Well first let me say, I don't have a FJR, I went with the ST for reasons that were particular to me, I actually wanted to love the FJR so much, I preferred it on every way when compared to the ST, Power, looks, handling etc.. but I am very sensitive to vibrations and the FJR simply made my hands go numb, and I personally though the St would be more comfortable on long rides for my wife and I ,but I did recommend the FJR to my neighbor which he did later purchase one, it fits him perfect.
That being said, it's funny, I see on the ST sight, the Kawi forums and this sight, and I'm sure the beamer sights too, every one wants their bike to come in first, and if their bike does come in ahead in the review , it instantly gives them confirmation that they bought the right bike, after all it's the best one according to the magazine article, so they have instant bragging rights to say, you see I told you my bike is better than yours, now of course I can understand that every one wants their bike to win, it's the competiveness in all of us, but even when I bought my ST, I had seen reviews saying this one is faster, or this one handles better, but the bottom line is, I read these reviews and I pick out the bike that best fits my needs, not what the writers say is the best one, often the reasons they don't pick a certain bike to be the winner, might be just the reasons that I would find that, that might be the bikes that fits me the best. I also find that when ever magazines do reviews of Sport tourers, I think they concentrate way to much on the high performance aspect of the bikes rather than it's touring capability, it's no surprise to me that the Connie came out on top, did I mention it seems they often love what ever is new and different also? But I think most of us sport tourer riders are more mature than that, after all this isn't a test between a Hayabusa and a ZX14R where the fastest one in a 1/4 miles is the clear winner,, it's not that clear when it comes to Sport toureing bikes, it's more of a question of what are the most important aspects of a sport toureing bike to you? mine was long distance touring comfort for riding two up without going to a Gold Wing, not speed, handling or any thing else, if the reasons they picked the Connie were most important to me, I would have just kept my Hayabusa that I had set up for sport touring, it was a great bike, I think it was Tim Carithers ? (Motorcyclyist mag)who said in a S/T bike comparo once, if you need to cross several states in rapid time with the least amount of pain and do it as efficiently as possible than the Honda ST is the bike for you, while at the same time noting it was bland, wasn't as fast as the FJR etc.... that sold me on the ST and I'm very happy with it, but it could use more power, my only complaint.
I have not ridden the new Connie, it's a beautiful bike, but from sitting on it, I can tell it's still too sport oriented for an ST bike for what I need,
now lets just wait and see what the Suzuki Hayabusa derived sport tourer will be like???
