Daytona Vendor Review

[BrunDog]

Fellas,

Went to Daytona yesterday and wanted to give you my comments around the vendor stuff. Saw about 8-10 FJRs in the parking area and met a nice owner and his wife at the Honda tent looking over the Wing. He is not on this site (isn't there a law against that?)

1. 2006 FJR. I looked over the bikes. It was weird not to be able to grab a clutch lever on the AE!! Definately not for me. Otherwise the pictures we have been seeing accurately describe the changes on the bike.

I don't think it is worth upgrading, unless the heat problem is a HUGE issue for you. It isn't for me. They definately concentrated on this through the list of changes. One thing that they did that I have been contemplating doing is placing a foam block strip between the frame and the fairing along the knee/shin pocket. I put foam in the crotch area on my bike and it resolved the roasted nut syndrome, but now my knee gets a little warm. Since they did it as part of their "air management", I believe this will work very well on my bike to reduce heat there. More to come on that.

I spoke with a Yamaha Marketing Manager, Mark (my memory is bad on the last name - Dipka or Lipka or something like that). He was a cool guy and is very aware of this and the other forums. They DO read these and use these sites to get feedback and gauge opinions. I got the feeling that he believes this is an active internet community vs. the other bikes. He is certainly familiar with Warchild - but he claims that the ticking issue is much, much smaller that we have all made it out to be. They WILL repair a ticker if it is out of warranty.

He was proud of the bike and told me that they announced on Friday that they will be releasing more bikes (not on PDP) to the dealers, based on dealer size. He said thay have had to do the PDP due to the small volume of the model. But they were able to convince the factory to build some more for allocation. He also didn't sound thrilled with the way the dealers have worked the loopholes in the PDP.

Here is a piccy of the underside of the W bracket. Notice the space underneath - it is designed to let more air flow under the shield to reduce buffeting. I wonder if this would help us, and perhaps that is what tuning blocks help do?? Anyone feel free to chime in.

Naturally there was a crown around the bike and everyone was interested or already knew what we know - it just plain kicks every other bike in every way.

2. Suzuki. I am generally not into cruisers, but I will tell you this bike is SWEET: Boulevard M109R. If I were to buy one, it would be a fight b/w this one, the Rocket III, or a VTX1800C. It was stunning in silver:

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[BrunDog]

3. BMW. The prices are outrageous, but they build sweet rides. The build quality is top rate in my opinion. The new S bike that Mogan has is really nice. It would easily make a Super Sport Tourer with the available bags. The lean forward position is not too aggressive.

They had the new GT, which is a nice bike, but certainly tipping the meter more toward the Touring end of the ST spectrum. I can't imagine it will be aby faster than the FJR, but tests will tell.

The GS rocks, too. I didn't fall in love with the new 1200 RT. I would stick with the K motor and pay the premium.

4. Kawasaki. Well, this was what I came to see! The ZX-14!!

This bike is lower than I expected (perhaps more so than a busa). The engineering on it is great. They had a cut-away bike showing the ram-air induction system and the gas tank layout, which is partly over the intake and partly under the seat. Will be interesting to work on. Nonetheless the bike is nice. I didn't think it was ugly, but it wasn't as captivating as the busa is, IMO. It appears to have good protection and a decent wheelbase. Lots of potential for a SST. Looks like there is room for a set of bag mounts, too. As stated before, the build quality is not up to par with the other mfg's. Not bad welds or flexible parts, just chinsy-cheapo plastic parts, etc. I guess that's how they made it light. Not confidence inspiring compared to the BMWs.

Anyway, that's about it. Throw me any questions if you like.

-BD

 

[MCRIDER007]

Thanks for the recap and the pictures. Did you get any feel for how much legroom there is on the ZX-14?

 

[Bugnatr]

Nice pics. Burndog. I think you talked to Mark Dipko, I talked to him over the phone at Cypress back when I had the tick in early 05. My 04 ticker was one they replaced the head (@12,500 miles) so they could send it back to Japan. That BMW looks a bit fugly for me. Quality may be good but they have their problems too and a dealer can be hard to find when away from yours. The kawi looks like it would be fun strech its legs in Nevada, all the plastic would help keep cost down too. How were the races? Is Duhamel a stud or what, but I don't blame him or Bostrom for being pissed at the pace car. They got screwed. Spies looked good too. More snow for us on the left coast today so perhaps I'll watch the races again on tvio. Anymore pics??

 

[madmike2]

Re: Tuning block

Yep, BD, you are correct. I have a homemade spacer I use and with my +4+3 CeeBailey's, I get a stream of air on my chest when the windshield is all the way down. This is helpful in the summer when the temps are 100+, it sure makes my Cool-Vest work great!

Did you notice the vents on the outside of the headlights that direct air around the instrument cluster. It seems they are trying to move the air in the cockpit so that there is always ambient air pushing the hot air out and away. I think they really went out of their way to accomodate those who have issue with the heat. I'm waiting for the tests by those who've had "hot" FJRs, have ordered '06s and compare them to how the new fairing changes work.

The foam blocks you mention are part of "Cromeit's heat fix", links are under heat fix in the "Never ending pointless threads".

BTW, nice pictures and report.

 

[BrunDog]

MCRIDER: You know, that is a great question. Of course, sitting still and holding the bike up you don't get much foot-on-peg time. Nonetheless, I did put my foot on briefly, and while it is certainly further back than the FJR, it does not seem as far back as the busa, R1, or GSXR. Didn't seem cramped, but sitting on it still for 2 minutes means nothing compared to a three hour run. You can see in the pics that the foot controls are directly below the leading edge of the seat. Not too bad, but probably could have some highway pegs made if it were an issue.

