There's a little bit of hooligan in this bike...

[Sinister Crayon]

OK, so I did it. :yahoo:

After my previous thread I figured I'd start a new one. And though I think nothing I'm going to say in this thread is going to be exactly news to anyone here, I figured for those who are thinking of buying an FJR this thread may be helpful to them.

If you didn't read my previous thread here's a summary of my history: Over about 12 years, I have owned 4 bikes and ridden a handful of others. I've had a Ninja 250 (wrecked), a Honda Nighthawk 750 (sold), a Kawasaki Concours 14 ABS (traded) and a BMW R1150GS (the bike I had until two days ago...). As of two days ago, I'm now the proud owner of a 2007 Yamaha FJR1300A... funnily enough quite similar to the FJR1300AE that I almost purchased when I actually ended up on the Connie for various reasons.

So what do I think? Well, as my subject might give away I think there's a little bit of hooligan in this bike. And I like it. Since I came off the GS and my memories are most clear of that bike and the '08 Connie I had before it, most of my comparisons will be to those two. Besides, I'm sure the comparison to the Connie is the one that many will find interesting.

But first things first; I have to say that once again Gateway BMW in St. Louis, MO have excelled themselves in being just about my favourite dealer for anything automotive or motorsport. They have always treated me fantastically well, and their workshop is among one of the best in town. It's just a shame I won't be riding a BMW for a while, but my girlfriend still has her F650CS (which I also ride occasionally) so I will still be there often. Besides, Motorrad gear is still some of the best in my opinion.

So I had a tearful goodbye to my GS. Well, not really tearful... just slightly choked up... and got myself onto my new mount. The colour is already growing on me... I like the red-wine look to the bike and it gives a nice contrast with my mostly blue gear. Not as striking as my yellow GS, but definitely she's a looker. It also didn't hurt that she cleans up beautifully before I pick her up. The first thing that strikes me is how easy I find the bike to move around on-foot. This bike has a Corbin seat, so my experience may be different than on a stock seat, but I can flatfoot this bike perfectly whereas I was always up on the balls of my feet with the Connie, and always felt that even though I was totally flatfoot on the GS that there was a lot of pressure on my inner thighs. None of that here; my feet are flat and the bike feels just great between my legs. With the Connie I always felt like I was unable to effectively move it around because of the weight, but now I think I'm seeing that the seat height probably had a lot more to do with it than I thought.

So as I started to move the bike out of the foyer and into the sun, I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the glass door. This is one nice looking bike! The style is sharp but not overstyled like the Connie. I loved the "lunar lander" look of the GS as well, and though it looked gangly as hell on the centerstand she would hunker down a lot on that long suspension for a bulky yet purposeful look. The one thing I will miss is that you could pretty much hang anything you liked off the GS without ruining the lines; they were ruined right out of the factory. Start adding riding lights to the FJR and I'm going to have to be careful where I put them, what shape they are, what colour they are etc. :lol:

Fire up the engine and I love the exhaust note. She sounds ready to fire off up the highway... eager. It's deeper than the Connie's exhaust note... a little louder too. But it's not so loud that it's obnoxious. The smoothness is nice, too. That opposed twin on the GS is an awesome engine, but it's not terribly smooth. There's also a torquing effect when you twist the throttle that makes the bike pull off-center and takes you off guard the first few times. None of that here; just an increase in the noise and vibration... but definitely not harshness

Taking off, I find the throttle a bit tight... feels like the return spring is set a smidgen too hard. I'm sure I'll get used to it or see what adjustments I can make. It opens easy, but it feels like the bike's resisting a bit. The clutch is also really short to the bite-point. I release it not even a quarter of an inch and I can feel the bike moving forward. Again, I think an adjustment may be in order. Contrary to many reports, I don't find the clutch overly heavy though. Maybe that's just from having come off the GS where heavy clutch is the nature of the beast. I don't really remember what the Connie's clutch was like.

