FJR capable of sticking to Honda CBR1000RR, Kawasaki 636, and BMW K1200

[SMC]

:clapping: :assassin: :yahoo: Yes, I have definitive proof this bike is a great sports-tourer. Was on a 2,000 mile ride last week through Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

Friday was on the leg from Snowmass, Co. to Durango Colorado.

Had a nice lunch at Ouray, Co. and got on the bike to leave town.

I was in left lane behind a white pick-up truck with a trailer and a few passenger cars. The right lane was two Harleys, a car, BMW K1200 and Kawasaki 636, a car, then a Harley and a Goldwing.

Light turns green and we all start moving forward. Then a cager in my lane decides he wants to turn left.

Right lane clears out and I'm stuck behind a cager and the pick-up with the trailer in the left lane.

We finally make it past the intersection and start the climb toward Red Mountain pass 11,008 feet up.

First right hand curve was taken at a sedate and legal speed as I was stuck behind the pick-up and trailer.

Second left hand curve was taken at a sedate and legal speed and we pass a Honda CBR1000RR parked to the right side of the road of the left hand turn.

I look in my rear view mirror and here comes the CBR. He stays on my tail for about three turns then opens it up and flys by me, the pick-up and a car.

Pretty ballsey move as this is a two lane road...one in each direction and we are in the curves with traffic coming steadily in the opposite direction.

I watch the guy on the CBR go past other cars and then catch up to the Harley and Goldwing. They decide that they aren't going to go down easy to this crotch rocket and I see them start to fly forwards, the gauntlet has been thrown down and they have accepted the challenge.

I am surprised at what a good job the Harley and Goldwing do of holding this guy off at extra legal speeds while passing cars and catching up to the K1200 and 636.

Then the K1200 and 636 decide they aren't going to fall to a Harley and Goldwing and off they go.

Now you have five motorcycles, a Honda CBR1000RR hounding a Harley and a Goldwing which are breathing down the neck of a BMW K1200 and Kawi 636 all going pretty fast and passing cars and catching the two Harleys way out front.

The two Harleys see these boys coming up fast and decide they are going to play and off they go.

I'm sitting back here watching all this and I decide this isn't going to be a fun ride behind a pick-up and trailer for the next 23 miles over the pass and back down to Silverton.

So I decide to ratch it up some and see if I can catch those seven other motorcycles out in front of me.

I do my best and pass the truck and all the cagers separating me from the other two wheelers who are still passing traffic way up there.

I finally get behind the Goldwing who I must admit was doing an outstanding job. Looked a little scary to see such a big bike leaned over like that through the turns.

Got past him and set my sights on the Harley.

Got past the Harley on the outside of a turn.

Set my sights on the K1200 and hung with him for a series of turns then out accelerated him on a turn into a straight and blew by him.

Now the Kawasaki 636. I must off been on that guys six for about four miles when I guess relentless pressure just made him decide he didn't want to play anymore and he let me by.

Now the two Harleys up there who were doing their best to keep up with the CBR who was now out in front and they were all passing the cagers.

Got by the cagers in short order and now tucked in behind the Harleys. Got by both of them within just a few turns.

Now the CBR who is still out there passing the cagers.

I start knocking off the cagers and trucks one by one pacing the CBR.

After a couple of miles of this I am behind the CBR. We are doing some pretty thrilling and serious riding. Posted speeds on some of these hairpins is 10 mph and the big curves are posted 50 mph. We are well above that and the lean angles are definitely thrilling and adrenaline soaked.

Left, right, left, right, left, right, accelerate and upshift on the straights, downshift quickly and set up for the next set of twistie turnies...gee, no guard rails again and several hundred foot drop off, not good.

We are passing traffic in our direction and tucking in when traffic comes in the opposite direction. We have to make some midcourse adjustments for the occasional rock that has fallen in the middle of the lane.

There are a couple of straight sections long enough that we both go north of speeds that would earn us performance awards in Montana for wasting natural resources.

Finally I guess Mr. CBR gets tired of the pressure and my constant presence that he waves me by as we descend into Silverton.

He takes the left into Silverton and I take the right fork toward Durango and Molas Pass.

That was definitely the most intense half an hour riding experience I have ever had. The 06 FJR is a one capable platform. It was loaded down with both saddlebags having about 23 lbs of stuff in each one.

Yes, it was dangerous.

Yes, it was stupid.

Yes, it could of ended in a very bad way.

Yes, I should never do anything like that again.

