Mistaken for BMW?

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I had a guy, driving a Ferrari 360 Spider, ask me if I'd be interested in selling my (FJR) Ducati Desmosedici RR. Sure, $50K and it's yours. For an extra $5K I threw in the nifty kick stand.

I told him it only needed a tune up every 100k miles or three years, that way I figured enough time would pass and he wouldn't be too pissed when the Ducati dealer asked him why he wanted him to tune up a Yamaha. :lmaosmiley:

His girlfriend figured out I was a smart ass long before he did. :love:

Some people have way more money than brains... :focus:

 
I am easily confused since I installed my Cee Bailey screen

FeejerBeemer.jpg


How many think the Feej is on the right? :rolleyes:

How many think the Beem is on the right? :glare:

 
My neighbor told me yesterday that out of all my bikes he "liked my BMW the best". When I told him it was a Yamaha he said he was confused because he saw that my license plate reads "84 BMW". I told him to take another look....because it doesn't say "84 BMW" it says "8A BMW" :lol:

 
Funny axe. I was just thinkin of a vanity plate along those lines... But I don't want to give it out here yet. I gotta check on it first.

 
Yeah about half of the non riders I show the bike to think it's a BMW. I tell them no its not, it's better. Then I explain its more for less. Don't get me wrong I think the BMW's are nice, but when a real thinking person weights our performance and value the FJR wins everytime!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
After 7 months of ownership and 6000 mi...It finally happened this morning at church.

...but I gotta forgive the guy as I sent mixed signals.

My helmet still has a BMW medallion on it from my LT days...and that's what he noticed when I pulled up.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
It could have something to do with the fact that the Japanese engineers who designed the FJR spent a lot of time in Germany with the express purpose of building an UberBMW. I don't think the resemblance to a BMW is mere happenstance. The Japs really caught the Germans by surprise so much so that BMW had to completely redesign the K bikes to stay competitive. The closest thing to a FJR in 2002 was a BMW.
I have had several sport touring type bikes, and ALL of the Japanese ones (until the FJR) had an oscillation when following trucks over 80 mph that was no fun at all. I did not have this problem with Italian or BMW bikes. Now the FJR doesn't exhibit this misbehavior either, and I am thrilled. I think that it has a lot to do with the wind tunnel, and my impression is that Yamaha has done this right on the FJR.

So far no one knows what the bike is, but it gets a lot of 2nd looks. There aren't too many of them around here. Every one seems to have an H-D or an H-D knockoff.

 
Mine has been mistaken for a BMW by my neighbor. The fjr is pretty rare in my part of the country. Those good ole boys all like the harleys.

 
A couple of my neighbors have asked my wife about my new BMW.

They give her a funny look when she tells them, "No, it's a bad a$$ Yamaha!"

 
Happens to me quite often too.
Favorite one was a rather pretty young lady at a gas station that commented "Nice Beemer".

I replied with "Thank you, but it's actually a Yamaha. Wanna go for a ride?"

Without another word, she climbed into her BMW 520 and promptly drove off.

Regrets, I've had a few... :(

Now that's funny right there!

 
I was talking to a couple of guys on Harley's and they said nice "Beemer". I told them it was a Yamaha, and they seemed to lose interest, and then one said. "They are all starting to look alike, can't tell them apart."

I didn't think of it at the time, but I wish I would have replied, " Yeah, kind of like Harley's, they all look the same to me."

 
While gassing up in Lee Vining this past Monday heading home from a 2 day ride, a guy pulling a trailer pulled up next to me to fill up and said "Nice FJR". He said he considered the FJR and the new Connie, but bought a Suzuki Bandit - hmm.

Oh well, at least he can correctly ID the King of Sport Tourers.

Usually the question is just "What Kind of Bike is That?". No matter what year the FJR certainly attracts attention (although it's a proven fact the 2007 A does indeed get the most attention, now that research is here somewhere...).

I am awaiting the chance to do a roll-on and dust some of my old HD brethren.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes I have. Just in the past several weeks by a guy driving a Beemer. He was honking and his passengers were waving. I thought who do I know that drives that car, then I realized what he was driving. When they realized it wasn't a BMW all the friendly jesters suddenly stopped.

 
Went to a Nam Knights rally recently; was one of two non-Harley bikes there (other guy was on a Busa) and the first thing I was asked when I rolled up to the gate was "Is that a BMW?" Look of disbelief when I told him it wasn't. Really didn't get any other comments about it other than when I dropped some change paying the cover: "That'd be easier if you didn't have them gay gloves". Yeah, I guess fingerless would have been easier.

 
Top