Within a mile I blast up onto I-170 South... a quick blast up to "roughly 60mph" which comes up incredibly fast. Damn, there's that hooligan I mentioned. As she blasts up the on-ramp there's a glorious sound from the tailpipes that reminds me of my friend's ZX-14, but even in fifth gear (nope, didn't try to shift to sixth... but did think about it!) the engine note on the highway is quite benign. There's a LOT of wind-blast though, far more than I remember on either my Connie or my GS. This is the stock shield BTW... full down position. I find putting the shield all the way up helps a lot, but there's a "rattling" around my helmet then that I find annoying so down it goes again.

Continued...

 

[Sinister Crayon]

My perspective from the riders seat is pretty damned good. The cluster is well laid out and wide. The fender itself looks wide at the top, but from my perspective at least the bike in general seems narrower than my old Connie. The gauges also seem to sit a lot lower in my view than they did on either the Connie or the GS, so I definitely get more of the feeling that I'm flying along the road when looking forward... more like a naked bike. The only exception being that the windshield is sitting down there.

Speaking of the windshield, it's not bad. Optically there aren't too many distortions, though it does seem to move around more than the one on my Connie did. At its full down position I can feel the top of the wind hitting me in the chest just below the vents in the front of my riding jacket (a BMW Tourance 2 jacket), so I should remain pretty cool up to probably around 85 or so. Much above that I'll be rocking my mesh jacket anyway, so I am not too concerned about that. At full up position I can feel myself in a relatively still cocoon of air with the wind just hitting the top of my visor, so still feeding some air into the vents on top of the helmet. Surprisingly, a problem I had with the Connie with the windshield full up was that there wasn't enough moving air to get any air into the chin vents on my helmet, so I'd often have to ride with the windshield up and my visor open in order to stop fogging. No such problem here, where my visor stays nicely un-fogged. I think for long rides, a taller windshield might be in order... but I can't help thinking that just a simple laminar lip at the top of the shield would do wonders for me (I'm 5'10").

I get off the highway and onto Page Avenue. As I come up to the traffic lights my first real stop "in anger" on the bike. These binders are pretty good. They're not as "Whoah, Nelly!" as I remember from my Connie but they bring this heavy bike down from speed pretty damned quickly and without any drama. The only thing I do notice is a lot of dive in the front. Not as bad as the GS, but it doesn't stop as flat as the Connie. I think some suspension adjustments are in order

The rest of the ride home is pretty uneventful. The Corbin seat is pretty hard, but it looks nice and conforms nicely just like every Corbin I've owned. I suspect that I might look at another saddle at some point but for right now I do like this. I also like the fact that it's a two-piece saddle unlike the Connie... might be time for me to invest in a smuggler trunk as well. Oh no, the farkling craving has begun...

As I pull into the garage and get off the bike, I hit my first problem. I like to keep my bike on its center stand because my two car garage is already rather full of one car, my girlfriend's motorbike and a number of bicycles. It keeps space utilization down. So anyway, I spend 10 minutes trying to get the bike up on the center stand, even referring to the manual (which is rather useless BTW) but unable to figure it out. Finally I just leave it on the sidestand, defeated and decide to start a quick Google search. A search turned up remarkably little information, but one video made a light go on in my head. A handle! Why is this not in the manual? OK, I hadn't seen it... I presumed that hole was just decoration. Go back out to my garage, hand on the handle, foot on the centerstand and voila! Not quite as easy as getting my GS up on the centerstand (that thing had LOADS of ground clearance), but definitely easier than my Connie. It might take a little practice to get used to it, though.

So my first day with the FJR? Very successful. My first impressions are that this is one hell of a bike. It's docile most of the time, but man that has a little hooligan in there as well. A twist of the throttle and you're going at illegal speeds before you know it. And a speedometer that goes up to 180? Yeah... I don't think I'm going to need that. The only down-side of that is that it looks kind of ridiculous when you're going at legal highway speeds (ish) and your speedometer is only a third of the way around. That might get depressing eventually Still, the bike is fun and definitely very sporty... definitely a little more sporty and less "toury" than the Connie in my opinion. She also looks better without the panniers than the Connie did, though those tailpipes look kinda odd hanging out each side. I may have to replace them too. Oh damn those farkles!