Yes, I am glad that no one got hurt or injured.

Yes, I pushed the envelope on that ride....But I have never felt soooooo alive and pumped in my life.

Thank you Mr. FJR for being there for me!!!!

Even when I ski raced for ten years my slalom runs maybe lasted about a minute. My giant slalom runs almost one and a half minutes and the downhill was over in under two and a half minutes.

This was one half hour of life at the most INTENSE level. yes, Yes, YES!!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

[FJRski]

Now that's a ride report

 

[Toecutter]

You forgot to add that it was all done on a closed course with professional riders and not in excess of posted speed limits, kinda like my recent encounter with the black Lamorghini.

 

[OhioFJR1300]

+1. I would have done the same thing. Sounds fun. :yahoo:

 

[exskibum]

Hate to pop your bubble, but there's no way you're keeping up with a CBR 1000RR with equal riders and both of you pushing the bikes. The FJR is no dog, but with me on it (Wilbers shock and spring) and me on my CBR 1100XX (Penske and Traxxion) it's no contest which bike is going to run away. Two weeks ago, with a better rider than me on a CBR 954 and me on the XX, I got left over and over (he'd slow and let me gain periodically) during the course of a couple hours over in the coast range out of Redding and Red Bluff. The 954 isn't quite what the CBR 1000RR is, but close -- the XX is a pig by comparison and the FJR a fatted pig. I'm not as good a rider as Jeff is, but no slouch and the XX has got lotsa engine for trying to close in the straights. I wouldn't have been able to even stay close on the FJR.

Again, not saying it's a dog -- the FJR IS a remarkably good handling and powerful bike for its size. But it's about 170 lbs heavier than the CBR 1000RR, has lower pegs, less HP (but more torque) and just isn't as quick or as fast in twisties. Now, you get an unschooled rider on damn near anything, and he's going to be surprised that your FJR is as fast as it is (but it's mostly the rider).

I know exactly what you mean about skiing and running twisties. Exactly how I feel -- finding GS lines in every corner, "skiing" roads for hundreds of miles; a lot is comparable after skiing 52 years and on motorcycles 41 or 42 yrs.

 

[temp357]

I always say that motorcycling is like skiing without the exercise componenet

 

[radman]

Always gotta be at least one poo poo.

 

[Thug]

Always gotta be at least one poo poo.

+ 1 let him have his fun...

 

[shu]

yeah, the rider is ALWAYS a factor. and an 1800 wing in the hands of a competent rider is a scary thing to behold.

i got sweaty palms just reading the report. thanks, man.

shu

 

[Fjroamer]

check my post on "FJR killed a Harley today" Don't take the FJR too seriously as someday , when you least expect it, someone will come up to you and say: "smile, your'e on ..."

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoy the Feejer but know it has it's place. (as do I)

 

[sparky3008]

This is definitely taking a gun to a knife fight but I couldn't resist.

The other day sitting at a light behind a good 7 cars a Harley goes by me in the left lane and when he gets right beside me he blips his throttle. It immediatley irritated me a bit. He was behind 2 cars and when the light turned green he moved over to my lane. He is now about 5 cars ahead of me.

Now my lane is for people taking a little off right exit to go up to a real nice exit ramp up to a light. Post speed limit on the ramp is 25mph.

I immediately moved over to the left lane, accellerated past all the cars and was now right behind him. I then stayed right behind him until the exit ramp which is where I wanted him because taking him on a straight away would have been like candy from a baby.

On the exit ramp he is going to the inside so I go around him, pass almost immediately and am at the light waiting by the time he comes up and he was trying. He didn't blip his throttle when he came up to me this time.



Great story SMC, had me there right with ya!!!

 

[Blueliner]

I immediately moved over to the left lane, accellerated past all the cars and was now right behind him. I then stayed right behind him until the exit ramp which is where I wanted him because taking him on a straight away would have been like candy from a baby.

and taking an HD on a corner isn't like taking candy from a baby?

 

[tag2501]

Speaking of Gold Wings going faster than physics say, I saw a clip on the Warrior site that showed a Goldwing doing the Dragon. The sparks were flying on every turn and you could hear the hard parts scraping over the noise of the Warrior camera bike, but the guy kept digging and digging through the turns. Really an awesome sight.

 

[SMC]

:blink: Well, back in town after numerous days flying about U.S. and Mexico, and in reply to exskibum, yes everything you say is common knowledge....all I'm saying is on that day, on that road, with the riders that were on those specific motorcycles, the FJR aquitted itself quite well.

