I think I may have had the strangest first ride on a Yamaha FJR1300A. Bike #1035
The call came in from Nashville that my bike would be ready late Thursday May 11th and the weather was calling for just a slight chance of a rain (a break from the monsoons we have been having for a month).
As I approached Nashville there were a few drops hitting the windshield and a dark cloud or two – damn? But the bike was there and after the paper work and checkout I was off. I had decided on a route home to Florence Alabama that included no Interstates.
That was when God decided to baptize the bike with me on it. But this was not where I wanted to be, rush hour traffic, rain and wind on a new bike with new slick tires. Found my road south and out of town then I saw two rain bow ends close together, about 10 miles south rain letting up some and I saw a perfect end to end rainbow. Branched off on to state road 46 headed to the Natchez Trace, then I hit some rainsqualls, and I said a prayer for a safe trip and an end to this rain. God helped out and the rain quit when I got to the Trace. There I saw another beautiful rainbow. The trace was a sweet national park road that goes from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez Miss. the speed limit is 50, but there were no park rangers in sight and very light traffic. While traveling I saw 6 deer, a wild turkey, and a possum.
My hands were starting to get numb, but I wanted to get home so I kept driving, then I hit a swarm of insects. I made the mistake of thing it was just water and wiped my face shield and it just smeared. So I pulled over at one of the nice roadside bathrooms, clean and warm. I stuck my damp gloves in the vents by the engine. Used the facilities, cleaned the visor, and dumped the cell phone and wallet into the hard case.
Back on the bike for the rest of the ride home (70 miles), the moon was up and nearly full. My gloves had dried a bit and my hands stayed warm the rest of the ride home with the temperature around 54. With dry gloves at that temp. My hands would have been cold after about 30 miles on my old bike. Total miles first trip 140. I should have the 600-mile break in done by the end of the weekend.
I am coming off of a CBR954 sport bike, on it I felt like an integral part of a rocket. On my FJR it is like a comfortable, sweet, solid, machine that you don’t want to get off of except to eat and sleep. On it you feel an integral part of a road machine.
It is great motorcycle, the mirrors were solid no vibration and I can actually see what is behind me and not just my elbows. The shifting was good and not too hard. I had the shop check the torque on the steering head – no clunking. But yep as reported the instantaneous gas mileage is messed up and shows 17, and the average was 41. The electric windshield comes in real handy, up to block the rain
For the people who were insulted at the bike being mistaken, lighten up. BMW has been making great cars and motorcycles for a long time. BMW should make this bike but they don’t. The FJR is in my opinion considerable better that the BMW and costs less.
