exskibum
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Good synopsis, Iggy, but let me add a last chapter to that PDP story.
Then, in the early days of 2005, because enough dauntless PDP adventurers had finally demonstrated to MamaYama that this bike was gaining demand here, another PDP was permitted. But this time, some dealers got wise and ordered the second wave of '05 PDPs using dealership personnel as the ostensible PDP depositors to get a few on the showroom floor.
And that's what happened to me. I had never seen an FJR in the flesh (only on the internet or in a mag) when I walked into a dealership in Carson City to purchase a rear tire for my tire eating Honda. And there on the floor was what turned out to be my FJR. That was April 8, 2005, and I had closed escrow on the sale of my house a week earlier. That visit was part of my duties in keeping my nursey GF out of her house on her birthday to facilitate a birthday dinner party surprise her daughter had planned for her. Later, over the dinner her daughter had prepared, the FJR came up in conversation, and it was my GF who insisted that I could afford and should buy the FJR if I really wanted one that badly. So, at 9 am the next morning we went back, and I saw two FJRs on the road (my first such siting) a quarter mile from the dealership. It was surely a sign from God, and when I saw someone sitting on my FJR on the showroom floor, I went directly to the sales manager. My '05 came home with me the following Friday, on my birthday.
So, mine was one of the small flock of late '05s that were actually PDPs, but in which the buying experience was essentially the same as buying one out of dealer inventory.
Should add that due to the efforts of early Gen I owners in documenting the problem and bringing it to Yamaha's attention (Warchild most prominently), those Gen Is that were tickers (developed premature exhaust valve guide wear) were mostly all repaired by Yamaha for free. On mine, that was at 28K miles (after having it diagnosed around 24K), so I essentially got half a new head job and the first valve inspect/adjust done on Yamaha's dime.
Indeed. Some of us had by then seen the new and beautiful '05 blue in Yamaha ads online and knew that this was what we had wet dreams about. E.g., the '97 Honda Blackbird I owned was a rocket ship, but how to make into a touring machine while preserving the best of its GT sportiness? Seemed that Yamaha's ads answered that, but with the daunting PDP program still in place early in the dawn of the '05's introduction.
Then, in the early days of 2005, because enough dauntless PDP adventurers had finally demonstrated to MamaYama that this bike was gaining demand here, another PDP was permitted. But this time, some dealers got wise and ordered the second wave of '05 PDPs using dealership personnel as the ostensible PDP depositors to get a few on the showroom floor.
And that's what happened to me. I had never seen an FJR in the flesh (only on the internet or in a mag) when I walked into a dealership in Carson City to purchase a rear tire for my tire eating Honda. And there on the floor was what turned out to be my FJR. That was April 8, 2005, and I had closed escrow on the sale of my house a week earlier. That visit was part of my duties in keeping my nursey GF out of her house on her birthday to facilitate a birthday dinner party surprise her daughter had planned for her. Later, over the dinner her daughter had prepared, the FJR came up in conversation, and it was my GF who insisted that I could afford and should buy the FJR if I really wanted one that badly. So, at 9 am the next morning we went back, and I saw two FJRs on the road (my first such siting) a quarter mile from the dealership. It was surely a sign from God, and when I saw someone sitting on my FJR on the showroom floor, I went directly to the sales manager. My '05 came home with me the following Friday, on my birthday.
So, mine was one of the small flock of late '05s that were actually PDPs, but in which the buying experience was essentially the same as buying one out of dealer inventory.
Should add that due to the efforts of early Gen I owners in documenting the problem and bringing it to Yamaha's attention (Warchild most prominently), those Gen Is that were tickers (developed premature exhaust valve guide wear) were mostly all repaired by Yamaha for free. On mine, that was at 28K miles (after having it diagnosed around 24K), so I essentially got half a new head job and the first valve inspect/adjust done on Yamaha's dime.
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