intake, two exhaust) to try to maximize the amount of air they could pack into the engine by going a step beyond the now commonplace four-valve designs. This really put Yamaha on the cutting edge of engine design; to date, the only other mass-produced five-valve engines I can think of are the VW-Audi offerings from about 1998 forward. (I may be wrong on this, I am sure the commentariat will correct me if I missed another obvious example.)
Power was very good, rated at 102 hp (for a 700cc engine in 1987!) at 10,500 rpm, with about 60 ft-lbs of torque at 8,000 rpm. Redline was at 11,000. As with most sport bikes, one would frequently take it all the way up to redline and use all of the available power, especially on on-ramps or during passing maneuvers. The main problem is finding a safe place to use it, as it was extremely easy to get on the wrong side of any legal speed limit without even realizing it. Reportedly, a quarter-mile could be done in the low-11s (not with me riding, I’m sure).
Styling-wise, these obviously have the full fairing, there’s a good-size windshield and the mirrors are well-placed. As far as color goes, my color scheme was the somewhat rare blue-and-Pearl White with Yellow striping–these bikes are more often seen in the Yamaha’s traditional red-and-white colors. I’m not sure if mine was any more subtle in its colors, but it was nice looking. Funny about motorcycles–like bicycles, there are maybe two color choices in any given year and, every once in a while, maybe three, but usually no more. We might think that cars don’t offer enough color choices anymore, but motorcycles are much worse in that regard.
With the same steel frame that proved good enough for Eddie Lawson to ride to his win at Daytona the prior year, it obviously wasn’t a bad design, even if it wasn’t as light as an aluminum frame like the FZR’s. Then again, Eddie also did compare his race bike to a Winnebago!
By today’s standards, the tires are almost laughably skinny, at 130/80-18 (rear) and 120/80-16 (front). Brakes were discs, front and rear; interestingly, the same size was used at both ends–two at the front wheel and one at the rear–but it was still very easy to lock up the rear unless your right foot was very attentive.
My brother, who also lived in the Bay Area, had bought his first Honda VFR at around the same time, so we would ride to visit each other and then chat bikes for a while. Sometimes we’d go for a ride together. I lived near Skyline Drive (Hwy 35), a very well-known and fun ride, as well as the scene of more than a fair share of accidents (which is probably why it’s police-riddled). Neither he nor I were irresponsible riders, and we just enjoyed the smooth, flowing style of that road.
We also rode down to Laguna Seca for the Superbike races. As with most races, the parking lots are often filled with just as much eye candy as the paddock. I saw several other examples of my motorcycle in both color schemes, and it was nice to see others enjoying the same thing. The actual ride down there was not too bad, but neither of us could do it without stopping for gas, and more importantly, stretching our legs. This bike is not particularly bad for taller people, and the front fairing has some nice molded-in wind deflectors for your hands, but almost any motorcycle (perhaps excepting a Gold Wing, etc.) is not exactly all-day comfortable–which, to be fair, obviously is nowhere near a sport bike’s main design objective–since rider comfort is pretty far down the priority list. And on hot days, engine heat would pour out from behind the fairing while you were stopped at a light.
Reliability was first-rate. I never had any issues, but once I did take off some of the fairings, more than anything else just to see what was under there, and things were easy to take apart and put back together. I ended up keeping it for two summer seasons, and then sold it when were getting ready to buy our first house further out in the suburbs. I did enjoy it, and found the performance exhilarating. And while I still enjoy looking at sport bikes, I have no burning desire to own one again as transportation. However, considering the amount of performance and the engineering that goes into them, they’re a phenomenal value–and many of them are rolling pieces of rare art, especially the older ones that are so easy to destroy. If I had a barn or a large garage, I would probably own several of them just to ogle, tinker with…and very occasionally, ride.
I have owned a batch of Yamaha’s and have one (DT1775) sitting in my drive right now. I never had an urge for a sport bike but I would love to find that engine in a XS650 setting.
I know that there has been a knock on Honda reliability by some here. I was surprised at the bike comments but not the car. I cannot remember any knock on Yamaha that was not purely anecdotal. I think they are great and happy you got to enjoy this one.
I have never had a bad experience with anything Yamaha. From an Enduro 175 at 14 to the SHO project of 10 years ago, they have been intuitively engineered, bulletproof and damn powerful. I’ve learned that they have become what all engineers should aspire to become. All of us arrogant/humble morons who believe we can wrench anything in the garage should be so lucky as to have Yamaha as our raison d’etre. That five valve head is a beautiful sculpture in metal.
As far as five valves go, Mitsubishi made a few 5 valve three cylinders for their kei cars in the ’90’s.
