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Buy A 2017 Yamaha FZ-09, But Don’t Ride It At Night

You know Yamaha’s motto, the one with the Dark Side? Well, I think I found out what’s it all about - poor headlights. At least that’s the case with the 2017 FZ-09 (or MT-09 in Europe and other markets).
2017 Yamaha FZ-09 / MT-09 poor headlight 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from YouTube
Make no mistake; I’m not here to bash on Yamaha’s new motorcycles; they are awesome machines and I would be happy riding a new FZ-10 (MT-10) as a daily commuter from now on. However, I might keep it in the garage at night.

Not sure if all the new FZ/MT range suffers from this issue, but this clip here shows how bad the headlight unit on the 2017 Yamaha FZ-09 is. Seriously, I rode older bikes with standard halogen bulbs that were brighter and more revealing at night than what this fancy new LED projectors have to offer.

When I first saw the video I thought the headlight unit is badly adjusted, but the uploader said he took it to a dealership and the guys there assured him the headlights were working as intended.

In all seriousness, the headlight on the new FZ-09 offers a small patch of lit area which considerably decreases in size when banking into a turn. The result? You have no idea where the apex is and might end up on the opposite lane or in the surrounding scenery.

And yes, the rider tried to use the high beam but it didn’t seemed to be making any difference. He actually had to stop and turn around to go home as it was too dangerous to continue riding blind into each corner.

You’ll be safe on lit streets inside the city, but once you get out on some country back roads with no other light source than your headlight, chances of crashing go up exponentially.

And I’m not only referring to blind cornering; what if there’s something on the road, like a big pothole or a tree branch, mud or sand? That headlight will reveal it when it will be too late to take action.

I know, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, since riding at night sucks anyway, but what if you get in a situation that requires you to do it to reach your destination? This issue will only add more pressure on you and increase the chance of doing a mistake.

My advice in such a scenario would be to simply avoid riding at night outside the city. But if you must do it, at least make sure you’re doing it at a slow speed so you can avoid any obstacle that awaits you in the ‘dark side’.

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