etcmjoe709
Member
First of all, I hope I'm posting this in the right section. I'm new here and I don't want to offend any of the administrators.
I bought my 09 a couple weeks ago and finally took a little trip to Little Rock on it. Here are my impressions/observations. Let me start by saying I've been riding for about 15 years but not very many miles at all. This was my first multi-day ride ever. It was only about 400 miles total, but that's a record for me.
Cargo capacity: I beefed up the under-seat toolkit with a tire patch kit and found a small 12V tire inflator that fits under there like it was made for the bike ($19 at Wal-Mart). I have the Yamaha trunk in addition to of course, the standard side bags. I've always tended to over-pack for any trip. The side bags and the excellent soft liners hold quite a bit MORE than I expected. I filled each liner pretty full and had no trouble at all inserting them into the hard bags and shutting them both. I ended up wedging more items in there on top of the liners and still had room for more. By contrast, the trunk holds a bit less than I expected, probably due to the fact that much of the outside volume of it is unusable on the inside. The rear of the trunk extends out to a kind of a point, but the inside is roughly rectangular. I guess the "unuseable" volume contains all the latch/lock mechanism. It will hold my large full face helmet, gloves, and maybe a lightweight rainsuit, but no more. Its also only rated for 11 lbs of cargo. It wasn't a problem because I was able to put everything I needed in the saddlebags, then used the trunk just for overflow if I decided to take off a layer while on the road. I have a large, multi-expandable tank bag that I planned to use but didn't need at all for this weekend trip. I carried a small laptop, a DSLR camera, 2 days of clothes, a pair of sneakers, ditty bag, raingear, an extra fleece jacket, a spring jacket, ballcap, and a nice selection of cigars, all in the saddlebags. I feel pretty sure I bought the right bike for traveling.
Comfort wise, I'm coming from a H-D Fatboy (2008) that I was never all that comfortable on for more than 30 minutes. My hands would be buzzing and lower back and butt would hurt pretty bad. I was skeptical about the FJR's riding position for long distances, but after reading about the "Master Yoda riding position" I thought I would concentrate on maintaining the right spinal curvature and tension. I'm 6'3", 220# and have the Yamaha "comfort" seat in the low position, and the handlebars in the aft position. I was pleasantly surprised that the only discomfort I had was a very mild soreness right at my tailbone for about 10 minutes after getting off the bike. I didn't notice any numbness in my hands or feet from vibration. My average speed was 75 to 80 MPH, mostly on I-40, so the tach was near 4000 alot of the time. No issues with vibration, at least not compared to a Harley. At any slower speeds its just smoooooooth. Noise and buffeting: I was using the Yamaha "Touring" windscreen, but at my height it still isn't tall enough to be effective. If I ducked down a few inches it suddenly got quiet and calm. I guess I need to keep looking for the right windshield, but I don't really mind the wind on my helmet. The sound keeps me in touch with how truly fast this machine is. The large screen does seem to keep much of the wind blast off the hands due to its little flares at the bottom, especially if you keep your hands toward the inside of the grips.
Stability is nothing short of impressive. With the trunk installed and the fairly high, upright seating position I think this bike is more top-heavy than my Fatboy was, and definitely has a larger cross section to cross winds and those scary wind vortices you get from the huge semi trucks. I could feel the forces of the turbulent wind blasts but the big FJR just soldiered on in a straight line with no input required from me. That includes blowing past some trucks at really excessive speeds (I hate being beside a truck). I haven't encoutered too many twisty roads yet, but this thing is so superior to my former bike in that department that a direct comparison wouldn't really be fair anyways.
Economy and range: so far I'm gettting just over 40 MPG, according to the computer. I know that will likely improve with some more mileage. I notice that with one bar left on the fuel guage, it takes just over 4 gallons to fill it up. So I guess that means I had about 2 and a half gallons left, or about 100 miles. I've only put 87 octane in it and it seems to like that just fine. I reckon that all means I can travel at my normal maximum highway speed of around 80 MPH for a solid three hours between stops if I wanted to. That's well beyond my current endurance. I need to stretch the legs and flex the hips more often than that.
