help with comfort

Hello Folks! 46 years old, 5'10" and 170lbs been on the fence for years about buying an fjr....couldnt resist a deal south of Atlanta and picked up a pristine 05 abs (from one of the forum members RobertB) with 20k miles last friday 8/22/14. Put about 700 miles on it so far. Love the power and the handling but have a little problem with comfort. Trying "yoda body positioning" to get the weight of my hands and more on my feet. Seem to also be having an issue with my legs being "tucked" under me and on the pegs. I get a uncomfortable feeling in my hips after an hour or two and need to get my feet off the pegs and extend my legs. Got some risers on the way. Hope to get the comfort issue resolved and start logging some serious miles on this new to me fjr. Thanks in advance for your advice

I used to have this problem and added a set of forward pegs (equivalent to the ones from Garuald) and found the change in position helped my hips and knees by moving occasionally. I ended up with a Russell later that raised me about 1/2" and either the seat or the height seemed to fix things...or somehow my hips got better with the bike.

The handlebar risers in combination with footpeg lowering brackets and a custom seat as Laam or Russell will make the riding position much more comfortable i believe!I had the same problem and the footpeg lowering brackets in combination with the handlebar risers did the trick!Also the highway pegs will help much.

My .02...

Handle bar risers. Check.

Highway pegs- https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/149984-garauld-hiway-peg-mounting-plates/

Put the seat in the 'higher' position for longer rides.

If you cannot afford to get a new custom seat- Russell, Laam etc. Another 'band-aid' fix that might help, is an 'Air-Hawk' seat. This has helped me, but I am hoping to get a custom seat next spring if I can get the $$$. While the Air-Hawk is marketed as a cushion, it does raise you up some, might be just enough to help.

I do not have any experience with lowering of the existing foot pegs, so I cannot add to that.

I came from a small cruiser to the FJR and had a lot of issues with comfort. I just enjoyed the bike enough to ignore the minor pain and stiffness and it didn't take long before the 'Yoda' riding position became comfortable for me and I was no longer comfortable riding the cruiser. That's just me, and others have tried a bunch of things to get comfortable. Still, I would recommend that you get a few more thousand miles on so you can see how much you adapt to the machine before you spend time and money on modifications.

If your wrists hurt then there are two possibilities. You may be leaning too much weight on the bars because your back and hips haven't gotten used to the 'Yoda' riding position, or the angle of the bars is the problem. I found the angle to be uncomfortable at first, but eventually got used to it. Bar risers may help. Again, get some more miles experience before you resort to risers.

erixun said:

My .02...
Handle bar risers. Check.

Highway pegs- https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/149984-garauld-hiway-peg-mounting-plates/

Put the seat in the 'higher' position for longer rides.

If you cannot afford to get a new custom seat- Russell, Laam etc. Another 'band-aid' fix that might help, is an 'Air-Hawk' seat. This has helped me, but I am hoping to get a custom seat next spring if I can get the $$$. While the Air-Hawk is marketed as a cushion, it does raise you up some, might be just enough to help.

I do not have any experience with lowering of the existing foot pegs, so I cannot add to that.

Click to expand...

The OP has an '05, so he can't adjust the seat position.

Geezer said:

erixun said:

My .02...
Handle bar risers. Check.

Highway pegs- https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/149984-garauld-hiway-peg-mounting-plates/

Put the seat in the 'higher' position for longer rides.

If you cannot afford to get a new custom seat- Russell, Laam etc. Another 'band-aid' fix that might help, is an 'Air-Hawk' seat. This has helped me, but I am hoping to get a custom seat next spring if I can get the $$$. While the Air-Hawk is marketed as a cushion, it does raise you up some, might be just enough to help.

I do not have any experience with lowering of the existing foot pegs, so I cannot add to that.

Click to expand...

The OP has an '05, so he can't adjust the seat position.

Click to expand...

Ooops, sorry. That shows my ignorance, as I did not know that. Sometimes I just assume everyone else's FJR is like mine.... I even forget about the YCCS/AE! Thanks!

I met a member at the Mims, FL Tech day and he showed me some extensions that he put at the end of his sliders. He said he lifts his leg out over the extensions straightening his legs for moments at a time and said it works very well for him.

I tried something like that once. I put my boots up on them and it felt like when you sit on the John with the toilet seat up and touch the water. He said he puts his calves on it with a straight leg. Haven't tried it but, sounds like a good idea.

I would respectfully suggest that before modifying the bike you try modifying yourself. Specifically, stretching. I’ve got a couple of decades on you but, I believe the practice applies to any of us who find ourselves north of 40. Put both knees on the floor with your feet stretched out behind you and lean back. Stand erect and touch your toes. Stretch those hamstrings. There’s also a way to specifically stretch your hips that I find difficult to verbalize and looks so gay that you don’t want anybody watching. But it works. If you’re willing to do this for about ten or fifteen minutes three or four days a week, I’m betting you will find the difference in riding comfort to be quite profound. I’ve also found that putting in about two or three minutes just before hopping on the bike makes a world of difference. The difference between constant fidgeting on the bike and hanging my legs down for relief versus just riding happily along for 8 hours at a time.

My GF was relentlessly complaining about this ouch and that ouch on her Multistrada until I finally nagged her into a stretching regimen. A month later she thanked me in a way that’s none of your business but, suffice to say was a significant expression of gratitude.

Best of luck.