My second day with the FJR? Well... a bust. It rained. A lot. I still ended up on a motorbike because I picked up my girlfriend's F650CS from the shop and got nicely drenched, but it wasn't my FJR. Third day? Well... let's just call it good here before I prattle on much longer

Oh, and if anyone's curious; my insurance for the FJR is about 30% more than my GS for a total of $130 a year more. Yeah... I can't complain about that at all I paid a LOT more for my Connie.

Pictures still to come... when I have a moment to grab some. Comments welcome

 

[Sinister Crayon]

OK... more photos coming... but here's a couple of low-res ones courtesy of Gateway BMW from their online ad. Figured I'd save them for posterity

 

[Harald]

Taking off, I find the throttle a bit tight... feels like the return spring is set a smidgen too hard. I'm sure I'll get used to it or see what adjustments I can make. It opens easy, but it feels like the bike's resisting a bit. The clutch is also really short to the bite-point. I release it not even a quarter of an inch and I can feel the bike moving forward. Again, I think an adjustment may be in order. Contrary to many reports, I don't find the clutch overly heavy though. Maybe that's just from having come off the GS where heavy clutch is the nature of the beast. I don't really remember what the Connie's clutch was like.

Like many owners on this forum, I unwound one of the throttle return springs down at the throttle bodies. This was a HUGE improvement in throttle feel and cost nothing to accomplish. Search this forum for throttle spring unwind for more info.

I also had the same problem with the clutch engagement. I felt like such a noob (despite having 100's of thousand miles experience) when I stalled the bike in the dealer parking lot in front of a bunch of people due to the clutch engaging immediately after I started letting the lever out. The lever is adjustable and makes it much more user friendly.

 

[Trooper]

Contgrats on the bike. Best I've ever owned. I too had a Honda 750. Great bike. I know you stated you like the sound of it and it does sound awesome, consider the trooper mod. I borrowed it from the vfr forum when I had a vfr. I applied it to the fjr and seems like everyone loves it. It is in the technical section. Great sound even better. Very cheap too. Good luck and ride safe. let me know if you do it, I like others perspectives. Trooper.

 

[garyahouse]

Hooligan. Interesting thought. My first thought was balance. It's not the fastest. It might not handle the best. There are lighter weight bikes. But when you add up all it can do: the power, the weight, the handling, the comfort, it's gorgeous lines, and combine that with a reasonable price, it sure brings out the hooligan in me.

I came off a 91 Zookie GSX 1100 G... their experiment with driveshaft naked bikes. It had about 10 foot pounds less torque and maybe 35 less hp, but weighed about 570 (dry) I think. That would make it a little heavier than the FJR: and it was a naked bike. The FJR is a quicker machine, for which I'm thankful. Now that i've experienced a fairing and saddle bags, I am sooooo over naked bikes. The "G" was OK, but I'm much happier with the FJR. Love that trannie that accepts an upshift without the clutch at any gear or any speed. Love the handling, though I'll probably never scrape a foot peg.

Know what amazes me? I still stop and stare at it when I walk by it in the garage. I still get just a little excited every time I throw a leg over it. I get on lesser machines, and they seem so... anemic. I walk through the new bike dealerships and think... I'm happy. That never happened when I owned other bikes. I always found myself walking through dealerships and thinking... maybe I should have bought... that one... But ya know what? I'm honestly not interested in anything they've got in the showrooms. That my friend is the joy of owning an FJR, at least to me.

Not to mention this forum. The least little problem or need, there are so many wanting to help a newb along. Great bunch of guys. Anyway, looks like you got yourself a real beauty. Take good care of it and happy farkling. What cha gonna put on first?

Gary

darksider #44

Tampa

 

[SacramentoMike]

Nobody's ever quite as enthusiastic as a new convert. Good to see you're so happy with your purchase. Don't forget to change that "Other or considering FJR" in your profile. And Is that a Throttlemeister? The seat looks familiar. Corbin? Rick Mayer? Can't quite place it. Now, what's next? So many new ways to spend your money now. . .