Performance: what can I say...the FJR is a rocketship. I've only had four motorcycles in my lifetime and the FJR is my first one with what I would call a "modern" high tech engine and suspension. The power is, umm...intoxicating? Seductive? Well, lets say its ample, at very least. Even while taking it kind of easy during the first thousand miles or so. When I get more proficient at piloting this bike, and if I can get used to winding it up to 7 or 8 grand (the Fatboy's redline was around 5.5K), its gonna be even more fun. I might have to start setting aside money for regular tire changes.
Style: this motorcycle makes me look WAY cooler than I really am. I'm barely able to pull it off. Lol. I've gotten lots of compliments on it already. I can't wait till tomorrow morning when I'm gonna ride it to work for the first time. There's a small group of guys on the base who ride, and they'll all see it in the lot. I know they'll be asking who's it is. It will be the only S/T bike there. The other guys are evenly split between H-D's and pure sport bikes. I think I'll ride in tomorrow in full touring trim, then on Tuesday I'll take all the bags off and put the standard windshield on. They'll all think its a different bike. Hehe.
Farkles and farkle-ability: so far I've added some frame sliders from OES, and a semi-permanent mount for either my cell phone or GPS. I put a velcro pad on top of the brake reservoir for my radar detector. That works fine. I cut out around the screws for access to the reservoir. I really want to find a good helmet lock and need to figure out a clean professional quality way to power a phone, GPS and radar detector simultaneously.
Overall, I love this bike. I give it a solid 9 out of 10 for its fun, capability and flexibility. I was also considering a Concours 14 but couldn't even find one to test ride. And the Yamaha dealer is literally 100 yards from my house, so buying the FJR made alot of sense. So far this dealer is very accomodating and helpful. Maintenance shouldn't be a problem. The dealer has also gotten me in touch with some other Yamaha riders in the area and he is genuinely concerned that I'm happy with my purchase - he has nothing to worry about. Anyways, I hope this write-up can help some other folks decide whether the FJR is right for them.
Joe
I bought my 09 a couple weeks ago and finally took a little trip to Little Rock on it. Here are my impressions/observations. Let me start by saying I've been riding for about 15 years but not very many miles at all. This was my first multi-day ride ever. It was only about 400 miles total, but that's a record for me.
Cargo capacity: I beefed up the under-seat toolkit with a tire patch kit and found a small 12V tire inflator that fits under there like it was made for the bike ($19 at Wal-Mart). I have the Yamaha trunk in addition to of course, the standard side bags. I've always tended to over-pack for any trip. The side bags and the excellent soft liners hold quite a bit MORE than I expected. I filled each liner pretty full and had no trouble at all inserting them into the hard bags and shutting them both. I ended up wedging more items in there on top of the liners and still had room for more. By contrast, the trunk holds a bit less than I expected, probably due to the fact that much of the outside volume of it is unusable on the inside. The rear of the trunk extends out to a kind of a point, but the inside is roughly rectangular. I guess the "unuseable" volume contains all the latch/lock mechanism. It will hold my large full face helmet, gloves, and maybe a lightweight rainsuit, but no more. Its also only rated for 11 lbs of cargo. It wasn't a problem because I was able to put everything I needed in the saddlebags, then used the trunk just for overflow if I decided to take off a layer while on the road. I have a large, multi-expandable tank bag that I planned to use but didn't need at all for this weekend trip. I carried a small laptop, a DSLR camera, 2 days of clothes, a pair of sneakers, ditty bag, raingear, an extra fleece jacket, a spring jacket, ballcap, and a nice selection of cigars, all in the saddlebags. I feel pretty sure I bought the right bike for traveling.
