Two Brothers, Corbin, and Pilot Road 2's

Finally took the plunge after much reading in here and popped for a few goodies. Initial impressions:

Pilot Road 2's: Yeah. Awesome. Didn't know how bad the stock tires were (especially after they wore out so fast) until I put these on. Don't have a lot of miles on these, yet, but the initial performance impression is like it's almost a different bike.

Corbin seat, backrest, and glove box: When I bought the FJR, I got the dealer to throw in the "comfort seat" for free and told them they could keep the original seat. Not sure if that was a mistake or not, because the comfort seat sucks. In every way, shape, and form. At least it has to me. Thing hurts like an S.O.B. after 30 minutes or so.

Now if there's one thing I've read here, and elsewhere, it's that Corbin seats are either love 'em or hate 'em. With most people that I've seen saying they hate them. Too hard...too long to break in...etc. etc. Well, for me...this seat is so much better than the comfort seat I'm glad I took the plunge. Maybe having been on the stock seat would've made it a different story, but after 1,000 miles or so I can say this Corbin seat is beyond comfortable in comparison.

Pillion loves the backrest, and so do I. One of the reasons I chose the Corbin was I liked the smooth integration into the rear seat of the backrest. To me, it looks sharp and not at all like an aftermarket mickey-mouse job. I also liked the glove box idea, and I can say it is definitely made well and seems water-tight and solid. It also has decent storage inside given its relatively compact size.

Is it too expensive? Hell yeah, but I guess Economics 101 explains why. The small demand for it (and the Smuggler) means production costs remain high to a certain extent. I think the Smuggler looks kinda cool and all, but I preferred instead to use the money for...

Two Brothers Carbon Fiber Black Series Exhaust: I got the M2 size after seeing another thread in here with pictures of them. Love the sound, but the fit not so much. As others have stated, the midpipes don't make a tight seal so they send you some sealant. I used some of it, but can still feel a little bit of air no matter how much I tighten the clamps. One day when I'm bored I'll take them back off and fix that. Seems cheesy it's a required step at all based on the price, but hey. Also not thrilled that, like a few others, they sent me the wrong size nuts for the bolts.

The bike sounds soooo much better, and I definitely prefer the look. I never liked how the stock pipes seemed to stick out so far from the rear tire, and pointed kind of back and to the left/right. The Two Brothers are much closer in and point pretty much straight back.

I do get a decent amount of "popping" on deceleration, so I'm debating if a PC3 type adjustment is worth the price or not. Time will tell.

If you want another quick easy upgrade; try Grip Buddies. They solved that broomstick feel of the stock grips. Plus they dont absorb water like Grip Puppies do. They are made here in the USA and the guy making them, David, is a really great guy. I am glad I bought mine! Oh yeah....and bar risers.

Hey Moriden,

I noticed those very nice looking heat shields you have.

Could you please tell me who makes them and where to buy?

Thanks

Robert

Yep, your bike looks good. I too like the heat shield. I have the two bros slip ons and had a lot of decel popping. I considered a PC V but tried the barbarian jumper mod before dropping the cash. I worked well. I had to bump up the values quite a bit but don't have near the popping. You will have some no matter what, the stock cans were just real good at quieting the popping. I will be getting the PR'2 when these Bridgestone's (crap) wear out a little more. I went through 2 sets of Michelen's on my old FJR and love em.

+1 on the heat shields,do you have a better picture of the Corbin glove box? I've never seen that before,$$$$?

I actually saw those heat shields on some other guy's FJR here in the forum. They're made by Targa, kind of over-priced but I liked the look and they come in a choice of colors. Amazon.com is where I got mine, but they're available all over.

Targa Heat Shield

Kman...yeah, I'll take some more pics of it. The glovebox/backrest combo, painted to match, is $578. The glovebox by itself painted is $359.

The lid is lockable to keep away part-time thieves, at least. lol





Inside is fully carpeted, and they put a pretty good rubber seal around it so it appears to be water-tight.



You never know when you're gonna break down and have to rough it without food.

Richouse: Yeah, you'll love them. The stock Bridgestones are almost criminally bad to be put on a bike like this. Handling and wet-weather performance was bad enough, but I was shocked how fast they started cupping and wearing. I thought it was just me until I did some reading here and at other forums.