There's no arguing that Rossi, or King Kenny in his day on a 250 or 500 could of wiped our collective butts.

I was just pleased that I was able to hang with the BMW K1200, Kawasaki 636, and the CBR1000RR.

I was just relaying that it was an intense experience that lasted more then just a couple of minutes and it was fun and addicting....hope I can control my throttlehand more in the future as I normally am not prone to doing things that will get me noticed by the local Gendarmes or Polizei.

Scott

 

[ohiofjr]

It is always fun to play with the unsuspecting. Very few riders out there recognize feejer for what it is and can't or don't look past the bags. A group of the local kids pulled up next to me at a light today on their loud little sport bikes and sits there revving the snot out of them. Even tho i'm an old fart when the light turned green I just could resist dropping the hammer right along with them. That was this morning and I'm still smiling.

 

[MotorSWATCop]

I've pased many a sportbike while riding the Goldwing at Deal's. Had a guy on a GSXR1000 get pissed at me when we arrived at the store because I was "pushing" him. Another guy on a sv650 wrecked out trying to stay w/me after I passed him. It's all about the rider. It sure is fun to open some eyes though! If you want to see a really good Goldwing rider, look up Yellow Wolf at Deal's. He is ultra smooth and can really scoot. I'm happy that I could keep him in sight!

That was a great ride report though. :clapping:

 

[exskibum]

Not sure I'm disagreeing with anyone here. I own and love an '05 FJR. I know, however, that someone coming to an FJR from a cruiser often thinks this very competent bike is a world beater. It very well may be the best compromise out there in the large sport touring category (why I own it, in fact). It does almost nothing best, but does a LOT of things very close to best. Quoting another old member we don't see much here anymore, at lunch today, MadMike2 pretty well nailed it. Something to the effect that the FJR is so good a sport touring bike that it will make you think it's a sportbike, UNTIL you get into a corner way too fast and it finally tells you "Oops, I'm not a sportbike after all."

I'll say it again: on motorcycles, it is MOSTLY the rider. Yeah, everyone knows that -- NOT. Unless you're at least an amateur racer doing every weekend at the track, you CAN get your ass spanked by someone on almost anything. If you spanked a modern liter sport bike rider on an FJR, Gold Wing, V-Rod or some kind of FLHXYZABC, one of two things occurred: either he wasn't trying, or you were the better rider.

I was proud of myself, thinking MadMike2 (who was following me) was hopefully appreciating my temporary maturity this afternoon when I didn't chase down and stomp the living crap outta the squid on the Harley on 395 south today, after he went by me on my Blackbird wearing shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. He's probably already posted somewhere that he smoked an FJR and a piped XX (never imagining I had 6500 more rpm in the serious snarling HP band to redline). NOT taking issue with your claim -- I agree that the FJR is a LOT of motorcycle, BUT whether you're good or the CBR 1000RR rider is awful, the fact is that if you smoked a liter bike on your FJR, YOU are the better of the two riders -- that simple, has little to do with the bike, end of story.

 

[MCRIDER007]

NOT taking issue with your claim -- I agree that the FJR is a LOT of motorcycle, BUT whether you're good or the CBR 1000RR rider is awful, the fact is that if you smoked a liter bike on your FJR, YOU are the better of the two riders -- that simple, has little to do with the bike, end of story.

I am not disagreeing with anything that has been previously stated but one factor that no one has mentioned is the risk of "racing" on public roads, especially in traffic. The fastest rider on public roads is usually the one who is willing to take the greatest risks. There is a reason that the magazines rent tracks to do their sportbike shootouts, all of the bikes are capable of much more performance than is possible to measure on public roads -- and while the FJR is not going to be able to stick with any modern 600, it still has much more performance than you should use on public roads. Sermon over -- ride safe!

 

[fretbender]

Way cool ride report. . .reminded me of tagging along behind a couple of seriously quick riders over Lolo Pass in Idaho/Montana. The lead guy was on a late model R1 who was followed by an FJR. That was some seriously stupid (and thrilling) riding there for about 20 minutes. . .both of the FJR's leaning WAY off and scraping pegs through the corners and just keeping up with the R1 (mostly). It was pretty easy to tell that the R1 rider was not putting the effort into riding that we were and was able to dust us seemingly at will. There were a couple of times I was at ful throttle, in the fat of the torque curve, rocketing out of a corner, but that R1 was just adding distance between us like nobodys business. Silly stuff. Not recommended (but fun).