I think all bikes have character, or soul if you will. But it depends on the type of character you want. My thoughts on the FJR character is that it is very robotic, mechanical if you will. You ride the FJR, give it inputs, it does what you want, and typically does them well and it is a difficult bike to outride. But the sound, the feel of everything on the bike from the gear box to the engine frequency is very mechanized. The one thing that has some interesting character to my bike is the gear box. I can feel the difference between every gear shift, they aren't consistent. 1st to 2nd is a long sweep with a thump at the end, 2nd to 3rd is quick and smooth probably the best shift, 3rd to 4th takes more effort than the previous shift and give a positive feedback, and fourth to fifth is felt almost non-existent as if it is a false neutral shift, but has never resulted in that. But I digress.
Other bikes I've ridden are more one with you, less input and more feel. Everything meshes better, less gear meshing sounds, shifting is smooth and concise between every gear, and all feel the same a short quick positive shift.
Only way I can describe it is like spreading butter, the FJR is like spreading cool butter on a cold piece of bread, it gets the job done, takes a little effort. Other bikes are like spreading butter on warm toast, it's smooth and effortless. But the FJR is in fact it is a great ride especially for the weight. I've been on bikes that felt like spreading frozen butter on a crispy saltine, doesn't work right, at all.
We all love our FJRs, I just think that some bikes have a better feel for some than others.
