IT MIGHT be the 'middle child' in Yamaha's naked bike range, and some might think it's neither fish nor fowl. In the real world though, the FZ8N has usable horsepower in a chassis which doesn't struggle to control that horsepower.
If Yamaha has purposely gone the modular motorcycle route then it's worked in this case, it's produced a motorcycle which is easy and exciting to ride.
When the FZ8 was first released most of us here at Cycle Torque questioned Yamaha's mental state.

Yamaha already had an impressive naked and half faired line-up, with its FZ1 and FZ6 range. Throw in the XJ6 and you have a bucket load of similar bikes to choose from if you want a Yamaha. We'd already sampled the 600 and 1000cc machines and were impressed. When we got the FZ8 we thought, nice bike but what's the point? Who's the bike really aimed at? We still can't really answer that because it's such an open ended question but after a 500 kilometre weekend away on the bike, from inner city Sydney madness to the long straights and tight corners of the Putty Road, we came away thinking this thing really is fun to ride. And isn't that the end result you want from a bike, regardless of what it is?

The mechanics
Both the FZ8N and FZ8S share the same mechanical package, with the only difference being the frame mounted half fairing on the 'S'. 
While the 'S' looks slightly more reserved, the 'N' fits the streetfighter look perfectly. Much of the engine is new but does use crankcases from the pre-crossplane R1.
A new crankshaft helps get the capacity right, and the top end of the fuel injected donk is all-new.
Other than that it's the same architecture as most inline four cylinder bikes; four valves per cylinder, dual overhead cams, six-speed ’box etc. Interestingly the clutch is cable operated, not hydraulic which probably helps keep costs down and wouldn't make a lot of difference to most riders anyway.
Hanging from a cast alloy twin spar frame, the engine acts as a stressed member, so there's no bottom cradle in the frame.

Yamaha says the chassis set up is aimed at moderate speed agility, and the front to rear weight bias is 51/49. It's not often you hear a manufacturer mention this sort of stuff and it's even less written about in motorcycle magazines.
Why? Because in real world riding it doesn't matter a whole lot, but we think it's worth mentioning in this case.

We'll shoot forward a bit here and talk about the riding experience. Around town it feels stable but also steers quickly. We can't honestly say we let the engine run out to redline in top gear so we can't tell you if the chassis wiggles a bit at 240km/h or not. What we can tell you is the bike tackled the 25-70km/h corners like a pro which is exactly what Yamaha says it's designed to do. 43mm USD forks are non-adjustable which is a shame but then again we didn't feel like they needed adjusting so they must be close to the mark.

At the rear the single shock is a linked monocross set-up which Yamaha says is supposed to be softer in the first part of the stroke to cater for our crap roads, while firming up when the shock further compresses when cornering hard. We liked the shock too and never thought about touching the spring preload, which is the only adjustment the rear shock has. Pulling the FZ8 up are twin four-piston monobloc calipers up front, and a twin-piston caliper at the rear.

Overall it's a package which is common enough but what's not common is the look. We get two colours in OZ; white and black. As you can see we tested the white version and there's no doubt in our minds the bike looks great. With the white bodywork and gold wheels it really stands out, plus its styling is very futuristic.

Don't know why Yamaha didn't just put gold wheels on the black version, it would look very 'John Player Special' like; older readers will know what we are talking about.
While the bike floats our boat on the styling front we do have to say the muffler is just plain ugly, and ripe for an aftermarket replacement. On the road If we were buying an FZ8 it would have to be the 'S' version which gives more protection from the elements. That said, the naked version is relatively buffet free up to and over the national speed limit, helped by the little nose cone screen which works well given its small stature. Our testers who sampled the FZ8N are all around the six foot mark and the riding position was generous enough to allow un-cramped riding.

A fly in the ointment for long distance riding is the hard seat which has you squirming not that long into your journey. A sheepskin cover or Airhawk seat would help here. And we are not sure the rear seat is a place a pillion would want to be for a 200 kilometre stint. Engine-wise the FZ8 motor is a gem. Easily capable of cruising at go-to-jail speeds or tootling around, we never felt like we needed any more power than the bike gave. Sure if you lined it up against its stable mate the FZ1 it might be slightly embarrassed but that's not what it's about.

What we especially liked was the fact it had enough bottom end grunt to punch out of corners well, but also a surge in the mid to top end which got the excitement meter spinning when using a gear or two lower at the same speed.
Through the mid-speed corners the bike was a hoot, and very capable of embarrassing much more powerful machines simply due to its user friendliness. We felt the brakes could have had more initial bite pulling up hard into tighter corners but to be fair we were asking a bit of them at the time.

Everywhere else they worked fine. A look at the specifications sheet shows the bike weighs in at 211 kilograms with a full tank of 17 litres. On face value we wouldn't have thought the bike was that heavy, it certainly never felt like it at slow or higher speeds. Verdict Before the FZ8 was released you could only choose between the 1000cc or 600cc versions, and the choice for most would have been cut and dried.
Now it's not so close. The FZ8 offers a real alternative to both but we don't know if Yamaha will be taking sales off itself or attracting buyers who may not have considered either the FZ6 or FZ1. It really deserves to sell well whatever the case. It's a great bike.