AMA article on the AE

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I had one of those, the first couple hundred miles were a real bitch. Would take 3 or 4 good whacks at the shifter in order to get it into or out of the gear. The problem has slowly receded and is acceptable now but it is not by far the smoothest shifting bike I have ever ridden....

 
Mine was a bit difficult to shift in early miles. When I moved over to a synblend oil at 5k miles, it was amazing the difference it made w/smoothness/ease of shifting, it's butter smooth now.

 
Taking the theme of replies away from the tranny questions for just a moment, the sentence that invalidates the article for me as "motorcycle review" is the very last sentence:

"Only one question, Yamaha: where's my radio?"

It's in the dash of your minivan/suv, you poser.

:****:

 
Taking the theme of replies away from the tranny questions for just a moment, the sentence that invalidates the article for me as "motorcycle review" is the very last sentence:
"Only one question, Yamaha: where's my radio?"

It's in the dash of your minivan/suv, you poser.

:****:
Radio - I think that woudl be what they call - "license".

the article started off with comments about his "internal music" or something like that. Talking about how the FJR satisfied a variet of musical genres due to the flexibilty of the bike. So - the last paragraph unifies the opening paragraph.

He also stated that the notchyness of the shift was RELATIVEL stiff when compared to the smooth shift of the AE.

Makes me sort of wish I had an AE - but then I would still be waiting instead of riding. Also - sure hope the technology of the AE - while proven in other applications - holds up under the everyday stress of a commuter bike - one that doesn't have a host of mechanics to repair daily - and that gets ridden in the rain and inclement weather all the time.

 
I just cannot get over how odd that left hand grip looks without a lever. :unsure:

It's amazing (to me, anyway) that you get so used to seeing a lever there, you don't

even notice it in normal motorcycle pictures, but as soon as it's not there, it just looks

so strange. Mind you, if I were buying another FJR, I'd almost certainly go for the AE. B)

 
I had on 04 and the tranny is not as nice on my 06. Seems they made it so you have to be really quick to keep the snatch out of your upshifts. I'm getting better at it, but the time frames involved are considerably less than those required for the 04. They're not kidding when they say the shifts occur in a fraction of a second on the AE. If the same basic trans is used on both the AE and the A, then it's safe to say that both have been tuned for automatic shift, not manual. I wish I had my 04 tranny on my 06A.

 
My '06 has is giving me some shifter issues: b4 the 600 she was repeatedly hanging in a false nuetral on the 1-2 upshift. Wrench "adjusted" things and now 1-2 is good but she doesn't go into 5th smoothly..clic, click, snack. Gotta "let" them try again...at no charge. Of course with non stop rain for the last 9 days...nooo ridin.

DFO :(

 
My '04's transmission has been a Jeckel/Hyde kind of thing. Somtimes it shifts beautifully (actually most of the time) but sometimes it gets notchy. Seems, by the responses on the transmission issues, that the transmissions have quite a few personalities out there. Though, for sure, if I am more aggressive on shifting, it shifts smoother. Unfortunately, in the city setting, you can't always shift that way.

 
Good article, almost makes me wish that I held out for the AE model, but then again I wouldn't be out riding right now if I would have waited.

 
I think the transmission stuff depends on your background. I come from sport bikes and my 06 FJR has the smoothest shifting transmission that I've ever had on a bike. My FZ1, VFR, CBR600F2, Aprilia Tuono, none of them shift as smoothly as this bike does. I have had no issues with false neutrals, shifting hard into any gear, etc.

 
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