Funny thing about 5 valves: wonder why they aren’t more common?
(Excuse me if I’m a little fuzzy, I’m not a engineer, but this is the problem as I understood it:)
You don’t see many 5 valves because the benefits to breathing aren’t enough to overcome the loss of combustion swirl. A certain amount of intake charge axial swirl past the sparkplug(s) is needed to get a good flame front moving through the cylinder, which is necessary for getting optimum combustion. If the mix just goes straight into the chamber and hits the opposite cylinder wall, it’s too stagnant to burn properly. They discovered this problem in racing 5 valve engines (Kawasaki experimented with them as well) and ended up going back to 4 eventually.
If you read some of Kevin Cameron’s notes on engine design you’ll learn that flame propagation and combustion characteristics are one of the most important and often overlooked elements of engine design.
The reason you don’t see more five valves? One word. Suzuki.
Suzuki sport bikes were always sold a little bit cheaper than the competition, and in the four-bike magazine shoot-offs always managed to get around the Street of Willow (or whatever track was used) .01 seconds faster than the other three. Which meant, to the average squid, that Suzuki’s rocked and all the other makes were overpriced boat anchors. Never mind that your average sport bike rider didn’t have the ability to come even close to riding the bikes to what the magazine testers could do. To this crowd, magazine tests and bragging rights were everything.
To seal the deal, Suzuki had Matt Mladin ruling AMA Superbike for years, long after he should have been booted to World Superbike or MotoGP. With this kind of publicity, Suzuki ruled the streets with slightly less capable, cheaper bikes thru the ’90’s into the ’00’s. Honda and Miguel Duhamel were the only competition they had on the track, and once Honda America screwed up the bike setup Duhamel’s career came to a very pathetic, eventual end.
Harley Davidson doesnt compete with anyone their vtwin tractors are in a league all their own nobody else builds a slow ill handling bike anymore only harley do that.
You’re full of shit.
When you’re talking cruisers (and I limit this discussion to cruisers) the Japanese can match H-D in specs and looks, but once you throw a leg over the saddle there’s a world of difference. I’ve ridden just about every Honda and Yamaha cruiser out there (I work for a Honda/Yamaha dealer), owned Kawasaki’s . . . . . . . and for the last decade I’ve ridden Harley. Because, when you’re actually on the road, it’s a better bike.
The Japanese came in in the 1980’s with advanced technology cruisers determined to show Harley how its done. Go into the 90’s, and it was Harley’s that had a year waiting list for a new bike. They’re still better than the Japanese competition. The air cooled Yamaha’s come close and are getting closer with each generation, the Honda VTX1300 is a rather nice bike (forget the VTX1800, all show but pathetic on the highway), I’m out of touch with the Kawasaki’s and Suzuki’s have never been playing in the same ballpark with cruisers. They’re a sportbike company.
After 37 years of riding, having as many as ten bikes at a time in the garage, having ridden everything available in America short of Moto Guzzi, and owned at least one of every brand other than Victory, Moto Guzzi and Suzuki . . . . my garage is currently two Triumph’s and a Harley.
There’s a reason for that . . . . .
And yes, cruisers are somewhat slow handling bikes, if you’re going to compare them to sportbikes or sport tourers. The people that buy them don’t want the high speed, relatively twitchy handling of a sportbike. It’s not their style, or desire.
Harley does not compete in the sport bike field yes there are several harley lookalikes made in japan. My point was Harley does not compete in the sport bike field
You have good taste in bikes Syke.
Ferrari did 5 valve for a while; first in F1 – of course – and then in the F355 and F50. They reverted to 4 valve engines in the next generations of those vehicles.
There was a British speedway/grass track engine with 5 valves in the 80s
Harley did sport bikes when they owned Buell. But Buell was a casualty of the financial crisis.
Yes, but Erich Buell left H-D to start Buell and then eventually sold his company to H-D if I am not mistaken. In any case that was significantly after the tariff era.
Buell was a casualty of Erik Buell. No one else.
Thanks for all the 5valve comments, there are more of them out there than I thought, although none (besides VW/Audi) would probably be considered mainstream. Interesting facts to know though.
What a beautiful bike. I want one now…..
Thanks – The prices have gone up, I saw a couple of ads while looking for pictures, both were around $3000 for very nice looking examples. I know I paid much less than that back in 1997 when I had mine. Still, $3k gets you a lot of performance, technology and sort of rarity…
I own a 2006 VTX 1800F and by no means is my bike a slug from a dead stop or cruising on the freeway at 75 and when u twist on it u better be holding on cuz it comes on at any speed. I’ve owned a 1300 too and both are excellent bikes. I prefer the 1800 more though. My 1800 has exhaust pc3 and hypercharger. Dyno shows 109 hp and 120 tq and it dosent leave oil spots everywhere i park it. Lmao !!!