Comfort wise, I'm coming from a H-D Fatboy (2008) that I was never all that comfortable on for more than 30 minutes. My hands would be buzzing and lower back and butt would hurt pretty bad. I was skeptical about the FJR's riding position for long distances, but after reading about the "Master Yoda riding position" I thought I would concentrate on maintaining the right spinal curvature and tension. I'm 6'3", 220# and have the Yamaha "comfort" seat in the low position, and the handlebars in the aft position. I was pleasantly surprised that the only discomfort I had was a very mild soreness right at my tailbone for about 10 minutes after getting off the bike. I didn't notice any numbness in my hands or feet from vibration. My average speed was 75 to 80 MPH, mostly on I-40, so the tach was near 4000 alot of the time. No issues with vibration, at least not compared to a Harley. At any slower speeds its just smoooooooth. Noise and buffeting: I was using the Yamaha "Touring" windscreen, but at my height it still isn't tall enough to be effective. If I ducked down a few inches it suddenly got quiet and calm. I guess I need to keep looking for the right windshield, but I don't really mind the wind on my helmet. The sound keeps me in touch with how truly fast this machine is. The large screen does seem to keep much of the wind blast off the hands due to its little flares at the bottom, especially if you keep your hands toward the inside of the grips.
Stability is nothing short of impressive. With the trunk installed and the fairly high, upright seating position I think this bike is more top-heavy than my Fatboy was, and definitely has a larger cross section to cross winds and those scary wind vortices you get from the huge semi trucks. I could feel the forces of the turbulent wind blasts but the big FJR just soldiered on in a straight line with no input required from me. That includes blowing past some trucks at really excessive speeds (I hate being beside a truck). I haven't encoutered too many twisty roads yet, but this thing is so superior to my former bike in that department that a direct comparison wouldn't really be fair anyways.
Economy and range: so far I'm gettting just over 40 MPG, according to the computer. I know that will likely improve with some more mileage. I notice that with one bar left on the fuel guage, it takes just over 4 gallons to fill it up. So I guess that means I had about 2 and a half gallons left, or about 100 miles. I've only put 87 octane in it and it seems to like that just fine. I reckon that all means I can travel at my normal maximum highway speed of around 80 MPH for a solid three hours between stops if I wanted to. That's well beyond my current endurance. I need to stretch the legs and flex the hips more often than that.
Performance: what can I say...the FJR is a rocketship. I've only had four motorcycles in my lifetime and the FJR is my first one with what I would call a "modern" high tech engine and suspension. The power is, umm...intoxicating? Seductive? Well, lets say its ample, at very least. Even while taking it kind of easy during the first thousand miles or so. When I get more proficient at piloting this bike, and if I can get used to winding it up to 7 or 8 grand (the Fatboy's redline was around 5.5K), its gonna be even more fun. I might have to start setting aside money for regular tire changes.
Style: this motorcycle makes me look WAY cooler than I really am. I'm barely able to pull it off. Lol. I've gotten lots of compliments on it already. I can't wait till tomorrow morning when I'm gonna ride it to work for the first time. There's a small group of guys on the base who ride, and they'll all see it in the lot. I know they'll be asking who's it is. It will be the only S/T bike there. The other guys are evenly split between H-D's and pure sport bikes. I think I'll ride in tomorrow in full touring trim, then on Tuesday I'll take all the bags off and put the standard windshield on. They'll all think its a different bike. Hehe.
Farkles and farkle-ability: so far I've added some frame sliders from OES, and a semi-permanent mount for either my cell phone or GPS. I put a velcro pad on top of the brake reservoir for my radar detector. That works fine. I cut out around the screws for access to the reservoir. I really want to find a good helmet lock and need to figure out a clean professional quality way to power a phone, GPS and radar detector simultaneously.
Overall, I love this bike. I give it a solid 9 out of 10 for its fun, capability and flexibility. I was also considering a Concours 14 but couldn't even find one to test ride. And the Yamaha dealer is literally 100 yards from my house, so buying the FJR made alot of sense. So far this dealer is very accomodating and helpful. Maintenance shouldn't be a problem. The dealer has also gotten me in touch with some other Yamaha riders in the area and he is genuinely concerned that I'm happy with my purchase - he has nothing to worry about. Anyways, I hope this write-up can help some other folks decide whether the FJR is right for them.
Joe
