Internet rumor about the FJR

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I was told by a BMW (fanatic) that of ALL the touring bikes the FJR hits its pegs and lean limits first. That is first before an RT, Goldwing and an ST. Anyone bored enough to search the specs out and post em, cause I'm not. :lol:
You be the judge.

" target="_blank">Prior to 2006 FJR
I'm no riding instructor ...but isn't he leaning the wrong way? :blink:He looks comfy anyway!

Then again, I guess you'd look funny hanging off your Wing. Old Squid! :lol:

 
It just goes to show you we have more power if we are first to drag a pig, even if it is a lean one. Doesn't matter I'm on a diet anyway.

 
FYI, late October Rick Pepin (Yellow Wolf) rode an SS1000 entirely on the Dragon (Deals Gap). Although M. Kneebone and crew would not recognize it as 'official', since YW had to exceed the speed limit to accomplish this astounding feat (over 33 thousand corners in 24 hours), he did offer his congratulations. Rick did it on his GL1800. The same one that is fitted out with 3 cameras to record rides of visitors to the Tail of the Dragon. He transcribes to DVDs, which he sells to the rider. I met Rick at the end of my ride on the Dragon on my GL1800 (pulling my camper). Yes, he drags his pegs. He was missing about 1.5" off the ends. He has steel plates on the bottom of the pegs to slow down the grinding process :assassin:

Here is his website: Yellow Wolf Videos

More peg grinding Dragon stuff here: KillBoy

 
FYI, late October Rick Pepin (Yellow Wolf) rode an SS1000 entirely on the Dragon (Deals Gap).
Yes, he drags his pegs. He was missing about 1.5" off the ends. He has steel plates on the bottom of the pegs to slow down the grinding process :assassin:
He also has Traxxion suspension on both ends and who knows what other mods on his Goldwing to give him more lean angle. It definitely is not a standard Goldwing.

 
FYI, late October Rick Pepin (Yellow Wolf) rode an SS1000 entirely on the Dragon (Deals Gap).

Yes, he drags his pegs. He was missing about 1.5" off the ends. He has steel plates on the bottom of the pegs to slow down the grinding process :assassin:
He also has Traxxion suspension on both ends and who knows what other mods on his Goldwing to give him more lean angle. It definitely is not a standard Goldwing.
Traxxion too rich for my pocketbook. I'm pretty happy with the Wing as she is, but then I don't drag the pegs...

 
Max lean angle and ground clearance has a lot to do with the rider's cornering style, suspension set up, and weight on the bike. The FJR will lean far enough, before the pegs touch, to have little or no chicken strips on the rear tire. For a sport touring bike how much more would someone want. If you gain ground clearence you will begin to give up some comfort because of the pegs being higher changing the rider's position which is one of the problems with the BMW GT. Another consideration would be the tires. Most people run sport touring tires not the best for max lean angles. This is one of the reasons they offer the FZ1, reasonable comfort and excellent corner clearance with stickier tires. RIDE SAFE

 
OK here I go again

I still have my GWing. I love that bike. There are times I fire it up, power up the Comms, the XM, The GPS, and the Radar Detector, and go.

The wing is a pretty sweet handling bike for a touring 900lb monster. It is ROCK SOLID. I love my Feej like a petulant, feisty, Girlfriend. My wing is an old friend waiting to have a cold one (metephorically of course)

But tht is just me comin off a great day!!

 
My other ride is a '99 BMW K1200LT ( The Enterprise) that I've put 1302k on in the last 5 years.

With the Wilber's shocks it sits about 3/4" higher than stock resulting in a steeper lean angle available.

Both foot rests are ground to points & the passenger rests have significant scrape marks on them also.

There's a turn on the Cherohala Skwy that has a good portion of my R foot peg & a bit of the front fairing in the pavement (Damn decreasing radius turns) :)

I was suprised how quickly/easily the footpegs touched down on the FJR.

@ 6' 3" I guess that's the price I paid to be as comfortable as I am on the FJR.

Too bad they didn't build in the ability to move the footpegs up or down like my '00 K1200RS did.

Chris in MD

 
Things to look at if you are dragging pegs:

1. Your body position may need to be incorrect.

2. You are not picking the best line.

3. You are over cooking turns

a. You are misjudging turns consistently

b. You are just riding too fast

I ride turns pretty quick and hear a lot of guys talk about dragging pegs. Ya know, these are the same guys who also post the "driver down" type posts too. I rarely hit my pegs and have no problems keeping up with other riders, in fact I usually am very concerned about pushing people through turns.

 
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Things to look at if you are dragging pegs:1. Your body position may need to be incorrect.