AK

Folks, some great advice!! Thank you all!! I have just begun using the "yoda" position... I will begin stretching...use to with the workouts 3-4 times a week but have dropped the stretching recently (time saver) I will adding the stretching back in!!

I'm a big advocate of highway pegs. Not only for the variety of positions they offer you, but to get your legs out of the blast of heat once in a while. I also recommend you try alternating a single foot on the pegs for more variety sometimes.

I bought a set of peg extenders a while back--Kuryakyn makes them and others may also. They have a 90o angle that puts the footpegs an inch or two forward (or down, but I think that would put them too low to the ground). The other benefit is they also move the pegs an inch or more farther out from the midline of the bike. Since we both ride '05s I know this applies to you also: the sharp edge of the fairing where your calf will press can feel pretty uncomfortable after a while. The extension lets you put your whole foot on the peg, not just on the outside edge of the peg, a much more secure and comfortable placement.

By the way, I have TWO risers under my bars, stacked.

I respectfully don't want highway pegs...I live in the mountains of western north carolina and i bought the bike to have fun up and down the appalachians.... and not wanting to add anything that would restrict my lean angle. As it is now with 700 miles under my belt I'm scraping peg feelers now.

Shemp said:

I respectfully don't want highway pegs..... and not wanting to add anything that would restrict my lean angle. As it is now with 700 miles under my belt I'm scraping peg feelers now.

Click to expand...

I still wouldn't dismiss them. Highway pegs fold up very conveniently and won't scrape before your main peg scrapers do.

I was reminded of this in West Virginia some years ago with a minor highway peg scrape, folded them both up on the next straight, bombed the rest of the state, and put them back down once in the midwest.

Hi there, I have to agree with the gang here. For me the first issue was the seat. I did a Bill Mayer seat. I posted on the forum and a few people let me try different seats. I liked the look and feel of the Bill Mayer a bit better. Best money spent, everyone gave me the recommendation to go with a good seat, and it's for a good reason, I can now do 12-14hr days without having my sitz bones bruised, my hips don't hurt either.

The next thing I addressed was the ability to put my legs in different positions, I picked up the highway pegs: Highway pegs- https://www.fjrforum....ounting-plates/

They are a huge difference in comfort. That really was the finishing touch in lower comfort. I used them out in Colorado this summer and never touched a peg, perhaps if you had a more disastrous issue there could be issues, but I don't believe you should have issues with the highway pegs restricting your fun. Others may have different experiences, but mine have not gotten in my way.

The last thing that I am going to address on my bike are bar risers. I don't want to drill out my ignition, and am not particularly fond of cutting my wire loom. My issue is I want to change the angle of the bars, rise them and bring them back a bit, without too much of a dramatic change. I have decided to go with the MV Motorrad bar risers. it's a plate like the Heli bar plate, only there are no ugly cable extensions, and you can put everything back to stock if needed. the only downside is it covers your triple tree steering head nut. not that big of a deal for allowing the comfort and ability to adjust the steering angle.

That is what I have done, as it sounds like you are having first time FJR ergo adjustment issues like I did when I first got mine. I hope that helps out a bit, you'll find the people on this forum very helpful. I got to try sitting on some folks bikes at a tech day who had the highway pegs. 10seconds with the pegs and I was hooked. It is a nice bike, you'll enjoy the heck out of it.

Dunno wut a yoda is, just RELAX!!!

If you are scraping pegs then you might want to look at upgrading the suspension. A quality aftermarket shock and some stiffer fork springs will help a lot. It is not cheap, but with so many folks moving to the GEn III you should be able to buy a used shock, like a Wilbers or Penske for a reasonable price. It probably won't help with comfort but you'll be able to ride a little harder without scraping parts and that will make you forget about a few aches and pains.

AKjitsu said:

I would respectfully suggest that before modifying the bike you try modifying yourself. Specifically, stretching. I’ve got a couple of decades on you but, I believe the practice applies to any of us who find ourselves north of 40. Put both knees on the floor with your feet stretched out behind you and lean back. Stand erect and touch your toes. Stretch those hamstrings. There’s also a way to specifically stretch your hips that I find difficult to verbalize and looks so gay that you don’t want anybody watching. But it works. If you’re willing to do this for about ten or fifteen minutes three or four days a week, I’m betting you will find the difference in riding comfort to be quite profound. I’ve also found that putting in about two or three minutes just before hopping on the bike makes a world of difference. The difference between constant fidgeting on the bike and hanging my legs down for relief versus just riding happily along for 8 hours at a time.
My GF was relentlessly complaining about this ouch and that ouch on her Multistrada until I finally nagged her into a stretching regimen. A month later she thanked me in a way that’s none of your business but, suffice to say was a significant expression of gratitude.

Best of luck.

AK

Click to expand...

^^^ This.

Seats and pads and highway pegs and bar risers and Master Yoda are ALL good things, and may help a little or a lot.

But your body must be able to adapt, too.

Best of success!

I originally tried the gen mar risers first, they were better but not near good enough. Bought a mcl riser plate which was great. Then installed a set of highway pegs and they do help but I don't use then very often. (Most of my rides are 350 to 450 miles.) Then replaced that foam block they call a seat with a Bill Mayer. That was a big improvement. I think Russell would be better but I wasn't sure about the added height. I'm 5'10" 165lbs. I also added grip puppies, well worth the money, throttlemeister (don't use very often) most roads around here aren't straight for very long. Also added a Cee Bailey windshield, big improvement also. It all helps a little and when u add it all together it helps a lot. Just if you're willing to spend the money. Good luck