Those amusing stories are great!! However, if you want the REAL reason Yamaha came up with the FJR designation, I can supply the answer.
I had no clue why it was "FJR" either. I decided to call Yamaha headquarters. I called the Newnan, GA plant and got contact info for Tapoula, Japan. I called them, and after finally speaking to someone there that spoke English, was connected to Mr. Sakuri, who is an English speaking employee assigned to the Yamaha motorcyle development team. I asked Mr. Sakuri how Yamaha came up with the FJR designation. He advised me that back in 1996, when the team was developing a concept for a sport touring machine, the head engineer was a young man that had just started working for Yamaha the year before, and was living with his grandparents on a small farm out in the valley 30 miles away from the office. They were from England, and had recently moved there so their grandson could pursue his dream of working for a large motor co. like Yamaha. The grandfather's name was John. Evidently, John had been involved in motorcycling for 50+ years, and had actually worked for the Indian motorcycle company as an engineer when he was a very young man.
When the concept bike was finally mocked up and built, the young engineer was allowed to be the test rider along with the usual test riders. The young man rode the bike home to show his grandfather the machine and get his opinion. The grandfather rode the concept bike and was totally blown away and impressed by the fantastic machine his grandson had built! According to Mr. Sakuri, the young engineer was persuaded by his grandfather John to keep the bike for a few days so that the grandfather could continue riding and evaluating the machine. When it was time to return the bike to the plant, John refused to give it up,and an argument ensued. John, in a moment of extreme anger, delivered a blow to his young grandson's skull with a piece of 2X4, and that was the end of life for that young man.
John panicked, and took off on the bike, never to be seen again. They think that he was able to ship the bike out of the country and return to his native England where he is probably still enjoying the ride if he's still alive.
Of course, the folks at Yamaha had to build another machine to replace the stolen one, and the work continued until the final product was ready to be mass produced. When it was time to come up with an "official" name for the new bike, there were a dozen or so possiblities being thrown around. Most of the names being considered had the designation "1300" somewhere in the name. The vice president of Yamaha was on location one day at that plant when he came across the concept bike and mentioned that it looked like a different bike than the one he had seen before. The engineer advised him that the first one had been stolen, so a replacement had to be built. The vice president asked what became of the 1st one, and was told that it was Farmer John's Ride now.
And that is how the FJR part came to be. Honestly.
Jay
'04 Farmer John's Ride 1300
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