Unveiled - 2013 Yamaha FZ8

Even as Kawasaki sneaked a few extra cubes into its Z800, Yamaha rolled out updates to its FZ8 for 2013. Unfortunately for India, the engine hasn't grown to just over 800cc and the changes are stying and suspension oriented. The USD front fork now offers pre-load and rebound as well as compression adjustments. And has a stiffer spring at the back with rebound and pre-load adjust as well. The cast aluminium chassis is more rigid with the engine mounted at six points on the frame. Yamaha also added a CF die-cast swingarm and the chassis geometry now places 51 per cent weight on the front wheel.

Cosmetic changes include better seat material and a new muffler. On to the engine, then. The 779cc R1-derived motor gets new fuel injection settings that make even more low- and mid- power with a new crankshaft installed in the same cases. Too bad Yamaha didn't grow the engine to 801cc or more, it would have allowed Yamaha India to sell their cheapest CBU here.