I didn't want an FJR. Actually I was looking at...
However, I was reminded that with no fairing, I'd once again be at the mercy of the elements in the winter, and TBH, I was tired of getting beat up by the wind every time I took any kind of a trip across the state. I'd never been on any trip farther than about 125 miles in my life, though I'd ridden motorcycles on and off since '66. HIgh speeds and long distances brought it's own set of problems on the naked bikes I'd owned...
I remembered years ago seeing an FJR at Daytona bike week. I liked the way they looked but knew nothing about them. While I was tossing around the decision, a friend and I were talking about bikes, and he mentioned that he might like to buy one. I recommended that we head over to the Yammie dealer, hoping that I could check for a used VMax, and he could look into a smaller bike for a newb. When we got there, I was greeted by a beautiful, lightly used black cherry FJR. I sat on it. I looked it over for a LONG time. I was bit. However, it seemed a little pricey, so I decided to go home and check the web for prices and information.
My google search took me to some place called the FJRforum. The first thing I noticed was how user friendly it was. Next I noticed all the pictures that accompanied many of the posts. It seemed to be pretty interesting, so I began reading. I spent days and days doing just that. I joined the forum within a couple weeks. In keeping with the integrity of your original post, Redfish, I discovered the word, "Newb" that first week, and knew I was one.
It's a good idea to know WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW.
I knew enough to know that I didn't know much... a new duck on this pond...
I learned a great deal about the FJR by just reading this forum that first week. I learned about the Friday dogpiles...
...and how that new guys that asked dumb questions ended up at the bottom in a hurry. So I just read and kept silent at first. I was still teetering back and forth between the FJR and the VMax, but the forum convinced me that I might want to take a ride on an FJR. I checked out a VMax forum. It didn't hold a candle to this one. I was really encouraged that help was just a click away if I bought an FJR. Within a couple weeks, I found a beautiful 05 FJR with 3800 miles for 6500 bucks about 15 miles from the house. I drove over and took it for a ride. I knew instantly that there would NOT be any need for me to test ride a VMax. I bought it on the spot. I forget what my first post was, but I kept my first efforts limited to simple questions and comments on existing threads. But I do recall that the first thread I started was about my pipes. They were seriously blue...
I titled it, "Pipes are Blue and so am I," found here:
CLICKY
I'd been a forum member for maybe 6 weeks by that time. I found the forum to be very helpful and encouraging. I was a little nervous about posting up my first thread, but I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't believe my...
...eyes. A whole bunch of guys posted some great answers for me. I was worried that something might be wrong because I realized that my FJR didn't look like the other ones I was seeing in the pictures on the forum. But some great responses relieved my fears, and several guys gave suggestions on how to get the pipes cleaned up.
Look at my avatar. It says, "Newbs need the forum." I know I did.
But think about this: this forum needs newbs too. Their "lame" questions are a huge part of what we do. Without someone to pass along our collective experience to, we will very soon run out of reasons to post or read anything here. If joking around and chewing on each other was all we did here, I'd not spend much time on this forum. But this forum has shown that passing along experience, or working together collectively to help someone out... is a worthy cause. The forum has rolled up its sleeves many times to help it's members or a newb: it has a noble history. Is it not true that it is STILL better to give than to receive? That one thing, I believe, is what separates this forum from many others. For me, it was a great feeling to be able to talk to somebody about an issue I was having with my new (to me) FJR.
Dodging the dogpile
Could I have simply searched and searched in the archives and found the info? Maybe. I did try a little to do just that. But being able to talk to someone was SO MUCH BETTER. Consider this: are we really too busy to answer a question again? I"d like to add my voice to those who say... "so what if it's been covered before." I'm so glad I didn't get blasted for posting up that first thread about my pipes, even though it was mentioned before on this forum. I wonder if I would have stuck around if I'd ended up on the bottom of an FJR dogpile that day. I wonder if I would have ever made another post. As of this writing, that was something like 1450 posts... ago. It's not for me to judge whether my contributions to this forum have been worth anything, but a few crude words could have ended my time here -- real quick, after that first post. Make sense? That first thread was a great experience for me and I made up my mind that I was going to do what I could to return the favor.
I'm still working on that...
Gary
darksider #44
