Yamaha FZ Blue Flex Launched in India at Rs 1.24 Lakh — First Flex-Fuel FZ

Yamaha has launched the FZ Blue Flex in India at Rs 1,24,240 (ex-showroom, Delhi), making it the company's first flex-fuel motorcycle in the country and only the third such bike after Suzuki's Gixxer SF 250 FFV and Hero's flex-fuel Splendor and HF Deluxe. The bike is built on the FZ Rave platform and costs just Rs 400 more than that model, which is a small premium for an engine that can run on anything from E20 to E85 ethanol-petrol blends. On-road, expect to pay somewhere around Rs 1.40 lakh in Delhi once registration and insurance are added.

What Changes Under the Skin

The FZ Blue Flex uses the same 149cc, air-cooled, fuel-injected single-cylinder engine as the rest of the FZ range, but with internal tweaks — revised fuel mapping, upgraded fuel lines and a corrosion-resistant fuel system — that let it tolerate higher ethanol content. Peak output drops slightly as a result: 11.7PS at 7,250rpm and 12.8Nm at 6,000rpm, down from the FZ Rave's 12.4PS and 13.3Nm. That's a fairly typical trade-off with flex-fuel engines, since ethanol carries less energy per litre than pure petrol. The 5-speed gearbox, telescopic front forks and rear monoshock are carried over unchanged, as are the front and rear disc brakes with single-channel ABS.

Yamaha has trimmed the fuel tank to 12 litres, a litre down from the standard bike, and kerb weight goes up marginally to 139kg. Styling stays close to the FZ Rave — full-LED projector headlamp, muscular tank shrouds, single-piece seat, sharp LED tail lamp — and for now the FZ Blue Flex comes in a single Metallic Black shade. It rides on 17-inch alloys with tubeless rubber, and gets an LCD instrument cluster with a fuel gauge tuned to read ethanol blends correctly, which matters more than it sounds since a standard petrol gauge can misjudge range on E85.

Where You Can Actually Buy One

Yamaha isn't launching this pan-India just yet. The FZ Blue Flex will initially be sold only through Blue Square dealerships in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu — the states where E85 pumps are more likely to show up as the government's biofuel rollout expands. Bookings are open on Yamaha's website against a Rs 2,000 token. If you're outside these six states, there's no clear timeline yet for wider availability, so wait-and-watch is the realistic approach for now.

Running Costs: What Flex Fuel Actually Means for Your Wallet

This is the part most launch reports skip. Ethanol-blended fuel is genuinely cheaper at the pump in states pushing E85, but the mileage trade-off eats into some of that saving. On regular E20 petrol, expect real-world efficiency close to what other 149cc FZ models return — around 50kmpl in mixed city-highway use. Running purely on E85 typically drops that to somewhere in the high-30s to low-40s kmpl range, because ethanol's lower calorific value means the engine burns more fuel to produce the same power.

At current petrol prices of roughly Rs 103/litre and assuming 1,500km of monthly riding, an FZ Blue Flex owner sticking to E20 would spend close to Rs 3,090 a month on fuel, working out to around 30 litres. Where E85 pumps are cheaper — often by 15-20% over petrol in states actively subsidising ethanol — the per-litre saving can partly offset the mileage drop, but the actual number will vary a lot by state and by how consistently you can find E85 at the pump.

On financing, a rough on-road price of Rs 1.40 lakh with 20% down (about Rs 28,000), the balance financed over 60 months at 11% interest works out to an EMI of roughly Rs 2,436 a month. Service costs up to 10,000km should sit close to what other FZ variants cost — typically Rs 3,500-4,000 across the first few scheduled visits, since the mechanical layout hasn't changed beyond the fuel system.

FZ Blue Flex vs Its Only Real Rival

The closest comparison right now is the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 FFV, though that's a bigger, more powerful 250cc machine aimed at a different buyer.

Hero's flex-fuel Splendor and HF Deluxe sit at the commuter end and aren't really cross-shopped against a sporty-styled FZ. Within its own segment, the FZ Blue Flex is essentially unopposed — nobody else is selling a 150cc flex-fuel streetfighter yet, which is exactly why Yamaha priced it so close to the standard FZ Rave rather than charging a premium for the technology.

Should You Book One?

If you live in one of the six launch states and have realistic access to E85 pumps nearby, the FZ Blue Flex makes sense as a small hedge against fuel price volatility, at almost no extra cost over the regular FZ Rave. If E85 isn't actually available where you ride, though, you're paying Rs 400 more for a capability you won't use, and the regular FZ Rave or FZ-X remain the more sensible picks — Drivio has covered both in detail already. Riders chasing outright performance in this price band should also cross-check the Gixxer SF 250 FFV before deciding, even though it sits a class above on displacement and cost.

Check the on-road price and EMI for the Yamaha FZ Blue Flex in your city on Drivio.