FZ-S V3

Overview

The FZ-S V3 is the motorcycle buyers choose with their eyes, and Yamaha has never pretended otherwise. The 149cc air-cooled single makes a modest 12.4 bhp, but the 140-section rear tyre, the sculpted tank and the bar-raised riding position produce a road presence that machines with twice the power struggle to match. In traffic it is broad, upright and visible, which is a safety argument in itself.

The character is deliberately old-school. Torque is flat and early rather than peaky, the five-speed box has long ratios that keep revs down on the highway, and the engine’s refinement at 5,000 rpm is the quiet boast of the whole listing — nothing here sounds less like a commuter bike from the kerb. Claimed mileage of 45 kmpl is credible precisely because the gearing does not encourage hard riding.

The honesty problem is the price. At this catalogue’s ₹1.31 lakh it overlaps the liquid-cooled 18 bhp 155cc machines, which are quicker, lighter on the bar and better equipped electronically. Buyers are paying for the FZ’s presence and its two-up comfort, and if the priority were outright pace the money is better spent elsewhere on this list.

• 140-section rear tyre — widest rubber in the 150cc class here
• 45 kmpl claimed from long highway-style gearing
• Seat and pegs arranged for real two-up comfort