Goodbye FJR. Time to move on.

[RedPorscheKilla]

Silver,

Congrats to your new buy, glad you've made it outta tat crash alive! This is key.

Like the other said, the FeeJay is a premier bike, but surely not the only one. Beemer are top and ones choice, you will have fun with it. I can feel ya for having the thought to drop your bike because of the seat height. Well I used to stand flat on my foot, until my suspension farkle did raise her for that 5/8th of that inch, now it's toeing the bike instead of walking and 600+ lbs ain't a cake.... So you did right with a lower build bike, confidence is key! I admire you for that you're jumping back on day horse and comment you for it.

Good luck and break a leg on your rides to come! We're riders and love what we do....this community is awesome and so don't be a stranger, as I'm curious of your riding reports if that Beemer!

V

RPK

 

[Hornet Pilot]

Hey Jill, I'm also glad to hear your looling for more thrills and fewer spills with the new scout. Just a quick question, how tall are you and what didn't you like about the FJR handling after lowering it? How much did you lower it and did you do both the rear (with links) as well as the front? Have fun on the Beemer.

 

[AKjitsu]

A friend of ours recently retired from the Air Force. She immediately hopped on her F800 (darned similar to yours) in Salt Lake City and headed for the Florida Keys. She then stopped by our place in Arizona on her way from FL to Death Valley. We couldn’t get the smile off her face with a crowbar.

I suspect you’re going to have a grand time.

 

[dcarver]

The first time I ever met and saw you ride, I wondered how you did it, that big tall bike and you tippy-toeing to reach the ground. I am actually amazed you held out with the fjr as long as you have, Jill.

I rode the DL650 to Canada last summer and absolutely LOVED it.

Bigger isn't always better, YES, girls?

 

[bgross]

Happy trails wherever, whenever, and whatever you ride!

Enjoy!

 

[johnny80s]

BMW rules and all the others drool! That is if you have a big enough wallet.

 

[Fairlaner]

Here u go Jill all cleaned up and waiting on Julie......

First and last.....and Jill your FJR was VIN #35..

 

[GPRIDER]

Glad you are still going to ride. Hope you stay on the forum with us.

GP

 

[Fairlaner]

She ain't going anywhere.....

R

 

[rogdeb]

You'd better be stickin' around Jilly

......... an FJR meet wouldn't be the same without you n Andy. You're making a good choice with the beemer.

 

[RadioHowie]

Damn, that's a good lookin' '03!!! Hard to believe it's a GRANDMOTHER to the punk-kid on the right!!

 

[Patriot]

/sarcasm alert

 

[Granger]

Wish you the best of luck on the new Beemer. I have also struggled with the seat height on the FJR. When I first got my '09 I was trying to back it into my garage while straddling it, on a stock seat that was too high for me, and over we went, softly but still an embarrassing and sobering moment, and I was thankful I'd had sliders installed. I could not pick that sucker up again, too heavy with a full tank. Had to get help from the neighbor (who rides a Harley that seats 6 inches closer to the ground and he laughed like hell).

Since then I have gotten enough lowering with a custom seat to solve the problem, also lowered the pegs and put highway pegs on it so that I can stretch my legs on long distance rides. Now I can ~just~ get the balls of both feet down so its not a panic at stops. But if I couldn't solve the problem? Gone. I wonder what the riders do in Japan with an average height of less than 5'6"?

Anyway, change is a good thing. Bikes have personalities and sometimes it takes a bunch of dates to find the right one, and even then "variety is the spice...". Good luck!

 

[leedavis]

Good move. You'll have more fun with something you can pick on and grab by the scruff of its neck when it misbehaves.

 

[Bugnatr]

Jill, I am looking forward to seeing your new ride at GOTC in May.

Nice to see the Feejeer is staying in the family.

 

[Silver Penguin]

Great photo. Richard. I had no idea the bike was #35.

After all the good wishes posted, how could I possibly leave this group? Besides, our room for GOTC in Goleta is booked.

In answer to the questions posted, my bike had Kouba links on the back then Andy did something with the front, to match. The side stand had to be ground down but the lean angle of the bike was still precarious. I had to be very wary of where I parked. The center stand didn't work the same either. The bike would scrape on speed bumps. Andy rode the bike more aggressively in the turns than I did and said it handled much better at stock height than lowered.

I am just over 5'2" and my inseam is 26". The low frame GS has a seat height of 29" which puts me on my toes but more solidly than the taller FJR and with less weight. I'm loving the idea of ABS and heated grips, which my Gen I didn't have. I've also opted for the traction control and tire pressure monitoring.