Suspect the popping is from the air leak. On decel' air is being sucked in. I had similar experience with the fit of my 2B pipes. I used the permatex gasket sealant, high temp, stays flexible once cured. Worked great. Popping stopped. Also, I put a touch of wd40 on the threads of the clamps which made cranking them down less scary. Worked great. Good luck!

Suspect the popping is from the air leak. On decel' air is being sucked in. I had similar experience with the fit of my 2B pipes. I used the permeated gasket sealant, high temp, stays flexible once cured. Worked great. Popping stopped. Also, I put a touch of wd40 on the threads of the clamps which made cranking them down less scary. Worked great.

Also, be sure there is good clearance between the swingarm and pipe . there is a screw on the right side swing arm that can contact the inner side of your right pipe and with a few passes down the side of your pipe, a lovely hole will form.

Good luck!

$360 is a lot to store a couple of cans of beans in. But it does look nice, I guess. If you use that mini hardcase, you can't use a RiggPack, etc or a normal hardcase, so I wonder how practical this is if it won't at least hold a sixpak with ice. Damn, some of you guys got alot of $$$ to spend on stuff. Being really cheap myself, I have a hard time rationalizing these things. But I do like the heatshields. On my other bike, a V-Star 1300 it has the DG Hardkrome 3" pipes and I constantly have to clean off the boot marks left by the better half. Just in case anyone is wondering, the HardKrome pipes came with the bike when I bought it used from the distraught owner. Poor guy. In Sept 2008 right after the financial meltdown. Had to sell his one year old bike with about 1,500 miles on it that he put over $16k into for barely half of that, had to pay me $900 to boot after settling up with the bank. Bawled like a baby. Oh well, sometimes the school of hard knocks is the best education money can buy.

Moridin said:

Finally took the plunge after much reading in here and popped for a few goodies. Initial impressions:

Pilot Road 2's: Yeah. Awesome. Didn't know how bad the stock tires were (especially after they wore out so fast) until I put these on. Don't have a lot of miles on these, yet, but the initial performance impression is like it's almost a different bike.

Corbin seat, backrest, and glove box: When I bought the FJR, I got the dealer to throw in the "comfort seat" for free and told them they could keep the original seat. Not sure if that was a mistake or not, because the comfort seat sucks. In every way, shape, and form. At least it has to me. Thing hurts like an S.O.B. after 30 minutes or so.

Now if there's one thing I've read here, and elsewhere, it's that Corbin seats are either love 'em or hate 'em. With most people that I've seen saying they hate them. Too hard...too long to break in...etc. etc. Well, for me...this seat is so much better than the comfort seat I'm glad I took the plunge. Maybe having been on the stock seat would've made it a different story, but after 1,000 miles or so I can say this Corbin seat is beyond comfortable in comparison.

Pillion loves the backrest, and so do I. One of the reasons I chose the Corbin was I liked the smooth integration into the rear seat of the backrest. To me, it looks sharp and not at all like an aftermarket mickey-mouse job. I also liked the glove box idea, and I can say it is definitely made well and seems water-tight and solid. It also has decent storage inside given its relatively compact size.

Is it too expensive? Hell yeah, but I guess Economics 101 explains why. The small demand for it (and the Smuggler) means production costs remain high to a certain extent. I think the Smuggler looks kinda cool and all, but I preferred instead to use the money for...

Two Brothers Carbon Fiber Black Series Exhaust: I got the M2 size after seeing another thread in here with pictures of them. Love the sound, but the fit not so much. As others have stated, the midpipes don't make a tight seal so they send you some sealant. I used some of it, but can still feel a little bit of air no matter how much I tighten the clamps. One day when I'm bored I'll take them back off and fix that. Seems cheesy it's a required step at all based on the price, but hey. Also not thrilled that, like a few others, they sent me the wrong size nuts for the bolts.

The bike sounds soooo much better, and I definitely prefer the look. I never liked how the stock pipes seemed to stick out so far from the rear tire, and pointed kind of back and to the left/right. The Two Brothers are much closer in and point pretty much straight back.

I do get a decent amount of "popping" on deceleration, so I'm debating if a PC3 type adjustment is worth the price or not. Time will tell.

Click to expand...

Nice upgrades. Now I'm jealous but don't have the $$$ to match my desires.

Where did you get the tires and what did you pay for them?

Hey Moridin

Thank you for info on the heat shields.

Your FJR looks great.