Test riding an FJR - June 7th, 2009

Early in June a customer came to the dealership wanting to trade a 2007 FJR 1300 on a new personal watercraft.  He told the salesman that he loved the bike and hated to get rid of it, but he wasn't riding it and felt he and his family would get more use out of and have more fun with a PWC.  The bike had just over 13,000 miles on it, was loaded with options and had obviously been well taken care of.  The deal was done and the bike went on the floor, where I saw it and promptly fell in love with it.  It truly was love at first sight.

However, while I had been thinking for some time that I'd like to make the switch from cruiser to sport tourer to gain the performance and handling advantage they offer, Julie and I really hadn't found one that we were comfortable on.  A month or so prior I had brought home a 2008 Kawasaki C14 Concours sport touring bike for us to try out but neither of us really care for the bike.  And at the International Motorcycle show we went to in Greenville, SC we had both sat on several sport tourers including an FJR, and none of them really felt right.

The problem for us was two fold, on a cruiser the riding position is not unlike sitting in a recliner.  Your weight is mostly on your...ahhh, posterior, and your feet are in front of you.  A very relaxed feeling position.  Plus we had gone to great lengths to make sure Julie felt secure and comfortable (as she should) on the Nomad.  The big, plush backrest and armrests were just what the doctor ordered and what she was used to.  With a sport tourer the riding position is more upright with your feet below you.  This puts more weight and strain on the riders back and honestly reminded me of the way a dirt bike felt.  The passenger areas on these bikes is a tad more cramped due to the layout and the big thing was that none of the bikes we had sat on or rode had any type of rear passenger support which made Julie feel unsecured and uncomfortable.

From talking with owners of sport tourers I knew that we would eventually adjust to the different riding position.  Everyone I spoke with that had come from a cruiser to one said that after the adjustment period we would more than likely prefer it to the cruiser and I could see that being true.  I also knew that while passenger backrests aren't really the norm on sport touring machines there were all sorts of tour trunks available for them and thought that one of those would go a long way in making Julie feel better on one as well as being handy as heck to have.  But they are usually very expensive so you seldom see one on a new bike sitting on a sales floor, so it was difficult for us to try out.

Until the FJR showed up.  It had a color matched Yamaha accessory tour trunk already mounted.  Oh boy!

Bryan came home for with the FZ6 for that first week-end test ride, I thought he would want to go and honestly wanted is input and thoughts on it.  Julie and I started out on it that day with Bryan behind us on his bike.  We rode out US 64 and then up Hwy 601, we were looking for a place to eat called "The Depot" ( http://www.visitmayberry.com/templatelisting.aspx?ListingPage=%2fCody_Creek-The_Depot_Dobson_NC.aspx&PhotoPage=1 )  that had been highly recommended.  We found it and had lunch (it was great BTW).  As we were leaving I asked Bryan if he wanted to try it out, and of course he did, so he and Julie saddled up and took off up 601 while I followed on the FZ6.  They rode the bike into Mt Airy and then up US 52 into Virginia, stopping at a little gas station on the side of the road just before it starts climbing the mountain and getting twisty.  He told me he wanted me to ride it up this road because up until now we had just been on country roads and I really hadn't seen what the FJR could do.

I got back on the bike with my lovely wife and we started up the mountain, in no time at all we were in the twisties.  I had let Bryan lead as I always did on these types of roads because he and the FZ were so much smoother and quicker than Julie and I could be on the Nomad.  Initially he pulled away from us as I was still trying to get the feel for the bike, but it didn't take long for me to adjust somewhat and we began to reel him in.  Exiting the last turn before the Blue Ridge Parkway I felt confident, in control and was rolling on the throttle.  Looking down at the speedometer I saw it was displaying 80 mph, the most I could do on the Nomad and feel good about it was 60.  I remember muttering "daaaang" under my breath as I let off the throttle.

Another surprise came once on the BRP that day.  Because of the more sophisticated suspension the bike actually rode better and was smoother than the Nomad.  This bike was truly amazing.  The addition of the tour trunk also made a world of difference to Julie, not to mention the grab handles beside her seat.  She was much more confident and comfortable than on the C14 and said she really enjoyed the overall ride of the bike.

We ended up riding that bike a little over 300 miles that day.  We all loved it, but weren't sure how we'd could swing getting it.  All I could say was that I'll talk to Mike (my boss) and see what I can work out and we'll go from there.

Bruce