CBR1100XX

[chornbe]

I often hear this sentiment expressed. I guess it must be like miles per gallon or tire life? -- YMMV! Some of us are no strangers to long distance high speed motorcycling over (somewhat) long durations w/inclement weather -- and, (IMO) chain cleaning, lubing, adjusting, replacing (along w/sprockets) is a considerable (and unnecessary) PITA. I do it when there's no other way -- and maybe? a case could be made for the Blackbird that there is "No other way" -- but, when there's a bike like the FJR; that clean, quiet (and maintenence free) driveshaft just makes so much sense to me. But, like they say on these forums -- YMMV.

Agreed. Shaft is the way to go for a tourer. For my money (and what I'll ride), no shaft, no touring. I suppose chains have gotten a lot better, but the manufacturers still recommend 500 mile clean/lube intervals and when making comparisons, with everyone getting individual and differing results, you really should only compare the MFG intervals. And the worst shaft drive beats the best chain drive every time when using that measurement. Chains have their place; I just don't think that place is in touring.

Take the Ducati valve clearance issue as your guide. Everyone says "Mine didn't need any adjustment until the 3rd or 4th one." (or xxK miles) Yeah, but that one guy who goes with all that "real world" data will get screwed big time when his Duc eats a valve at 12k miles with no checks. And the MFG will (rightly) laugh him out of the shop when he tries to get a warranty claim out of it.

 

[Clark Kent]

My $0.02 is that you're associating the overall smoothness and polish of the XX with the transmission where the transmission has very little to do with it.
There are a variety of reasons why the XX is a smoother bike than the FJR: smaller displacement, more sophisticated counter-balancing system, smaller windshield/fairing, simpler chain drive, etc. Drop the XX's transmission in a FJR (if such a thing were possible which is really isn't) and the bike would change slightly, but it wouldn't change a heavy-weight sport-touring bike into a medium-weight sport GT bike. They're completely different animals.

I'd also like to point out that the XX is off the market due to poor sales while FJR sales continue to increase. This doesn't point to Yamaha moving the FJR to being more of a GT bike as a smart move. There are three bikes in this space now (Busa, ZX14, K1200S) with another probably in the wings from Honda. This is probably more than enough to saturate this market.

While I'd like to see a 6-speed in the FJR also, it's really a cost/benefit tradeoff for Yamaha and the bike doesn't have a glaring need for one. And folks, you have no idea what a major engineering change this would be, easily as significant (and expensive) as making a major displacement change or completely revising some other major aspect of the engine. Today's modern unit-construction motorcycles with integrated engines and transmissions are highly optimized pieces with no wasted space. And transmissions are one of the most cost-intensive and design-intensive parts of any motorcycle - a change to a six speed would involve literally millions of dollars in design work and tooling. Don't hold your breath.

You don't just "drop in" a transmission from another bike.

- Mark

Oh, not ture! The XX has never been "off the market" as you say. It is no longer sold in North America. It is still sold in the rest of the world. Actually it is selling quite well.

CK

 

[Clark Kent]

I dunno...........................................

Call me crazy,......... but............................ :twitchsmile:

The more I look at Dale's bike........................... :blink:

The more the simularities become even more evident.................................. :umnik2:

Talk about twins separated at Birth!!!!!! neeyedsmiley02: neeyedsmiley02:

[SIZE=14pt]Am I the only ONE seeing this!!!!!????????[/SIZE] :weirdsmiley:

you cannot use a picture of my X wife without permission! CK

 

[doit]

Interesting thread, I have recently traded my 05 Blackbird in and picked up the FJR1300AE and a lot of the points here are so valid. The blackbird is still one of the best balanced bikes that Honda produce and still the No.1 selling sports tourer in OZ.

I swapped from the Blackbird to get a true tourer ride, the Blackbird was OK, but not as good as the FJR over touring. With an R6 '06 model in my garage it was time to loose one of the sports bikes and the blackbird was the obvious choice.

 

[MKO]

I need to clarify - internal transmission, not external drive is what I want to keep. I too love shaft drive on the FJR & in fact, was one of the reasons I purchased my '04. I agree, a serious sport-tourer requires shaft drive. Talk to WarChild though, he's still doing LDs on his XX :blink: But yes, keep the shaft.
My point of "as-is" is a silky-smooth 6 speed. The XX's engine/tranny is perfect in my opinion. For instance, the FJR "clunks" into 1st. Not the XX. At 70-75 you feel buzz on the FJR - the XX is near glass. Ride an XX if you get a chance. Pay attention to the effortless acceleration and overall polish (don't think bent over and chain). Then you'll see my point of merging the best of both worlds:

"...just put the engine/tranny [internal] as is into the FJR chassis [keep the shaft] - voila, the perfect sport-tourer..."

And yes, there was an implication that although its great Yamaha is updating, I feel that with some things on the '06 they've gone in the wrong direction & moved away from what previously made the FJR stand out - which was the emphasis of "sport" in sport-tour.

When I lived in Tampa, one of my riding buddies had a Blackbird Dos Equis. We traded bikes all the time and I have to agree about the smothness of the engine and tranny, but I always found myself looking for a taller gear on the highway. There's no doubt that the higher R's provided better roll on performance, but the engine sounded too busy.

