2006FJR
Administrator of Transportation
Well, I was lucky enough to take a 6 hour ride today on the new 08’ Kawasaki Concours 14 and I thought I would share some of the things that jumped out to me. First things first, I really like the looks of the bike and the styling works for me. I would have liked to have seen 2 exhaust pipes but hey that me. When you are on the bike it sits up nice and high. I am 6’5” 300 pounds and it was a comfortable fit while sitting on the bike. The key fob is a pretty cool little toy and something that I think should be on all bikes at some point. It allows you to keep the key fob in your pocket and will wirelessly allow you to start the bike up with a push of the button.
When you start the bike up it is so quite I had to look down at the tack to make sure the bike was on once I had the ear plugs in my ears. It is a very quite yet confident sound and the throttle has a nice meaty sound when you roll on the RPMs. The clutch is nothing short of a masterpiece and whatever they have done to make this happen, bravo! I have never felt such buttery shifts from gear to gear. The front gage is very easy to read and I like the fact that you can navigate your way around easily to find things such as gas mileage, miles to empty and PSI in both front and rear tires. The thing that stood out for me was that it was missing were no heated grips and no outside temperature gauge. Not that I needed the heated grips. When we stopped at a light it gave me a chance to ask Jerry to look at my gauge and tell me how hot it was outside.
The mirrors sit down very low and do not shake or rattle. The allowed me to see much more road to the side and behind me that my FJR ever did. The sitting position was very comfortable and very little pressure was put on my hands and wrists with my back only slightly bent. My legs were very bent due to how high the shifter and brake were. My legs are very long so it made shifts a little difficult but I soon got use to it. I have the lowering pegs for both front and rear on my FJR so I really value the extra real estate. The suspension was some of the best stock suspension I have ever personally had a chance to enjoy.
We met at the Starbucks just off of Ortega Highway and the 5 freeway at about 7:15am while it was still cooler and it gave us a chance to check everyone’s bikes out. We had my 06 FJR AE, a newer Yamaha R1, a Triumph Daytona 675 Triple and the new 08’ Kawasaki Concours 14. We all left from there on the bikes and I was lucky enough to be riding the Kawi 14 for most of the day. We stopped at Hell’s kitchen for some coffee and quickly found ourselves back on the road down to Lake Elsinore. For any of the locals who know this road it has lots of twists and turns and allows you to cut loose and have some fun. The bike handled high sped turns well and power was smooth. Did I mention how smooth the power was? The 6 gears also made it very nice once we were on the 15 freeway. I was at 80 miles an hour at about 3600 rpm with little or no vibration. It does not read 6th gear; it reads OD for Over Drive.
Well so far, you should all be wondering when I am going to sell my bike and run out and get a 08’ Kawi. Right? Not so fast, the bike on the right side was so damn hot I had to keep moving it around in different spots to keep it from burning my leg. The inside of my leg was on fire for the whole ride. The lower part of my calf on the right side was also burning but the inside of my right foot near the ball of my foot was by far the most uncomfortable. It was burning through my boots and there was nowhere to move my foot unless I planned on only using my front brakes. I am sure this would be a welcome feature during the winter but going through Lake Elsinore during the summer was painful and today was relatively cool compared to how hot it normally gets.
Is the bike faster? Not sure, but damn it went. Was the suspension better? The stock suspension felt better to me. Was the seat more comfortable? Yes, they really got it right with this seat and it should be fine for most riders. I thought the windshield was too damn short too but it was nice that it did not go all the way back down when you turn the bike off. I am sure there are going to be plenty of ride reports on this bike by much more qualified riders but these were some of the things that jumped out to me.
When you start the bike up it is so quite I had to look down at the tack to make sure the bike was on once I had the ear plugs in my ears. It is a very quite yet confident sound and the throttle has a nice meaty sound when you roll on the RPMs. The clutch is nothing short of a masterpiece and whatever they have done to make this happen, bravo! I have never felt such buttery shifts from gear to gear. The front gage is very easy to read and I like the fact that you can navigate your way around easily to find things such as gas mileage, miles to empty and PSI in both front and rear tires. The thing that stood out for me was that it was missing were no heated grips and no outside temperature gauge. Not that I needed the heated grips. When we stopped at a light it gave me a chance to ask Jerry to look at my gauge and tell me how hot it was outside.
The mirrors sit down very low and do not shake or rattle. The allowed me to see much more road to the side and behind me that my FJR ever did. The sitting position was very comfortable and very little pressure was put on my hands and wrists with my back only slightly bent. My legs were very bent due to how high the shifter and brake were. My legs are very long so it made shifts a little difficult but I soon got use to it. I have the lowering pegs for both front and rear on my FJR so I really value the extra real estate. The suspension was some of the best stock suspension I have ever personally had a chance to enjoy.
We met at the Starbucks just off of Ortega Highway and the 5 freeway at about 7:15am while it was still cooler and it gave us a chance to check everyone’s bikes out. We had my 06 FJR AE, a newer Yamaha R1, a Triumph Daytona 675 Triple and the new 08’ Kawasaki Concours 14. We all left from there on the bikes and I was lucky enough to be riding the Kawi 14 for most of the day. We stopped at Hell’s kitchen for some coffee and quickly found ourselves back on the road down to Lake Elsinore. For any of the locals who know this road it has lots of twists and turns and allows you to cut loose and have some fun. The bike handled high sped turns well and power was smooth. Did I mention how smooth the power was? The 6 gears also made it very nice once we were on the 15 freeway. I was at 80 miles an hour at about 3600 rpm with little or no vibration. It does not read 6th gear; it reads OD for Over Drive.
Well so far, you should all be wondering when I am going to sell my bike and run out and get a 08’ Kawi. Right? Not so fast, the bike on the right side was so damn hot I had to keep moving it around in different spots to keep it from burning my leg. The inside of my leg was on fire for the whole ride. The lower part of my calf on the right side was also burning but the inside of my right foot near the ball of my foot was by far the most uncomfortable. It was burning through my boots and there was nowhere to move my foot unless I planned on only using my front brakes. I am sure this would be a welcome feature during the winter but going through Lake Elsinore during the summer was painful and today was relatively cool compared to how hot it normally gets.
Is the bike faster? Not sure, but damn it went. Was the suspension better? The stock suspension felt better to me. Was the seat more comfortable? Yes, they really got it right with this seat and it should be fine for most riders. I thought the windshield was too damn short too but it was nice that it did not go all the way back down when you turn the bike off. I am sure there are going to be plenty of ride reports on this bike by much more qualified riders but these were some of the things that jumped out to me.
Last edited by a moderator:
