12-02-2015, 01:48 PM
I had a 2005 FJR I bought in 07 and traded for my 650 V-strom in 09. I loved it, but it was way more bike than I needed. I never took it on any trips and it was a bit heavy for the mostly back road riding I do. I wish I had kept my KLR I had before the FJR. Those and the CB would be the perfect trio. Oh well, I'm pretty happy with my current stable.
When I owned the FJR, I alway wanted a 6th gear even though it was plenty relaxed at 80 in 5th. My dad had a 2000 Kawi Concours which had a 6 speed. I mostly wa jealous that a bike designed in 1985 had one more gear than my state of the art sport tourer. It was actually the Concourse that got me hooked on inline 4 cylinder bikes.
The FJR is a rocket. It felt like the Hand of God was shoving you into eternity when you went wide open and to redline. Frightening and addicting at the same time. One morning on my way to work at the motorcycle dealer, a coworker rolled up next to me at the stop light about 100 yards from the entrance to the dealer. He was on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I was dumb enough to try to race him to the entrance. When the light went green, I feathered the clutch with about 1/2 throttle. About halfway through the intersection, the clutch was out and I whacked open the throttle. She found traction and went up on the back wheel. Scared the bajeezus out of me because usually it would just spin the tire.
It was too much power for an inept 25 year old. It's probably still too much for an inept 33 year old. The 85 hp on my CB is plenty. Still, it was nice to have all that power in reserve so you never really needed to downshift to pass.
When I owned the FJR, I alway wanted a 6th gear even though it was plenty relaxed at 80 in 5th. My dad had a 2000 Kawi Concours which had a 6 speed. I mostly wa jealous that a bike designed in 1985 had one more gear than my state of the art sport tourer. It was actually the Concourse that got me hooked on inline 4 cylinder bikes.
The FJR is a rocket. It felt like the Hand of God was shoving you into eternity when you went wide open and to redline. Frightening and addicting at the same time. One morning on my way to work at the motorcycle dealer, a coworker rolled up next to me at the stop light about 100 yards from the entrance to the dealer. He was on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I was dumb enough to try to race him to the entrance. When the light went green, I feathered the clutch with about 1/2 throttle. About halfway through the intersection, the clutch was out and I whacked open the throttle. She found traction and went up on the back wheel. Scared the bajeezus out of me because usually it would just spin the tire.
It was too much power for an inept 25 year old. It's probably still too much for an inept 33 year old. The 85 hp on my CB is plenty. Still, it was nice to have all that power in reserve so you never really needed to downshift to pass.