MCN FJR survey

[Yamaduke]

Survey says! Most owners are men 50-64, Man are you guys old!

 

[Bounce]

I am shocked that Russell was not even mentioned for custom saddles. HMMM.

a lot of people are happy with pizza while some enjoy a fine steak.

notice how most of the article seemed to think the cutoff for the start of the model (in the us) was 2004 until the last page when 2003s got mentioned. that was also apparent in their survey when they only included A and AE as options (no standard, nonABS option to select).

 

[JimLor]

Only chronologically! Old that is.

 

[Wolfhound]

Survey says! Most owners are men 50-64, Man are you guys old!

Is it because we filled out the survey and you youngster didn't ?

 

[ELP_JC]

That article is obsolete by now, with '08 models around the corner. If that article had included '07 bikes, overall ratings would have gone down considerably IMO, due to the altitude sickness and clutch problems alone, especially on a 5-yr-old platform. And even after a year of these problems, most dealers claim not knowing anything about them; ridiculous.

I also don't think that only MCN subscribers make a statistically correct sample to represent ALL FJR owners, but that's just me. It's like making a similar survey about a car from the 'Robb Report' magazine; very few subscribers to be a representative sample IMO. Without '07s in there, it's useless to me anyway. And if they got all their responses in the last few weeks, not including '07s seems like a very biased decision. Not impressed with their 'objectivity', but I guess for diehard Yamaha owners, it was music to their ears. Future sales numbers will tell the true story, and that's what matters at the end. And that's what makes manufacturers get off their butts. Later.

JC

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

That article is obsolete by now, with '08 models around the corner. If that article had included '07 bikes, overall ratings would have gone down considerably IMO, due to the altitude sickness and clutch problems alone, especially on a 5-yr-old platform. And even after a year of these problems, most dealers claim not knowing anything about them; ridiculous.
I also don't think that only MCN subscribers make a statistically correct sample to represent ALL FJR owners, but that's just me. It's like making a similar survey about a car from the 'Robb Report' magazine; very few subscribers to be a representative sample IMO. Without '07s in there, it's useless to me anyway. And if they got all their responses in the last few weeks, not including '07s seems like a very biased decision. Not impressed with their 'objectivity', but I guess for diehard Yamaha owners, it was music to their ears. Future sales numbers will tell the true story, and that's what matters at the end. And that's what makes manufacturers get off their butts. Later.

JC

People that frequent this forum are the best informed people regarding the FJR. Some dealers don't even bother ordering these bikes. My dealer knows about the tick, altitude surge on the 07, the jumpy throttle on the 06...the maintenance manager owns an FJR. I guess we're lucky in this area to have such a great dealer. Lucky is right. Maintenance techs and managers don't have the time we have to comb through this forum. How many models do they support? Generally the FJR represents a tiny percentage of a dealer's sales as the Star line constitutes most of their sales. In fact, at 14 2007 models sold, the FJR represents only around 3% of street bikes sold by our local dealer and they sell more dirt bikes than street. No wonder the dealers around the country don't know much about the FJR.

Oops, here I am being an apologist again. Well, I know their full time job is fixing Yamaha's but if 97% of that time is fixing other bikes and only 7% of the 3% of bikes they deal with have a tick problem, is it a surprise they haven't heard about it? No. Since we know so much about the bike due this great forum, take it upon yourselves to print out the relevant threads and educate your dealer. Make it easy for them to help you. Take some responsibility for buying a unique machine and take some action to take care of it and help the dealer network. The more we educate them, the better our product will be supported.

As far as the 07's go, perhaps they thought it would be best to get opinions from people that have had some time with their bike. You know how people can tend to jump to conclusions based on a small amount of evaluation.

 

[RonBB]

Thanks for posting the MCN link. I would like to have seen a little more distinction between Gen I & Gen II issues in the article. I do hope that Yamaha comes through with some relief for the altitude surge issues in the 07's. Overall for a general M/C audience I think the article was fairly accurate & fair.

 

[Bob Hughes]

Survey says! Most owners are men 50-64, Man are you guys old!

I won't turn 50 until March! You can just call me "kid".

 

[twowheelnut]

People that frequent this forum are the best informed people regarding the FJR. Some dealers don't even bother ordering these bikes.

