Q.New Yamaha Naked Bike Spotted in India

The bookings for this bike are open now. One can pay a token amount of INR 10,000 at one of Yamaha's authorized dealers and book the bike. Now, I'm not sure if booking a bike that's not even officially unveiled actually works. But there must be hardcore FZ enthusiasts who are looking to upgrade from their FZ- S Fi's and let's face it, the Fi's were underpowered and didn't make as much of an impact like the older generation FZ did. I remember back in my college days when the FZ was launched, the parking lot were full of them. Honestly, now the FZ has lost its sheen among the current crop of new, more powerful, feature-laden motorcycles.

Yamaha has sent out an official invite for (presumably) the FZ 250. Here's the teaser image: [ATTACH=CONFIG]n22255[/ATTACH] Now first thing, the 'light glare' is triggering my OCD as it isn't in the center and moreover, the word is that the headlamp will be an LED unit but this looks otherwise. Digression aside, the launch is scheduled to happen on the 24th of this month and the price tag is expected to be in the region of INR 1.5 lakh. I can't wait to see the bike!

[B]Yamaha FZ 250 to be Launched in January 2017:[/B] The cat is finally out of the bag. The bike we see in the above posts is actually the FZ 250 that's being tested in India and Yamaha is planning to launch the bike on the 24th of January, next year. The FZ 250 will be Yamaha's most powerful Indian-made motorcycle. The bike is powered by a 250cc oil cooled engine that's already doing its duty on Fazer 250, which is a motorcycle sold in Brazil. The engine gives out 20.7 PS of peak power and 20.4 Nm of torque. Before we delve into further technical specifications, let's have a look at the bike: [ATTACH=CONFIG]n22091[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n22092[/ATTACH] Just like the Dominar 400, the FZ 250 also has a full LED headlamp. Also, the headlamp cluster reminds me of the M-Slaz. The indicators seem to be conventional ones, though. The big muscular fuel tank with faux intakes stays true to the brawny styling of the FZ series. The front sports a traditional fork set-up and the rear has a mono shock unit. The seat is a two step unit and the upright position indicates that this bike won't be as aggressive as the KTM 200 Duke. Both front and rear wheels are anchored by disc brakes. Owing to cost constraints, the bike is unlikely to come with ABS. The exposed engine is finished in matte black and the exhaust bend pipe looks exposed. There's a gap between the underside of the engine and the exhaust which looks a bit vulnerable, in my opinion. Hopefully, the final production version of the bike should come with a stylish engine bash plate. The exhaust is similar the FZ Version 2.0 but is a bit more muscular and I particularly love how the heat shield is designed. The front and rear rims look similar sized but the rear gets a really meaty rubber, something the FZ- Series is known for. The fat rear is covered up by an equally fat looking tyre hugger. The thin alloy spokes help giving more visual mass to the tyres. The engine is likely to be paired with a five-speed transmission and the pricing is expected to be in the region of INR 1.5 lakh ex-showroom. I really hope Yamaha equips this bike with a six-speed unit as it would be apt for a quarter litre engine and would also help the bike stretch its legs on the highway. But only a real-time test will reveal how good the bike really is. The FZ 250 will rival KTM 200 Duke, Honda CBR 250 R, Benelli TNT 25, Bajaj Dominar 400 (even though it's much more powerful, it really is competitively priced!) to name some.