This is Nuts! Or – Why My FZ07 Wasn’t Feeling So Hot

A few weeks ago, I left the house on a ride. Before making it little more than a mile, I gave my little FZ a little nudge beyond 6,000 rpm the bike began to choke and it wanted to die. What the hell? Up to that RPM range, it seemed to be doing okay. My immediate thought was maybe it was crappy gas so, I gave it a few more attempts all with the same result – a gasping sputter. There was nothing to do but turn around and go home.

Popping the seat off a quick glance gave me a clue to the root of my problem. Oh boy…

Some industrious critter got into a box of bird food which I’d put in the garage, and began squirreling it away for safe keeping. In my motorcycle. (As one does.)

After vacuuming everything out and making sure to get all of the nuts, seeds and whatnot out of the air filter pleats, my FZ was back to it’s old self.

In hindsight, I suppose I haven’t written very much about how much I love riding this bike. It really is a lot of fun. Downsizing in both power and physical size from things like my Speed Triple or Tiger 1050 to this little devil has been a great move. The physical size of this bike is perfect for me. It’s a relief not to wrestle on tiptoes with a high center of gravity.

With it’s comparatively low 68ish horsepower it always feels manageable but zippy. And it sounds amazing with the Akrapovic exhaust and handles better than stock with Ohlins all around. Though it might be considered a budget bike, there is a lot of punch in this little package.

I’m so glad she’s feeling like herself again!