Funny that you talk about going the wrong direction with model updates. I was seriously considering the new ('06) FZ1 after reading the early test reviews. I was one of the guys screaming for R1 performance in an ergonomically comfortable bike and thought the FZ1 might be the best choice. The local dealer only had earlier models to try out, and they seemed to be pretty comfortable. From what I read, it seemed that the 06 changes would only improve it. Well they did the opposite of what you claim they did to the FJR. They moved the bars a little forward and lower and moved the pegs a little higher and back (sportier). Oh yeah, they made the seat a little more uncomfortable. It ruined it for me. I've got to have the ergos. I guess you can't please everyone.

BTW I did the same thing with the FJR. There were no 06's to try on so I tried an 05 and read all the reviews before plunking down my $500 to order one. I got lucky on the FJR. The ergos are close to ideal for me. I did add highway pegs to allow me to stretch my creaky knees and may eventually look for a more comfortable pearch.

 

[thomas52]

Dale's poetic praise of the Blackbird got me interested in the bike. One ride and I ended up buying 2- '03 models. One to farkle and ride, and a Brand new 0 mile model to put away, unridden for safekeeping!You can still buy a few brand new 2003s from a few dealers for about $9,000 full OEM warranty included.

While I feel a bit old and out of place to riding a Busa, the classy XX suits me just fine. A few more farkles and it will be another perfect ride.

The chain drive is certainly no big maintenance problem either, particularly when Dale does the GB for the Pro Oiler (what's the hold up, BTW? ).

I agree with you. I had a XX and loved it for all of the above reasons. So smooth and such a great power band. I bought the 06 FJR to ride two-up and feel like I sacrificed a lot. The Feejer is fast but not smooth. Such vibration and over the long haul, I get pretty fatigued. Did the bar ends, am doing the grips and may have the T-boddies done, though the Yammy shop disregarded my request.

RR

 

[Toynut]

Throttle bodies are pretty straightforward to synchronize and are covered in great detail in the tech forum. I am a bit surprised that the dealer would not honor your request under warranty. The barbarian jumper mod is another quick trick to get your bike to improve it's low speed throttle response, too. You will probably like the BMW touring grips (popular swap), just make sure you consider installing some grip heater elements while you are at it. B)

I found that my bike smoothed out a bit after a few thousand miles, but any serious distances involve me using a throttlemeister (or an Audiovox cruise control) to give my right hand a bit of a break.

 

[brianm767]

I had a rare 2001 candy red XX also. I sold for the FJR. It was a flawless bike. I also sold them here in Denver at a big dealership and they were very hard to sell. Too many buyers in this segment want only the fastest model available. I had some custom footpeg brackets made for 1'' more legroom and Heli-bars so it was pretty comfortable. I bought the FJR for more two up comfort.

Funny you mention you sold the 01 candy glory red (I've owned two) XX for the FJR, I sold my first 01 red one to buy my Hayabusa , I missed it so much and it took me three years to find another nice clean one to buy,

I've beeen lurking on this sight as well as the ST sights for quite some time now, I've decided to buy either a FJR or a ST1300, but I've held off so far due to concearns about the heat, and now that it's no longer an issue on the FJR (so I've been told) I really started Considering it again, well last week while I was washing my CBR1100XX my neighbor asked if I wanted to take his 06 FJR out for a ride, so of course I did, and I was shocked, now please don't get mad , but that thing vibrated just about as much as my Hayabusa and I thought , where the hell is 6th gear? I started thinking, I could put some Factory Honda bags on my XX and have a perfect sport tourer, but yes I don't want a chain, and I want a more upright seating position, I have Heli bars and Buell pegs on both my XX and my Busa, ( I actually sold the Busa last month to get ready for the new Sport tour bike) and I love them but I want a more comfy bike, now here's the problem, my wife is now saying I have to get rid of the XX to buy the FJR or St and I just cant do it, I let the Busa go since there a dime a dozen , but Blackbirds are geting harder to find, as much as I want a touring bike, I dont want to let go of another Blackbird, and it's not really in the budget for another bike. what to do???? The Blue XX is my sons. and I also just bought my daughter a SV650S, I understand my wifes saying, enough is enough, since she's retiring this year and were trying to get our finances in order, but I tell her how many pairs of shoes or how many purses do you need? but I guess it's not the same, well in her eyes at least.

 

[rodantking]

Love mine! Chain does not bother me one little bit. Legs prefered the FJR but, butt up the XX is fine. Did a had full 800+ mile days this year and had no problems. I couldn't do that on the stock "05 FJR seat. The FJR beats it hands down on the interstate, but I try to stay away from them, but you know how it goes, when you don't want to go back home and you end up having to high tail it the last day to get home. The biggest things the FJR has going for it are wind sceen and Two up riding.

A comment above: I know they changed the final drive ratio in '06, but my '05 ran a couple hundred higher RPM than my XX does. I wonder if that xx had stock sprockets on it.

P.S. the start of this tread was last thing to push me into getting it.

 

[scubatech]

It is definitely a tough choice with so many nice bikes to choose from. A lot of us wish the Bird' was still available. I personally liked the red and the digital dash. My bikes speedo was 5 MPH fast above 40, so it ran about the same RPM as the FJR. (4000@70MPH). I'm glad that I made the switch though for my overall goal.

Ken