Interesting comment. Clip from an email I recieved today from an '07 owner who I've been trying to assist on several issues:

Ironically, I was in Alabama today at D&H Cycle and spoke at length with Jerrold, the owner. BTW, nothing wrong w/my FJR, I just went for a little 500 mile ride today and ended up near there and stopped by. I just love the 79 year old Parts Dept Mgr, Virginia! Anyway, Jerrold said he hadn't heard any updates on the altitude issue. Interestingly, he had just returned from the Yamaha Dealer show in Orlando late this morning and said *HE* will be making changes this upcoming year (2008) with the FJRs in response to "Yamaha losing the big picture with FJR customers". Said his last run was 110 FJRs.... this year (2008) he said he'll order "no more than three." Yes, three. He says the PDP issue has "caused a huge problem." Also of interest, if not shocking, he also said "I've been told there are Yamaha dealers who know absolutely nothing about the FJR. I met a dealer this past weekend who said he'd never seen the FJR in person." Can you imagine having to pull into that dealership while on the road with a disabling problem? Holy crap, that's scary!!!

 

[RadioHowie]

Survey says! Most owners are men 50-64, Man are you guys old!

I won't turn 50 until March! You can just call me "kid".

If you're only 49, then who is the old fart ON THE LEFT in your avatar picture?

 

[Pjturbo]

HEY, TDave!! I'm not old. Are you?

Phil

 

[turbodave_98]

HEY, TDave!! I'm not old. Are you?
Phil

Got lots of miles on me , :clapping: but no, I'm not OLD, I'm merely VINTAGE and getting better each day!! Phil, I know you would understand these words, along with all the other VINTAGE FJR Riders. We shall be remembered!! :clapping:

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

People that frequent this forum are the best informed people regarding the FJR. Some dealers don't even bother ordering these bikes.

Interesting comment. Clip from an email I recieved today from an '07 owner who I've been trying to assist on several issues:

Ironically, I was in Alabama today at D&H Cycle and spoke at length with Jerrold, the owner. BTW, nothing wrong w/my FJR, I just went for a little 500 mile ride today and ended up near there and stopped by. I just love the 79 year old Parts Dept Mgr, Virginia! Anyway, Jerrold said he hadn't heard any updates on the altitude issue. Interestingly, he had just returned from the Yamaha Dealer show in Orlando late this morning and said *HE* will be making changes this upcoming year (2008) with the FJRs in response to "Yamaha losing the big picture with FJR customers". Said his last run was 110 FJRs.... this year (2008) he said he'll order "no more than three." Yes, three. He says the PDP issue has "caused a huge problem." Also of interest, if not shocking, he also said "I've been told there are Yamaha dealers who know absolutely nothing about the FJR. I met a dealer this past weekend who said he'd never seen the FJR in person." Can you imagine having to pull into that dealership while on the road with a disabling problem? Holy crap, that's scary!!!

I read this and stumbled when I read about D&H cutting their order. The reason they are cutting their order is more in regards to Yamaha coming off the PDP program and requiring them to state early how many bikes they want instead of giving them a wide window for ordering. He can't take the risk of ordering 40 FJR's and only selling 30 especially at the prices they offer.

Now that Yamaha has some surplus FJRs they are offering them up to D&H again, but it's too late and he's just waiting a couple of weeks before he puts in his order for the '08s.

We talked about the support from the factory, or lack of support in regard to some of the troubling issues like the altitude surge. Well, he has one customer with that problem and Yamaha said before they can do anything, he has to duplicate the issue. He's in Alabamba...there isn't anywhere close enough to him that is high enough for him to try. Hmmm

He'd be happier if Yamaha was honest, or kept better track of the complaints that come in. When someone at Yamaha says, " we haven't heard of it" are they:

1) Lying?

2) Suffering from memory loss?

3) Suffering from not having a problem tracking database that can automatically search know problems once the customer service tech starts typing, "Altitude surge"?

That last thing is the type of system I have seen many times at call centers when I worked at MCI, HP, Intel and Dorado Software. It's not rare and if Yamaha doesn't have one for their tech support, they should get one.

Anyway, the PDP issue is that the new ordering process makes it difficult for D&H to support the model. He loves the FJR and said that in all the years he has done business, he has never seen ANY motorcycle receive such overwhelmingly positive remarks from his customers. However, he needs a longer window for his ordering period than Yamaha is offering dealerships. Coming to him at the end of the season saying you can have 30 more now is too late. His customers that wanted them are gone.

Also, he says these numbers in the report look like a total of FJRs sold in all model years. He said Yamaha sold around 3,000 FJR's in the last 12 months, not 10,800

 

[ELP_JC]

He said Yamaha sold around 3,000 FJR's in the last 12 months, not 10,800

That sounds more realistic.

Hey, could you please explain to me (if you want, of course) how the process of ordering FJRs has been over the years, including the 'PDP' you just mentioned?

