NAKED MIDDLEWEIGHTS COMPARED: Suzuki GSX-S750 vs. Yamaha FZ-09

“Naked middleweight” has a nice ring to it, no? Certainly better than “naked heavyweight,” though “naked lightweight” does sound intriguing. And these two unfaired sportbikes are nothing if not intriguing. Because while they fill the same slot in each manufacturer’s respective lineup, in some ways they couldn’t be more different.

Let's start with the one you don't know: the new-for-2015 Suzuki GSX-S750. Think of it as a stripped-down GSX-R750, albeit one powered by a retuned 2005-vintage engine. There's far less plastic on this than its repli-racer forebear, and that slick-looking black frame and swingarm are steel rather than aluminum. Likewise the inverted fork and single shock look trick but have far fewer adjustments than their racier counterparts: Spring preload is it.

Then there's the bike you do know: the Yamaha FZ-09. Introduced last year, it's a clean-slate design that borrows neither motor nor chassis from any other model. Unlike the Suzuki, the Yamaha's frame and swingarm are aluminum, and its fork and shock get adjustable rebound damping in addition to spring preload.

Squint your eyes and the GSX-S resembles nothing so much as the monster B-King, especially in our test bike’s Metallic Matte Black. Suzuki has a long history of making slightly less sporty bikes out of its GSX-Rs, and in many ways the GSX-S continues where the Bandit and Katana lines left off. It would be an exaggeration to call the 750 a parts-bin special, but many of the components do look familiar.

The Yamaha’s angular styling is arguably more modern than the Suzuki’s, accentuated by our test­bike’s glowing Cadmium Yellow paint. Moreover, many of the FZ-09’s individual parts are nicer than what you’d expect on a budget-priced naked bike. Our only criticism of its styling is the dash and taillight look like tacked-on afterthoughts. We can live with the unusual slide-type start button, but whoever’s idea it was to position the horn button on the far side of the turn-signal switch should be damned to spend eternity searching for it in traffic!

Throw a leg over the Suzuki and the riding position is immediately familiar. The chicken-splittin’ fuel tank and close-coupled seat and footpegs are pure GSX-R-issue. Thankfully, the chrome-plated, tubular-steel handlebars are higher than a GSX-R’s clip-ons, but they’re fairly narrow, oddly angled, and cheap looking.

The Yamaha sits more like a dirt bike than a streetbike, and its silver-anodized, tapered-aluminum handlebar could have come right off of a YZ450F. The gas tank is super narrow, there's lots of legroom, and the broad, flat seat, though thin on padding, is comfortable. The only thing lacking is any semblance of wind protection. The Suzuki's headlight fairing is small but actually deflects a fair amount of wind off of your torso.

The Yamaha is all about power: Its dyno traces are quite similar to the Suzuki’s—just slide the lines up the scale a bit. In terms of peak output, the FZ-09 makes 5 more ponies and 5 more pound-feet of torque, but it boasts as much as 15 more pound-feet of torque below 5,000 rpm. That, friends, is instant-on power, to the point of some herky-jerkiness, especially in the most aggressive of the three engine power modes. Response from the ride-by-wire throttle on first-year FZ-09s was poor, but it’s noticeably better this year.

That low-end grunt means the Yamaha wheelies at will—in fact, it feels more like an open-classer than a middleweight. In contrast, the Suzuki feels more like a 600, requiring copious revs and clutch slippage to get it up.

To the Suzuki’s credit, it makes predictable, linear power, and its gearbox is ultra-slick-shifting. And while neither of these machines is what we’d call dead smooth, they aren’t marred by debilitating vibration either. The Suzuki tingles; the Yamaha buzzes.

Both bikes need improvement in suspension action. The Yamaha is undersprung and underdamped, its fork bottoming when the front brakes are squeezed with any urgency. The Suzuki is the exact opposite: It’s way overdamped, resulting in a buckboard ride. Speaking of brakes, the Suzuki employs two-piston, single-action front calipers that lack initial bite compared to the Yamaha’s four-piston jobs. Neither bike is currently available with ABS, but that could change soon as the European Union makes it a requirement on all streetbikes beginning next year.

Taking a quick glance at the specs, the Yamaha boasts 100cc more displacement than the Suzuki yet weighs 40 pounds less—credit its three-cylinder engine and aluminum chassis. The FZ-09 also rules in quarter-mile times and top-gear roll-ons. Fuel mileage is a virtual tie, as is price: The Yamaha costs $200 more than the black Suzuki but just $50 more than the blue/white version. The only category where the Suzuki comes out on top is top speed: 140 versus 130 mph, the Yamaha's being electronically limited.

And that, in a nutshell, is how this comparison went down: It really was no contest. Unless you’re a diehard Suzuki fan on your way to or from a GSX-R, you’d get a lot more satisfaction out of owning the Yamaha. Not only does the FZ-09 offer greater performance than the GSX-S750, but it’s more capable, more comfortable, and a whole lot more fun. Simply put, no other streetbike available today offers as much bang for the buck.