The FZR600, And More - Shout Out - Letter Of The Month

Fizzling Out
I'm a little disappointed in the FZR600 article [Aug. '07], but it's great to at least see an article at all about what seems to be a forgotten sportbike. A "ballsy Genesis five-valve per cylinder engine?" The FZR600 was a four-valve, while the FZR1000 was five. "Both ram-air ducts that actually work?" Good for not much more than cooling the frame. "Big-bore kits that will boost the FZR600 into a fire-breathing 750?"? I've never heard of a kit that big, and if so, it's never mentioned in the forums (FZRarchives.com) and the transmission would never hold it. "Front and rear suspension that's fully adjustable?" They're non-adjustable. "Conceived as a budget bike to compete against..." No mention of competing with or beating the CBR of the time or all others for that matter. The FZR600 won the AMA title in 1989.
Aaron

The FZR 600 was five-valve according to FZRarchives.com after 1994 in the U.S. Whether you feel you benefited from ram-air ducts working is a matter of your opinion. The existence of 750cc big-bore kits are mentioned in Bike magazine's "Used Bike Guide to FZR600."

There's also a detailed article about a Wiseco 727 kit installed in Mark Forsyth's FZR in Performance Bikes magazine. The rear shock is adjustable for preload, which, the last time I checked, could be construed as suspension adjustment.

Just because it's not mentioned on an Internet forum doesn't mean it doesn't exist.-Mike Seate

Mail Bag
Send your rants to ssbmail@primedia.com

Missing Link
You guys gave a spot to a nice TLR that didn't deserve it-the bike is a show bike, but not a good one. It looks great on one side only. As you know, the other side is missing bolts everywhere. If you are going to do a spread like this make the owner move bolts around.

The mag is named Super Streetbike-this bike wouldn't last five minutes on the street. The Hayabusa on the other hand-super-nice bike. Very eye friendly, everything's there, and, I know... there're other bikes than 'Busas.James Brown

Just like our models, what we see in pics isn't always what shows up! You should note that the owner of that TLR rode to the shoot (it's his daily rider), and he also smoked his rear tire off doing sick rolling burnouts, so we'll excuse the missing bolts for now. Good eye, though.

Young Blood
I'm a younger guy (17 years old) in the Killeen/Fort Hood, Texas, area and when I'm out on some backroads (on my Buell XB9), I see plenty of soldiers and the considerable impact SSB has on the design themes of their bikes. I offer mad props to you guys for being so influential; however, for a while I hadn't felt like you were making it known to those readers that "performance" parts should be used for...performance.
Slammed and stretched is the dominant style among other black riders out here. Like Mike Seate said in a way-back editorial, it's a shame that these guys just don't do track rides. I almost let my subscription to SSB expire because of the way it's catered to the "bike night" crowd lately without major notes on true performance. But I've decided to renew it next week because of the August issue-your features of our influence on Jap bikes (plus some coverage not of stretched rockets but refined race-ready machinery) and the surge of "street performers" in the "Eye Candy" sections have reminded me of why I liked the mag in the first place.

Congrats on returning the balance, guys. I'm glad to see bikes that serve my crowd as well as the bike night crew.Dunte Hector

We're always searching for high-performance bikes, so show us what you got.

Soft Touch
I just wanted to say thank you to the thief who tried stealing my baby (2005 Yamaha R1 Raven). When you got scared and laid my bike down in the grass, I really appreciate you not scratching the paint! It was very kind and considerate of you to not hurt the plastics, although you did steal my handgrip, cut the damper, break the ignition and handlebar lock, and twist the front end up. But thanks for no scratches-I appreciate it.Geoff Brannan

Hopefully he at least twisted his ankle up good when he laid it down!