The wife and I took our first ride on the new '08 FJR yesterday. We had a lot of issues. I had planed to install my Zumo 660 Friday, but it was a pretty hard day at the office, and the wife wanted to go out to dinner. I just ran out of daylight.
Yesterday morning, I decided to get up and get the GPS installed. Not even knowing where the battery is, it took me 3 hours to transfer the wiring from my FZ1 to the FJR. Ugg, it was noon and 90 degrees (30 Degrees above normal) before we got out of the driveway.
My wife is not comfortable riding on the beltway or interstate, or even four lane highways. So it was back roads all the way out of town. Traffic was slow and heavy, even in the 'country' and with the wife on board, I didn't want to pass unless I could do so in a nice long passing zone and not freak her out. We also left before getting lunch, so hunger started getting to us.
The route I had planed to take is a nice loop around central Maryland. It takes me 5 or so hours to ride it solo on the FZ1, and I have made this ride a few times. Maybe it was to much for the first ride on a new bike, but I wanted to get a good test in of two up riding. I hope to take a few multiday trips with the wife next session, if not this fall. She's not a rider, so I wanted to push her as much as the bike. It was to much, and we didn't even get half way. According to the GPS, we road 167 miles in 6 hours, 19 minutes and 14 seconds (with just over two hours of 'stopped' time). That's an average speed of 26MPH. Max speed was 67MPH. In 90 degree heat, it was a hell ride. We stopped once for gas, twice for water and a snack and once for a sandwich.
Still it was a good test of the bike. If not a fun one. I had decided to break the seat in before deciding if spending $500 bucks for a Sargent was going to be worth it. Never mind that, the new seat is on order. My wife also demands a backrest before she rides again. I ordered the OEM Top trunk and mounting hardware with a back rest when I bought the bike, but it seems that it's on back order.
I'm not sure about the wind shield, when raised, I was getting a lot of heat and negative pressure, but the wife reported the buffeting was hard on her neck with it lowered. Which to me was cooler and cleaner air. My first impression of the breaks being wooded and the clutch being to heavy are fading with every mile. Even the off/on throttle lag that bothered my on my first ride is clearing up. I had already installed a cramp buster, but that seems to have moved the cramp from the base of my thumb to the putting my pinkie finger to sleep. I guess I need to investigate the throttle return spring unwind.
All in all a great ride the bike did great in hard conditions. Pulling two people in high temps and slow traffic is not the best break in method for a bike with only 200 miles on it. But no other issues presented themselves, except that I almost lost the steering head cap... oops. I spent this morning going over things with my torque wrench. 4 days of ownership and I'm tickled pink.
Any tips or advice are appreciated.
Yesterday morning, I decided to get up and get the GPS installed. Not even knowing where the battery is, it took me 3 hours to transfer the wiring from my FZ1 to the FJR. Ugg, it was noon and 90 degrees (30 Degrees above normal) before we got out of the driveway.
My wife is not comfortable riding on the beltway or interstate, or even four lane highways. So it was back roads all the way out of town. Traffic was slow and heavy, even in the 'country' and with the wife on board, I didn't want to pass unless I could do so in a nice long passing zone and not freak her out. We also left before getting lunch, so hunger started getting to us.
The route I had planed to take is a nice loop around central Maryland. It takes me 5 or so hours to ride it solo on the FZ1, and I have made this ride a few times. Maybe it was to much for the first ride on a new bike, but I wanted to get a good test in of two up riding. I hope to take a few multiday trips with the wife next session, if not this fall. She's not a rider, so I wanted to push her as much as the bike. It was to much, and we didn't even get half way. According to the GPS, we road 167 miles in 6 hours, 19 minutes and 14 seconds (with just over two hours of 'stopped' time). That's an average speed of 26MPH. Max speed was 67MPH. In 90 degree heat, it was a hell ride. We stopped once for gas, twice for water and a snack and once for a sandwich.
Still it was a good test of the bike. If not a fun one. I had decided to break the seat in before deciding if spending $500 bucks for a Sargent was going to be worth it. Never mind that, the new seat is on order. My wife also demands a backrest before she rides again. I ordered the OEM Top trunk and mounting hardware with a back rest when I bought the bike, but it seems that it's on back order.
I'm not sure about the wind shield, when raised, I was getting a lot of heat and negative pressure, but the wife reported the buffeting was hard on her neck with it lowered. Which to me was cooler and cleaner air. My first impression of the breaks being wooded and the clutch being to heavy are fading with every mile. Even the off/on throttle lag that bothered my on my first ride is clearing up. I had already installed a cramp buster, but that seems to have moved the cramp from the base of my thumb to the putting my pinkie finger to sleep. I guess I need to investigate the throttle return spring unwind.
All in all a great ride the bike did great in hard conditions. Pulling two people in high temps and slow traffic is not the best break in method for a bike with only 200 miles on it. But no other issues presented themselves, except that I almost lost the steering head cap... oops. I spent this morning going over things with my torque wrench. 4 days of ownership and I'm tickled pink.
Any tips or advice are appreciated.
