2021 Yamaha FZ-S 25 : Roadtest Review

Quality

Yamaha being a Japanese brand always played well in the quality department. Be it with scooters or motorcycles. The story is the same with the FZ-S 25. The overall fit and finish are good. There are hardly any panel gaps. The quality of plastics are appreciable. There are no rattles from the plastics or unfinished welds on the frame.

The material used around the instrument cluster and switchgear are neat. It infact makes you feel that the quality is of a premium motorcycle. The brand stickers are pretty cool to look at and the golden alloy wheels makes the motorcycle look so much more aspirational.

Comfort

The FZ-S 25 offers good amount of comfort – be it in the city or on the highway. The combination of great cushioned split seats and not-so-aggressive riding triangle makes this motorcycle a charming bike to be used on a daily basis. For the pillion too, the seat is wide and can easily accommodate someone on the heavier side. The FZ-S 25 is equipped with handguards and that means the hands won’t take the winter chills that usually come during early morning rides.

Performance

Now coming to the heart of this motorcycle, the 249cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine. Even with BS6 update, it continues to make 20.5bhp of power at 8,000rpm and 20.1Nm of torque at 6,000rpm. And just as expected, the torquey nature of this engine is still there and it continues to impress us.

We were always a big fan of the way the FZ25’s engine performed. It had oodles of torque at the low end of the range and also the mid-range. And this aspect helped us give it a tag of fast commuter on our social media updates. Also, with this torquey character, overtaking in the city is extremely easy. In fact, during work commutes, you always have a strong mid-range at disposal and this allows you to filter through traffic quickly and also be the first one to go off the traffic signal line.

And then being a Japanese bike, the refinement and smoothness of the motor has been taken care off very well. The throttle response is crisp. The fueling too, is quite good. Even with all these Japanese aspects, there’s a certain amount of crudeness in the engine that makes it churn out an experience that clearly says it’s not a motorcycle from the lower displacement.

The overall ride quality of this Japanese bike is well balanced – it’s not too stiff or plush. But it manages to exhibit some good amount of comfort while riding in the city and also on the highway. There’s hardly any fatigue that comes out of riding this motorcycle. But when it comes to the overall braking performance, we wished the front brake was adequately tweaked. The front lever needs to be pulled quite a bit to bring the motorcycle to a stop and this becomes bothersome especially while riding every day in the city. The rear brake though, works well.

Technology

This bike costs almost Rs 1.90 lakh and we definitely expect an instrument cluster that is way better than the current one. The negative LCD display is a good one, but for a 160cc motorcycle and not a 250cc one. A lot of brands have moved to Bluetooth-enabled instrument clusters with the BS6 transition. This helped them offer more value to their customers with the big price hikes. But the FZ-S 25 only shows things like speed, trip meters and real-time mileage indicators. The FZ-S 25 also doesn’t get things like LED indicators and USB chargers as standard. You get it as an option, but when you are paying almost Rs 2 lakh, you expect these modern but basic equipment especially when it is positioned as a premium 250cc motorcycle.

Fuel Efficiency

Surprisingly, this BS6 Yamaha is one fuel efficient motorcycle. During our city as well as highway test runs, the bike gave out between 35-40kmpl and that’s a pretty good figure for a motorcycle this size. So with a fuel tank capacity of 14-litres, you can ride it for almost 500kms and that’s one extremely impressive tank range.

Fitness of purpose

The FZ-S 25 is a great all-rounder motorcycle. It can commute well. It can do long distance rides pretty comfortably. And it can also haul a lot of luggage in case there’s a really long ride planned. Plus, the seating ergos are comfortable. The 250cc motorcycle is potent and the overall riding dynamics of the bike are sorted.

Our Take

Now after spending close to a week with the BS6 Yamaha FZ-S 25, a few things are clear. The bike is really good to look at. The 250cc engine is impressive with its torque delivery abilities and also the refinement. And then there’s the comfort that makes this motorcycle a very likeable one. You can commute to work, or you could just use it as a highway mile muncher – you are going to be happy doing both. But when it comes to the feature list, we wish Yamaha had given it some more. At least a fancier instrument cluster that would justify its price tag and positioning. But as an overall product, the FZ-S 25 is a good product. We won’t call it value for money but you should definitely consider it if you are looking for a sub Rs 2 lakh no non-sense quarter litre motorcycle.

Photography by Kapil Angane