 

[Sinister Crayon]

Nobody's ever quite as enthusiastic as a new convert. Good to see you're so happy with your purchase. Don't forget to change that "Other or considering FJR" in your profile. And Is that a Throttlemeister? The seat looks familiar. Corbin? Rick Mayer? Can't quite place it. Now, what's next? So many new ways to spend your money now. . .

LOL... thanks for the reminder. I'll do that after I've written this little missive... and yes I'm really happy with my purchase. Doesn't hurt that I got it for a great price (in my opinion)

Yes, that's a Throttlemeister. Very handy; I got really spoiled on having a throttle lock on my GS

The seat is a Corbin. Quite happy with how it feels, but there's no denying it's hard. Might have to invest in a different seat, but for right now I'll just get accustomed to the bike first and see how it goes.

What's next? Not sure to be honest. There's already frame sliders on the bike so nothing needed there. There are heated grips but they don't work. I think it's some aftermarket one with two buttons and four lights that are almost impossible to see from a riding position. I much prefer a dial, thank you... that might be one of the first farkles I install. Beyond that, long term I'll probably look at a top box and a GPS for touring. Having the Corbin also opens up the possibility of getting the "smuggler trunk" for days when I want to carry a few items but don't want the bags. I'd say though the first thing I'm going to do is get myself a new grounding harness... I have done a lot of reading about that and it seems like cheap insurance to me.

I have to say another thing that's been really impressive is that the previous owner had a small book in with the owners manual that listed all of the maintenance that had been done since ~2000 miles. That's fantastic and I am going to continue with it.

As a quick update though, the bike looked lovely when I parked her in the lot at work this morning. By lunchtime she was covered in an ugly yellow film. Tonight on the ride home... it rained. LOL... I can't win some days The lovely paintwork is soiled already... and I have spots on the windshield. Oh well, what better way to get accustomed with the bike than to wash it?

Oh, and yes... getting better at the center-stand thing

 

[builderwill]

SC,

Congrats on the new bike. I was wondering when you rode with all the rain we've been getting. BTW, you rode right past my office @ 170 & Page. You know, the one with the big windmill.

I had the same impression of the throttle stiffness as you. After my first couple of long rides I got used to it and never noticed again.

You also mentioned the front end diving. The single best thing I did was to adjust the suspension using HaulinAshe's suggestions. Drastically improved the handling of the stock suspension. Do a search of the site for the thread. The next best thing I did was to take up the free play in the throttle cable and do a TBS. Off idle acceleration is now alot smoother. There is a ton of great info on this site. PM me sometime and we can go for a spin.

 

[FJR Bill]

Enjoyed the very well written review. My first change to my 09 was a Cali sci windshield. Very happy with it. Next a Throttle Meister. That's all I plan for now although the Corban might be in my future as I believe it's a bit lower than stock. Had the same problem learning how to use centerstand. Once I found the slot, its no longer a problem for me. My only disagreement with the review is that I think "a little bit of hooligan" is a severe understatement.

Bill

 

[Sinister Crayon]

Enjoyed the very well written review. My first change to my 09 was a Cali sci windshield. Very happy with it. Next a Throttle Meister. That's all I plan for now although the Corban might be in my future as I believe it's a bit lower than stock. Had the same problem learning how to use centerstand. Once I found the slot, its no longer a problem for me. My only disagreement with the review is that I think "a little bit of hooligan" is a severe understatement.

Bill

Thank you! Yeah, the Throttlemeister is an awesome piece of kit. I like the idea of cruise control, but a throttle lock is more than enough for me on those long riding days. Got very accustomed to that on my GS and am making use of mine already on the FJR during my commute.

As for the "bit of hooligan" comment? What can I say? I'm British; understatement is part of my standard vocabulary

 

[Sinister Crayon]

Congrats on the new bike. I was wondering when you rode with all the rain we've been getting. BTW, you rode right past my office @ 170 & Page. You know, the one with the big windmill.