This decision was pretty much made during the Eureka trip. I needed valet parking pretty much every time we stopped. Gas stations were a thrill a minute and I wasn't comfortable taking the bike out on my own. That's no way to ride, especially when I look back on how confident I felt on the 650. But both bikes were paid for and it didn't make sense to go out and buy another one. Then fate intervened and I didn't have the GS anymore. I really liked the F800 but that's more dirt oriented and doesn't have a low enough option for the seat. The G650 that I had, only had 50HP and while it would do highway speed (once I got a decent screen) the poor little bike was near its limit. The new bike is a twin and has 75HP. The F800 has the same motor but is tuned differently and puts out 80HP but I'm told that the detuned 700 is smoother.

As of a couple of days ago, my bike has been built and is on it's way to the docks at Bremerhaven then via container ship to New York. It will travel the rest of the way by road and arrive in CA in about a month. When I pick it up, it will have a custom mount with auxiliary lighting as well as the engine bars, bash plate and tall windshield. I wanted lights on the 650 but there was no good place to hang them. The stock headlight was wimpy and partially to blame for my oopsie, when I didn't see what I needed to see on an unlit road.

Counting the days now!

 

[Hornet Pilot]

Jill, thanks very much for the 'height' and lowering links' info. The reason I asked is that I have just installed lowering links after riding my bike for 7 years! I have always had to be very cautious where I parked, etc, etc, etc and decided to try going a bit lower and see what happened. Also I just installed an RDL seat and that just made things worse. Anyway, with it being cold, icy and just plain crummy weather wise now it gave me some thing else to play with until Spring finally appears again. Have fun on the new ride and thanks again!

 

[user 213]

I wish you the best with the new F700GS. We have a F650GS twin in the garage that I have some history with. Considering your mileage on the FJR, I hope you enjoy a wonderful ownership experience.

If you haven't looked around for crash bars or skid plates, just seen what the dealer offers, do peek at the AltRider stuff. And Touratech offers some things too that may appeal to you better than the SWMotec stuff that most BMW dealers sell/push.

My wife added HID headlights and Aux lights to hers. She doesn't use the Aux. lights much, but the HID headlights are a big plus and save a few watts for other farkles like heated gear.

Sadly, there just aren't many bikes out there in the <500 lbs range that are capable touring bikes with seat heights below 32". The wife also has a custom seat with a bull nose treatment to narrow the front of the seat and lower it. It fits her well and helps with the lack of strength, but when fully loaded with side bags and top box, I still valet the bike a lot. She does have the larger aluminum bags though.

Keep in mind that the little GS weight of 427 or so does not include any luggage. By the time you kit it up with bash guards and skid plate, and add three piece luggage you're getting back into the 550 lbs + territory.

I hope they re-designed the center stand for the F700. It was an option on the F650 twin and deploying it sucks with a tiny little ball on the end to get it down, then you have to shift your foot over to the pad where you can get leverage to get the bike up on it. If it's still that design, you might consider some modification to it right off the bat to improve it's use-ability. Perhaps just a welded on bit on the ball and a gusset to give the potential to use that for deployment.

 

[Fly Bye]

Hey Silver, glad to hear you are back on two wheels.

Ride that BMW with with a smile on your face.

It doesn't matter what you ride, just so you ride.

Enjoy

 

[Silver Penguin]

Jill, thanks very much for the 'height' and lowering links' info. The reason I asked is that I have just installed lowering links after riding my bike for 7 years! I have always had to be very cautious where I parked, etc, etc, etc and decided to try going a bit lower and see what happened. Also I just installed an RDL seat and that just made things worse. Anyway, with it being cold, icy and just plain crummy weather wise now it gave me some thing else to play with until Spring finally appears again. Have fun on the new ride and thanks again!

My very first ride on the FJR was with a sofa pillow and duct tape instead of the seat. I came from a big V-Twin cruiser so I knew about heavy bikes but not about fast or fuel injected bikes. On the cruiser, I had the balls of my feet almost down on the ground. During that first ride, I ran out of gears on the surface streets around town. Then I learned to shift at the right place for that bike rather than the cruiser. I could have done that whole ride in first gear! The pillow helped me with not having to worry about the reach, while getting used to the significantly different bike. When the seat went back on, I wore boots with an extra two inches added to the soles.

The first farkle was a custom seat in the hope of getting it lower to the ground. Sadly, the seat maker offered me the choice of low or comfortable. I chose the latter. When I got a similar seat out on my 650, it raises the height from being on the balls of my feet to bring on my toes again. By that time, I was comfortable enough with the little GS that it wasn't an issue.

I'm practicing my reach for the ground skills by riding a Yamaha WR250 right now. The 37" seat height has been lowered two inches with links, and the seat shaved a bit. Getting on and off is a challenge but once the suspension is compressed, I can lean over a bit and get one toe down. That should surely make the GS feel a lot more secure, right?