I spent more time on the FJ this morning. I was out early and rode the FJ on a familar loop (150 miles) of roads I've been riding since 1969. Any bike I have ever owned has spent time on this ageless, ever present loop. The first bike to ride it was my 1970 CB 175, (it took almost all day to do it) from GLs to Z1s to my current stable of sport touring bikes, all have called the loop home.
The loop is 90% rural over rolling hills, timber and pasture land, past a few rivers and lakes, before picking up the I-65 in Montgomery for a fast interstate ride the last 15 miles home. The roadways have a few twist and turns, but nothing I'd call challenging. No, challenging roads would be the Blue Ridge area, or Northern Calif. A long rider can get a nice mix of roads and enviroments riding the loop. Having such intimacy with a ride gives me a benchmark of any bike I ride on it. I can quickly compare bikes to the same road and conditions and see what each bike has to over. Today was the FJ's turn. It was eager to be christened.
My main objective is to get in some good break in miles. I was on the highway alot yesterday, so today I wanted to pace the bike through various terrain, speeds, and gears to help settle things in. I accomplished that today.
The FJ was deep into reserve from the ride home from Nashville yesterday. With my brother following me in his Mustang, I ignored the flashing fuel light when it lit up 35 miles from home. "Now's a good time to see how far I can go on reserve with this bike, cos if I run out I have immediate rescue." I filled the 6.6 gallon tank this morning with 5.7 gallons, so 35 miles into reserve I still had a gallon of gas. "Gotta remember that," as I put the hose back in the cradle. The FJ returned 45.6 mpg on the ride home from Tn, not bad considering I kept between 70-80 mph most of the way.
Last night I went over the manual learning how to work the menu and data display. I struggled with that all day yesterday. Great thing about the FJR it has stuff you didn't know you needed. Like the ability to customize 3 different data dsiplays. Each display has 3 fields. Page 1 for me is trip meter/ambient temp/ and coolant temp. Having a precise look at your coolant temp is one of afore mentioned "didn't know you needed it" items. You can quickly spot trouble in the cooling system, and what the trend is.
The left handlebar menu/select controls everything that you can adjust. Heated grips, suspension, cruise control etc. I won't get into details of that stuff other than it all works good, once you learn the nuances of how to work the menu.
It takes 10 min to clear the urban area of Prattville once ya gas up, and I found myself much more comfortable in traffic on the FJ than I was yesterday. Its light, nimble feel allowed me to make a quick u turn in the station parking lot to get back on the highway after gassing up.
Soon I was breezing through rural autauga county on the roads I love so much. I trained on the roads around Autaugaville in 2012 when I was preparing for a marathon. I know every aspect of these roads from my running, biking and cycling on them. Today they seemed extra quiet and smooth. At 65 mph the feejer seemed to just glide over the road, the engine barely working, and the throttle hardly open.
Like the ST, you sometimes think you need a extra gear. Why I dunno. Around 70 you think you have a grear left when you don't.
I kept the preload on rider and luggage, just because I hate spongy. I put the dampening on STD +1. This seemed to give me the right cushion to absorb bumps with good stiffness when called on to lean. The bike leaned very well in the curves. Pick a line and it tracks dead on. It went over very easily, and begged to go down more. On the Honda I have to be much more deliberate, and you have to concentrate more to keep the ST from drifting off line. Not that the ST handles badly, but it just can't compete with the dial in suspension of the FJR. Heck, I wasn't even in the sport mode on dampening. That would be "sport +3." Or you could go "Sport -3" if you wanted sport with less stiffness. The world is your oyster with the FJR.
I missed some of the best leaning when I got stuck behind 2 log trucks on CR 1.
I went into Chilton County, and crossed the Coosa River on SR 22. Alabama Power has a huge dam there and today it was flowing water and generating power.
The FJR traces its inline 4 back to Yamaha's R1 race bikes, it stayed true to that heritage when I passed 2 pick ups, uphill, at 100 mph without a sweat.
I did find out how to open the fairing pocket. (gotta have the key turned on). It ain't much but its better than nothing.
On through Coosa County I went, leaning the FJ over the sweeping curves to the intersection they call "Kelly's Crossroads." The more I ride the FJ the more I love the cockpit. It is narrower and more slick than the RT or ST, and at the sametime manages wind well. I love the fact you always know you are on a sport tour bike. Which means svelte, powerful, with a feel for the land as you move through it. Although you feel yourself moving through the wind, things are not noisy. If you prefer your sport tour bike to have a Gold Wing cockpit and wind mgt, than the FJR is not for you. Noooo, give me a bike that makes me part of the ride, I wanna feel the wind moving around me, on my face, and feel it flow through the Roadcrafter, as I buzz down a lonely open strretch in Kansas at 90 mph. I can always bring the screen up to block if I want, but the FJ is never gonna give you a gold wing ride.
Over 100 mph the FJ does not wiggle, and is more steady in truck turbulence than the ST. I can't remember when the last time I had the RT over 100, the bike really feels busy at that speed, so I don't go there much.
Moving past the banks of Lake Jordan into Titus I stopped at s country store I know to have excellent chicken fingers. I had the dinner with fries and peach cobbler. Washed it down with Mtn dew. "Gonna kill my afternoon run later but so what." The FJs candy red paint job glistened in the sun out in the parking lot. Two young guys came in and said, "That your bike out front mister?" "Yeah" "Thats a nice looking ride, what kind of bike izit?" "Yamaha FJR"
From Titus I went back into Wetumpka and Montgomery. It was urban riding at its worst. Air temp was now in the mid 90s with humidity to match. It was hot. Coolant temp on the FJ went from its normal mid 160s to 191.
Another thing you didn't know ya needed is "ride time". I have that on data field screen #3. It tells a joker how long he's been in the saddle. It resets each time you turn the bike off. Thats nice to know on a long tour, and helps you know when its time to get off and walk around. I guess you can do that just lookin at the clock, but I can't ever remember that stuff. The field does the work for ya.
In Montgomery I went to I-65 and came on home, a fine way to spend the morning.
It is hard to find faut in the way the FJR carries out its mission. I guess it could use heated seat, and self cancel turn signals, and those that want audio and nav systems will have to go the BMW route, but if you don't want/need that stuff the FJR is hard to beat.
