What the heck I took the dive

....and traded my beloved and sometimes despised 2007 black cherry in for a 2009 AE.

Yamaha must be trying like heck to get rid of the last of the AEs for the price. Though having three year old bikes that aren't made anymore needs some darned fools like me willing to take the bait. I will have to learn to ride differently as previously when I came up to stops I rode in on the clutch for part of the slowing down....kind of like coasting into a light. I won't be able to do that with this bike.

Also found out one of my things is when I ride up to the house on the '07 I would put the bike in neutral, put down the kick stand, hit the garage door opener, pull in the clutch, pop it back into first gear, and then pop up the kickstand. Today on the '09 AE when it was in neutral, I tried to get it to go into 1st with the kick stand down (remember on the '07 you could do that with the clutch lever pulled in) and it wouldn't go. So there are some idiosyncracies I will have to cure myself from.

With the AE it will be nice to just sit at a stop light though without having to hold in the clutch lever.

Kind of nice to try something different but it is still the same FJR overall on the road, a very refined ride.

Congratulations on the new bike, even though I am partial to the wildass good looking black cherry, to each his own, I test rode an AE, and it will take a bit of time to get use to it! hope to see you in Castlegar!! its just north of you!

FWFE

Well, that's quite the upgrade in color. Anything is better than poopy brown!

Time to update your profile!

Lots of things to adjust to on the AE but you'll get the hang of it. And right when you do get the hang of it, you'll have to panic stop and you'll grab a big ole left hand full of air as you go for the clutch!

And then there's the habit of pushing down on the shift lever to go to first from Neutral...you'll do that one a couple of times too. Good luck with the new ride, you'll love it, and you'll praise the AE gods the first time you get stuck in any traffic.

When you've got an itch, sometimes you've got to scratch it.

Congrats on the new ride Chris!

--G

Congrats on your new bike. The more you ride it, the more you'll like it.

gixxerjasen said:

Time to update your profile!

Lots of things to adjust to on the AE but you'll get the hang of it. And right when you do get the hang of it, you'll have to panic stop and you'll grab a big ole left hand full of air as you go for the clutch!

And then there's the habit of pushing down on the shift lever to go to first from Neutral...you'll do that one a couple of times too. Good luck with the new ride, you'll love it, and you'll praise the AE gods the first time you get stuck in any traffic.

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Thanks for the reminder gixxer. I forgot about the profile. And yes today I have done the grab for the clutch several times..... Getting used to sitting in traffic in first rather than neutral is going to take some time also. It kind of bucks when I take off the first time in the morning, whereas my '07 I would just take off and go slowly. My Dad used to let his cars warm up for a long time and I still have to be the rebel and don't warm up my rigs.

But going through the Horse Heaven hill roads it is still a FJR. Pretty cool to do something different while having a ball.

Chris

I ride an 06 AE and I found it really easy to transistion to. A lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I only use the paddle shifter and never the foot shifter. After a while you'll get to really like it. I also ride a GL1800 and still haven't been troubled going from clutch to clutchless. And by the way, I believe that they still make the electric clutch models and still sell them but just not in the US any longer. I believe 2010 was the last year for them in the states so there is still plenty of support for them.

If it had been sitting that long and you are experiencing the bucking, you might read up on the clutch soak. mcatrophy has a nice pictorial on how to do it. I won't praise it as a miracle cure, but mine doesn't seem to be bucking after I did it.

I only use the trigger shifters when I think about it. The ole foot still does what it wants to do, it's just disconnected from my left hand now. I'm thinking of going the route of removing my triggers, seems like a waste of a good mounting point. Plus, then I won't accidentally downshift when trying to go for the horn in anger.

I think I had sticky clutches on the '07 at the start but it improved greatly as I rode it + I probably just got used to it. I heard many say that the the '06 and '07 were herky jerky, so to speak. I guess I just got used to it. I never thought it was all that bad.

I think this AE will smooth out a bit after some miles and improvement in my skills. The herky jerky probably needs some more kicking off on the start with more throttle and me not needing to go like the old fart I ride like. I don't see the need for the clutch soak. I think I just need to adapt my riding a bit when the bike is not warmed up.

No complaints so far. I kind of like trying different things and interested in seeing how quickly my mind gets used to the paddle shifter.

Well, like many others I found dry plates in there and the difference overnight was noticeable. Just thought it might be something to look into.

I took the same dive... no regrets

First off, congrats on the new ride. You said it was a scorching good deal. Care to share just how good?

WRichStrom said:

Also found out one of my things is when I ride up to the house on the '07 I would put the bike in neutral, put down the kick stand, hit the garage door opener, pull in the clutch, pop it back into first gear, and then pop up the kickstand. Today on the '09 AE when it was in neutral, I tried to get it to go into 1st with the kick stand down (remember on the '07 you could do that with the clutch lever pulled in) and it wouldn't go. So there are some idiosyncracies I will have to cure myself from.

Click to expand...

I dunno, but I know that I can't do that with my '05. Maybe the second gens' interlock logic is a bit different, but if I put the bike into gear with the kickstand down it kills the engine immediately. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Fred W said:

First off, congrats on the new ride. You said it was a scorching good deal. Care to share just how good?

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Fred,

I don't know if it was a scorching good deal, but it seems that in '09 the full price for the AE was right around $16K. I got this in Prosser, WA., for $13.4K with the taxes, set up, etc.

gixxer,

I didn't mean to sound disrespectful about the clutch soak and you have a good suggestion. Sounds easy enough to do and from what I read the orientation of the pink dots is not critical. Thanks for the suggestion.

Good deal, not scorching but if ur happy thats what counts n u have a spankn new bike to enjoy:]