Bugnatr: Yepper, that's him. Sorry, I didn't have time to catch any of the races, but I certainly heard 'em screamin' by!

Sorry the pics are crappy, I forgot batteries for my digital camera so I had to use my PDA phone with it's lovely VGA washed out imaging. Below are more pics.

Madmike: So you get the air stream - I want that, too, as I live in South Florida. When you put that arrangement up do you get an area of silence? Buffeting? Backpressure?

I did see the vents. The ones beside the headlights run through the sides of the fairing and (supposedly) run over the airbox and down, in an attempt to remove the hot engine air out below the rider. The Vent below the gagues comes from a space just under the W bracket. There is no doubt they concentrated on this.

ZX-14:

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[BrunDog]

BMW:

Something for my four-year olds:

That's it!

-BD

 

[madmike2]

Oh my! Me likey red...alot. Boy would my insurance agent have fun writing that policy!

BD, @ 6'2"/32" inseam, I can "find" a buffet windshield location, but it's not constant as the stocker/stock location was. All the way up, I still can create back pressure. All the way down, I get clear air to my helmet with the added breeze over the cowl (my favorite windshield position in warm weather as it also makes the helmet vents work @ capacity). For cold or rain, I just find the windshield tilt that works the best to keep the visor clean. When its really cold (30s and 40s) about 2/3 up works the best.

For a spacer, I took the windshield and top "W" bracket off, then unscrewed the inner "W" bracket, took one to my local True Value hardware who has a great supply of metric bolts, bought 4 5'16" nuts, stacked 2 and found a matching "W" bracket screw that was long enough to leave the same amount of thread to compensate for the 2 stacked nuts. When I installed on the bike, I used 2 nuts under each "W" bracket screw and that raised the base of the windshield a little ove 1/2". A cheap, simple and easy farkle: Perfect! YMMV.

 

[SilveradoSlick]

Thanks for the pics, BD. I drove by there a couple of times last week and didn't have time to stop. Now I know what I missed.

 

[ock913]

Just to add my .02, I took a demo ride on the ZX-14 and ............. OMG!! Now I have never ridden a Busa and I haven't been on a Gixxer or an R1 in a few years so my comparison knowledge may be slightly dated, but I can say with all honesty that this mother is FAST! Being in a group with Kawi ride leaders you really can't open it up, but they gave us a few opportunities to get a feel for it. I can tell you that I am a big boy and when that wheel came up in second gear with VERY lttle effort, I was impressed. This bike is damn fast, there is no other way to describe it. If you grab a handful of throttle ............ you are in for a ride!

All that said, my FJR is still the bike for me. Plently of power for what I need and tremendously more comfortable.

Also, just FYI, the Yamaha demo rides were all 05 FJR's, no '06's .... I was really hoping it was the opposite.

BD, I also rode the M109R. I liked the way it looked when I saw a group of them ride off so we sighned up. IMO, it looked better than it rode. Just wasnt for me. Several in my group complained about the shifting, something just didnt feel right.

 

[tripletango]

Thanks BD good job. Must say when I sat on the AE it was strange to have no lever at all on the left. Even my scooter has a brake lever there!

 

[Groo]

The ZX-14 styling does nothing for me... I much prefer the FJR, Busa, XX or numerous other bikes. Those scalloped sides just look cheezy, and the four headlights looks like a bugs head. But, I imagine they'll sell a ton of them based on speed alone...

 

[XLR8]

Thanks for the write up! I was considering a ZX-14 but the FJR although not as fast and sleek looking is very similar. I think the ZX-14 will obviously fall into the same niche as the Busa. I also think it would make a great SST.

It was also good to hear about Yamaha's position on the ticking. Even though we've heard they will fix them it's nice to hear it again.

Sounds like a great time.

-r

 

[BrunDog]

What Mark told me about the ticking was that it was overly exaggerated on these message boards. He said there were only about 17 documented cases in the US?!?! He said many cases were not true ticking but something else which generated the noise.

I wasn't going to argue but I would imagine the actual count is somewhere in the middle. He did confirm that Yamaha would repair a ticker out of warranty. He also told me they knew about the problem and changed the guides in 2003 (when the Eurpoean TSB was issued), and that the guides have NOT been changed since then. So anyone thinking an 04 is different from and 05 is different from an 06 is smoking the good stuff and not sharing.

-BD

 

[MCRIDER007]

He also told me they knew about the problem and changed the guides in 2003 (when the Eurpoean TSB was issued), and that the guides have NOT been changed since then. So anyone thinking an 04 is different from and 05 is different from an 06 is smoking the good stuff and not sharing.

I assume you are referring to the valve stem guides. What did Mark say about the valve stem "seals"? Aren't they supposed to be different in the 06s?

BD, thanks for the feedback on the ZX-14 legroom. I think the legroom on the Hayabusa is really tight and was wondering if the ZX-14 had a longer reach from the seat to the footpegs and it sounds like it does.

 

[FJRottie]

Ahem !!

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

I took the demo ride on Thurs. and found the foot position about the same as a Busa and not as tight as my R1. The clipons were a bit of a reach I thought compared to the R1. To me the ZX was soft and dull on the bottom till 3500-4000 then it pulled decent. The Busa definately pulls harder down there (My buddy has one). It is a boat though! A little lighter than the Busa in feel. Bike handled nice once under way. Was only able to rev it to 7-8 grand in first a couple of times and it does pull with no problem!

 

[Jarmo]

Got some 06 FJR pics down in Daytona . Pics to follow if I can figure this out.[

IMG]https://https://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b271/fjrjarmo/MVC-308S.jpg[/img]

 

[Jarmo]

06 FJR at Daytona take - 3 I got it this time