Bought my FZ700 brand new off the dealer floor in 87. Went in to get a GSXR but they were out.
I took that FZ for a spin and it had all the get up and go I could ask for. Thing was nimble and fast!
That bike and I covered a tremendous amount of ground and in the first year I covered over 25,000 miles on it. It would do 150 top end with me (190 lbs back then) and a full tank of gas.
Fond fond memories of that motorcycle.
Never sold in the US, but Toyota had some pretty commonplace 5 valve heads available on the 4A engine through the 90s.
Pretty sure those engines Toyota used were Yamaha.
im on a budget always have been in the 80’s rallied an h2 drag rail that weighed 220 lbs ready to race….one burnout was all you got after that it was all hookup….(harley? whats that? never saw one probably because i had no rear view mirrors….today im building a “tribute”aermacchi , “harley” 1968 250ss …why?because I WANT TO….THATS IT….no marketing, no faster than x, just because i think the win at daytona or laguna seca cant remember which (happens when you age like fine wine) got the attention of the jap bikes (read rd’s) i worship…i currently own a 1985 fj1100???(displacement is classified), a street recommissioned 1996 ex 600ss class muzzy race bike (displacement is classified but i did light it on fire once with a 50 shot of n2o since then backed that off to a 25…), a 1988 fz600 yamaha, a 1987 fz700 yamaha,and a 1973 s1 kaw with s2 top end chambers etc and a 1972 honda 500 four and lastly the 1968 harley (aermacchi 250ss) whats next? a harley big inch custom that weighs nothing save for that heavy ass motor that a friend is helping me build that runs top fuel drag bikes (all harley) point of this post? do any of us really know what we want or am i just schizo?
I was the proud owner of a 1987 Yamaha FZ700 in 1988. I bought it new and paid just a tad over $4700 for it. At 18, I’ll never know what my Mom was thinking when she co-signed on the loan for me.
The bike was awesome and had insane power and delivery of it for the day. Unlike the GSX-Rs of the day, the riding position, while forward, was not terribly uncomfortable over long distances.
Like all love affairs, my was short lived as I totaled the bike, along with me, pushing somewhere north of 90MPH on my way to work. Again, I was 18 and on the wrong side of dumb. Now pushing 50, I’m reminded everyday from the scars I still wear how much fun my 700 was and perils of no respecting it enough.
The words of the salesman still echo in my ears, “These FZ700 are two for one. After you crash the 1st one, if you survive, we’ll sale you another one!”
Awesome machine.
Looking for an 87 fz700
281-844-4048
I bought a blue/white ’87 brand new from Adams Yamaha of Ozark, AL in ’88 (it was a leftover). Beautiful bike, only kept it for less than a year. Never knew they were only made for 1 year. Kick inning myself now!
The reason I switched to riding HD’s back in the early 80’s was comfort and value. I was riding to deaths door on a Kawasaki and a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. Enjoyed the open air and just cruising was fine. When I sold a Harley I could get some real money out of it for the next bike. The Japanese built a great product, the main problem was their value dropped like a stone. Dealers didn’t even want to take your bike on a trade. Hell the local junkyard/salvage yard won’t even take a Gold Wing unless its in near pristine condition. There’s just to many of them and nobody wants them. You can always find a buyer for a crappy Super Glide with a shovelhead engine. I on the other hand rarely ride anymore, to many idiots and its about an hour ride to get away from all the idiots. Plus I find more pleasure in driving my ATS4 or pulling out the Boss 302 for some track action. My example of idiots was confirmed last March. Driving home from doctors appointment almost to my exit ramp and the idiot next to me changes lanes right in to me. Caddy got banged up a bit. I probably would have been just another statistic id I’d been on my bike. Defensive driving is all I do but how these idiots can just decide to change lanes, no signals, no looking in the mirror, no looking over their shoulder, just jerk the wheel or let go of the wheel cause they got to get the phone or coffee. I was pissed at myself for allowing that person to hit me.
Bought a used FZ700 in 1990. It currently has a bit over 86K on it. It, along with a 3 other bikes, are taking up space in my garage. (My wife’s words, not mine. She is very tolerant of my motorcycle habit thought, God love her..). I always had Yamahas because I learned to ride on an 80cc trail bike and developed a brand loyalty. I do own a Triumph now though. I still ride the FZ on occasion. Great bike.