Thank you! LOL... did you see me go past, or just thinking I must have? About five minutes later I was just getting off 170 at St. Charles Rock Road and the heavens opened. By the time I got into Gateway's car park I was getting pinged with hail. I had to laugh; seems every time I go out these days I get drenched. Wonder if my gear's ever going to get dry!

You also mentioned the front end diving. The single best thing I did was to adjust the suspension using HaulinAshe's suggestions. Drastically improved the handling of the stock suspension. Do a search of the site for the thread. The next best thing I did was to take up the free play in the throttle cable and do a TBS. Off idle acceleration is now alot smoother. There is a ton of great info on this site.

I already dialed in HA's settings and find them a little hard... but it's a damned good starting point for me. Still a lot of front-end dive on braking but it's nowhere near as bad as day 1; I think it's a function of the normal forks instead of the inverted forks on the Connie. It's still nothing compared to the front-end dive on the GS though

PM me sometime and we can go for a spin.

As for going out for a ride sometime... you got it! Give me a week or two to get accustomed to the bike and get my girlfriend out on hers again, then maybe the three of us can hit up some awesome roads

 

[Warpdrv]

I would suggest an after market suspension.... One of the very first things I did on my 05 and one of the best albeit the most expensive upgrade.... Frame Sliders are huge IMO, but do know if you drop it - the bottom parts of the bags will take the rest of the brunt, so if you can protect that area some how with a rubber stick on or something - that will be huge... I know you never plan on a drop, but sometimes it just happens... Kickstand enlargement pad - https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=125329

I second the Cal Sci windshield - but any after market windscreen will be an improvement over the stocker, though when I hit the track - my stocker goes back on every time... I'm 5' 11" - I think I bought a medium and it goes higher then I need, removes buffeting on helmut.... another great purchase.... https://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FJR1300prod.html

Helmet Lock Brackets are nice also....

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=2399

Lots of Guys making things for sale in this area....

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showforum=107

Congrats on the great new ride, and hope you enjoy it for years to come...

 

[graler]

My current bike is an '86 Nighthawk 700s (the Orange Black and Red Version). I will be riding it right up until I save the cash for a good used FJR. Must save - keep focused - must save.

Joe

 

[Warpdrv]

My current bike is an '86 Nighthawk 700s (the Orange Black and Red Version). I will be riding it right up until I save the cash for a good used FJR. Must save - keep focused - must save.

Joe

Joe - awesome !!!

I got an '86 NightHawk Red White Blue... super nice classic = fun machine, especially when its freakin hot out...

Welcome to forum.....

The FJR is a fantastic upgrade / stablemate - I suggest a GEN1

 

[Trooper]

I too have a 84 700s. Really good bike. Love it. Wonderful bike.

 

[graler]

My current bike is an '86 Nighthawk 700s (the Orange Black and Red Version). I will be riding it right up until I save the cash for a good used FJR. Must save - keep focused - must save.

Joe

Joe - awesome !!!

I got an '86 NightHawk Red White Blue... super nice classic = fun machine, especially when its freakin hot out...

Welcome to forum.....

The FJR is a fantastic upgrade / stablemate - I suggest a GEN1

Wait do you mean I can have more than one bike? I was going to let the Nighthawk go when the FJR showed up. Actually I am kiddin' about the one bike. I will need to do some work with the boss to keep em both. Stablemates has a nice ring to it though.

 

[spike747]

Like many owners on this forum, I unwound one of the throttle return springs down at the throttle bodies. This was a HUGE improvement in throttle feel and cost nothing to accomplish. Search this forum for throttle spring unwind for more info.

Is this something that only effected the 06/07's? My 09 seems pretty tight, but I never hear anyone complain about the newer FJR's on here. I'd like to unwind my spring.

 

[Warpdrv]

Yeah the Gen 1's - can't seem to find the link to the instructional. I'm sure someone will post it up.