I read tons of reviews before I bought this bike. Now I honestly wonder what bike some of them were riding.
Reported: Nice on the open road but top heavy and a handful in town. My experience Other then a slight tending to pull the front wheel further into the turn below about 15mph, it handles quite nicely at suburban speeds. You can come to a complete stop feet up. Lots of off idle torque and smooth clutch engagement. They should ride an air cooled Ducati in the city.
Windshield? Seems fine to me. All my other faired bikes are pretty sporty so I am used to some air noise coming off the screen. I wear earplugs. I had the screen all the way up this AM at 50 degree temp and took her up on the freeway. Curiously, the faster I went, the quieter it got. Like it pushed the air higher. Whisper smooth, wooshing along and an indicated 80. BTW how far off are the speedo's on these? I am used to about 8% fast on my other bikes.
Seat? As comfortable as any I have had. Not perfect, none I have had are. I have to get off every hour and a half to stretch and shoot the bull for while anyway. Marathons in the saddle aren't my idea of fun.
Riding position feels pretty bolt upright to me. I can't imagine needing risers at this point.
Trasmission. Middle of the road for shifting. Not the best, not the worst. works fine. Gearing? Seems spot on. Geared low enough for good roll on acceleration for 40mph in top. Needs a 6'th gear? Why? It could easily get by with a two speed. Think about it. Big bore sport bikes have 6 speeds to cover 0 to 180. 5 speeds in a torquey big bore 4 to cover 0 to 150'ish is plenty. I found myself running close to 60 in 4'th for about 5 minutes today. The motor was so relaxed I forgot I had another gear,
Handling? Well, I am used to a Ducati SS, Honda VFR and CB750F. Compared to those, it feels just plain strange. Steering seems a little heavy at speed but it is quite sensitive to weight transfer. Almost feels like it wants you to steer it with your a$$ instead of your hands. Corners fine, just not as handily as my other bikes. Moves around a bit more with mid-corner pavement waves and bumps. No cause for alarm, just not as railed. The weight actually gives it a steady feeling at speed that would be quite welcome when I occasionally do stints on the freeway. I spent all day on I-81 on the VFR twice and it really sucked. I also noticed something akin to torque steer on a car. Probably a shaft effect. Trailing throttle pulls slightly left, on the gas to the right. Not much, just a noticeable thing.
Summation: I wanted a more comfortable bike for commuting and touring that is still fun to ride. I think I have the best bike out there for that. Honestly BMW's are just do ugly to my eye. Too many good looking bikes around to want to walk across the parking lot towards an ugly one every day. If I can only have one bike, I don't know what current bike I would by. I think the big ADV bikes are silly and ugly. Road bikes that are tall for no reason. I briefly considered an Aprilia Caponord but the wind protection is skimpy, I am not at all sure about all that electronics on tour with a skimpy dealer network and it is tall for no reason other than looking adventurous. I've had my eye on an FJR since they first came over. I am glad to finally have one. Gorgeous, fast, comfy, and decent handling means lots of miles. I can always take the Duc out if I want to toss a bike around the backroads for a couple hours. If you have never ridden an aircooled Ducati SS, try one. The first 10 minutes you will wonder what the fuss is about. Ride one on a mountain road for an hour and I promise you will be checking CycleTrader when you get back home. They can easily be found under 4k, sometimes under $3k in good condition and are a flat out blast to ride.
Reported: Nice on the open road but top heavy and a handful in town. My experience Other then a slight tending to pull the front wheel further into the turn below about 15mph, it handles quite nicely at suburban speeds. You can come to a complete stop feet up. Lots of off idle torque and smooth clutch engagement. They should ride an air cooled Ducati in the city.
Windshield? Seems fine to me. All my other faired bikes are pretty sporty so I am used to some air noise coming off the screen. I wear earplugs. I had the screen all the way up this AM at 50 degree temp and took her up on the freeway. Curiously, the faster I went, the quieter it got. Like it pushed the air higher. Whisper smooth, wooshing along and an indicated 80. BTW how far off are the speedo's on these? I am used to about 8% fast on my other bikes.
Seat? As comfortable as any I have had. Not perfect, none I have had are. I have to get off every hour and a half to stretch and shoot the bull for while anyway. Marathons in the saddle aren't my idea of fun.
Riding position feels pretty bolt upright to me. I can't imagine needing risers at this point.
Trasmission. Middle of the road for shifting. Not the best, not the worst. works fine. Gearing? Seems spot on. Geared low enough for good roll on acceleration for 40mph in top. Needs a 6'th gear? Why? It could easily get by with a two speed. Think about it. Big bore sport bikes have 6 speeds to cover 0 to 180. 5 speeds in a torquey big bore 4 to cover 0 to 150'ish is plenty. I found myself running close to 60 in 4'th for about 5 minutes today. The motor was so relaxed I forgot I had another gear,
Handling? Well, I am used to a Ducati SS, Honda VFR and CB750F. Compared to those, it feels just plain strange. Steering seems a little heavy at speed but it is quite sensitive to weight transfer. Almost feels like it wants you to steer it with your a$$ instead of your hands. Corners fine, just not as handily as my other bikes. Moves around a bit more with mid-corner pavement waves and bumps. No cause for alarm, just not as railed. The weight actually gives it a steady feeling at speed that would be quite welcome when I occasionally do stints on the freeway. I spent all day on I-81 on the VFR twice and it really sucked. I also noticed something akin to torque steer on a car. Probably a shaft effect. Trailing throttle pulls slightly left, on the gas to the right. Not much, just a noticeable thing.
Summation: I wanted a more comfortable bike for commuting and touring that is still fun to ride. I think I have the best bike out there for that. Honestly BMW's are just do ugly to my eye. Too many good looking bikes around to want to walk across the parking lot towards an ugly one every day. If I can only have one bike, I don't know what current bike I would by. I think the big ADV bikes are silly and ugly. Road bikes that are tall for no reason. I briefly considered an Aprilia Caponord but the wind protection is skimpy, I am not at all sure about all that electronics on tour with a skimpy dealer network and it is tall for no reason other than looking adventurous. I've had my eye on an FJR since they first came over. I am glad to finally have one. Gorgeous, fast, comfy, and decent handling means lots of miles. I can always take the Duc out if I want to toss a bike around the backroads for a couple hours. If you have never ridden an aircooled Ducati SS, try one. The first 10 minutes you will wonder what the fuss is about. Ride one on a mountain road for an hour and I promise you will be checking CycleTrader when you get back home. They can easily be found under 4k, sometimes under $3k in good condition and are a flat out blast to ride.