I knew initially customers had to pre-order bikes, but later on dealers started ordering them like if the customers had paid a deposit, but they didn't. A year after, I think '05, they required a customer name to order them again, or something like that. What I don't know is at what point they started delivering bikes normally ('06 or '07?). And if they were 'normal' indeed, which includes 6 months of 'free' (included) floor time before they have to pay for the bikes. Or some other weird arrangement. Just curious.

And what's the deal now? Ordering in advance for the whole year? Man, that's putting dealers between a rock and a hard place. If that's the case, the FJR is going to become much more, ahem, 'unique'. Interesting how marketing can severely affect sales with the bike having nothing to do with it. Thanks man.

JC

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

He said Yamaha sold around 3,000 FJR's in the last 12 months, not 10,800

That sounds more realistic.

Hey, could you please explain to me (if you want, of course) how the process of ordering FJRs has been over the years, including the 'PDP' you just mentioned?

I knew initially customers had to pre-order bikes, but later on dealers started ordering them like if the customers had paid a deposit, but they didn't. A year after, I think '05, they required a customer name to order them again, or something like that. What I don't know is at what point they started delivering bikes normally ('06 or '07?). And if they were 'normal' indeed, which includes 6 months of 'free' (included) floor time before they have to pay for the bikes. Or some other weird arrangement. Just curious.

And what's the deal now? Ordering in advance for the whole year? Man, that's putting dealers between a rock and a hard place. If that's the case, the FJR is going to become much more, ahem, 'unique'. Interesting how marketing can severely affect sales with the bike having nothing to do with it. Thanks man.

JC

I'm not the consumate expert on how bikes were ordered. I could find out. But pretty much I know that -3 - 05 were PDP, which meant the customers were supposed to put down $500 when they ordered their FJR. They then waited for Yamaha to build and ship. Dealers got around this in all years by making up customers, or using employee names, but we don't know about that

in '05 so many bikes were sold that Yamaha opened a second ordering period for additional orders.

I don't know the current requirements, or odering period, but apparently it is much shorter requiring the dealer to predict their sales. Like you said, they are in a tough spot if they over order and are frustrated when they under-order.

 

[raclow]

Is the tire graph wrong in the article???

I'm not happy with the dealer knowledge of this bike in my area. While my current dealer tries to help and are nice about it, they don't know a lot about this bike. It's like a foreign object to them. I have printed things from this forum and taken to the dealer to support my feelings about service issues.....like the TPS. After addressing the TPS with them, a few months later comes the re-call.

There hasn't been that many of these bikes purchased in our area and I believe a lot of the inexperience with the bike comes from the lack of sales and seeing this bike more and more in the shop...for service and maintenance.

Anyway, it would be nice to have a perfect world and every dealer know this bike like the back of their hand. There are many that know this bike well but it certainly doesn't represent the majority.

 

[devanator]

I don't know the current requirements, or odering period, but apparently it is much shorter requiring the dealer to predict their sales. Like you said, they are in a tough spot if they over order and are frustrated when they under-order.

Was at my dealer today and he was finishing his order for Yamaha bikes for the next season. He said he had to have his order in for how many bikes he thought he would need next year. It doesn't sound to easy to be a dealer and try to guess how many bikes your going to need.

He also said he GOT INTO IT with a sales rep for Yamaha at the dealer show with regard to the new model Raiders. Its expensive for what you get.

devanator

 

[Dan23]

Regarding the MCN article, barely a single issue I mentioned with the bike was mentioned in the article. OTOH, Yamaha has addressed several of the issues I mentioned in my survey on the '08 version.

Regarding the C14, I saw one the other night. I cannot imagine a more vanilla pudding impression motorcycle-- actually a lack of impression. The color, for example, is a stunning as a brown Buick... but that comparison doesn't do brown Buicks justice. I'll be keeping my FJR for the forseeable future. The C14 needs restyling and better colors; I don't care how wonderful the bike mags say the bike is. Bike mags always give big raves about new models... only later do they print their reservations and criticisms. Oh, yeah, also, give me a real key for the ignition and put the $$ into something I need, like heated grips and a temperature readout that is the default reading on the dash.

 

[Bounce]

I also don't think that only MCN subscribers make a statistically correct sample to represent ALL FJR owners, but that's just me.JC

that's why a version of the survey was distributed to all the FJR forums so people who wanted to, even if they weren't MCN subscribers, could participate. perhaps it's not representative of those who didn't take advantage of that oportunity, but in that case, who cares?

 

[twowheelnut]

that's why a version of the survey was distributed to all the FJR forums so people who wanted to, even if they weren't MCN subscribers, could participate. perhaps it's not representative of those who didn't take advantage of that oportunity, but in that case, who cares?

Really? I missed this, got link?