2. You are not picking the best line.

3. You are over cooking turns

a. You are misjudging turns consistently

b. You are just riding too fast

I ride turns pretty quick and hear a lot of guys talk about dragging pegs. Ya know, these are the same guys who also post the "driver down" type posts too. I rarely hit my pegs and have no problems keeping up with other riders, in fact I usually am very concerned about pushing people through turns.
Bingo. I ride my ST pretty aggressive, probably far more so than the average ST owner. (Which is why I'm switching to an FJR) When I first got it, I was dragging the pegs constantly, all the way to where I ground a hole thru the lower cowl.

Then some guys who saw a photo of me said "yea, but your body position is all wrong". I was riding the thing like a motocrosser. After a little bit of constructive criticism/technique advice, I modified my riding style to adopt the "bite the mirror" technique. It took me nearly a full season to adjust, but now I can corner just a quick as I ever did, and I NEVER touch a peg anymore.

Bottom line: It was my poor technique that caused me to drag the bottom. A better method cured it.

I thrashed an '05 FJR on my personal 'test course' back in August and despite trying to, only dragged a peg slightly once. The bike had a Penske shock, fork mods, and M3 SportTec tires. I have no complaints with the Feejer's cornering clearance.

 
I took a test ride on the '05 FJR at Cottage Grove Yamaha (the owner's bike) and the first thing I noticed on this bike is how easy it is to drag the pegs. I used to ride a 1986 Ninja 1000R and never did that! Oh, and as for the Wing, my husband has a wing and I love to drag the pegs on it! Drives him crazy!! He thinks I'm crazy! I guess he's right.

 
You're not going to get this information from any spec sheets.
I don't know about big touring bikes like the Wing, but I would agree with this assessment within the FJR's peer group (RT, GT, ST, etc.). The FJR's achilles heel from a handling standpoint is cornering clearance. It's not very good.

- Mark
BUT----If your really, really, REALLY good, you can ride so close to the edge of the pavement, when you lean your pegs will be over the edge and you will have all the clearence you need! You just don't have ANY room for a mistake!

CK

PS: I know the FJR riders are good enough to ride on the "wild side"! :yahoo:

 
You're not going to get this information from any spec sheets.

I don't know about big touring bikes like the Wing, but I would agree with this assessment within the FJR's peer group (RT, GT, ST, etc.). The FJR's achilles heel from a handling standpoint is cornering clearance. It's not very good.

- Mark
BUT----If your really, really, REALLY good, you can ride so close to the edge of the pavement, when you lean your pegs will be over the edge and you will have all the clearence you need! You just don't have ANY room for a mistake!

CK

PS: I know the FJR riders are good enough to ride on the "wild side"! :yahoo:

Body position, body position, body position. ;)

I ride the FJR harder than I felt I could ride the ST. And frankly, the stock FJR suspension settings blow chunks. With everything dialed up pretty stiff, it's much hard to drag parts. I prefer the lower-feeling CoG the FJR offers to some of the other bikes I've ridden. This thing is rock stable in every type of riding or parking lot maneuvering I do. If that means *apparently* having to drag pegs now and then, so be it. I've only tapped the pegs down a few times as it is, and I ride with some pretty fast guys on FZ-1s.

Personally, I don't consider the BMWs to be peers to the FJR in any affordable way. Their prices set them apart.

 
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Things to look at if you are dragging pegs:1. Your body position may need to be incorrect.

2. You are not picking the best line.

3. You are over cooking turns

a. You are misjudging turns consistently

b. You are just riding too fast

I ride turns pretty quick and hear a lot of guys talk about dragging pegs. Ya know, these are the same guys who also post the "driver down" type posts too. I rarely hit my pegs and have no problems keeping up with other riders, in fact I usually am very concerned about pushing people through turns.

Cute, but um, No. There are so many other reasons too. Like, riding the wrong bike. If you think you can ride my Goldwing and not drag a peg, and keep up with a sportier bike through proper riding position yer outta yer mind (assume like riding skills piloting both). Why on earth would anyone buy a sport bike if all that can be done on a gold wing too. It is so much more comfy.

There is almost never a difinitive answer. If you think you have one it may be a sign of too narrow a view.

Thats just MHO though

 
How did we start comparing the FJR to Goldwings in lean angle? Common, we might as well compare a Impala with a Camaro Z28.

This comparison started with the bikes in the FJR's class being discussed.

In particular, if the K1200S side cases hit before the peg feelers then I think they have a design problem. If the lean angle of the FJR is not as great as the other bikes in our class, I haven't noticed it in the twisties when riding with them.

Some comments have been made about body position, path of turn etc...many times I scrape the pegs it's because I entered a turn too hot, and sometimes I picked my line wrong and I'm correcting.

Other times I just press the bike that hard for fun. Nope, Never dropped the FJR or the BMW or the Seca.

Only damn bike I ever dropped was my DRZ on sand. I wasn't anywhere near scraping pegs then!!!

 
How did we start comparing the FJR to Goldwings in lean angle? Common, we might as well compare a Impala with a Camaro Z28.
Only damn bike I ever dropped was my DRZ on sand. I wasn't anywhere near scraping pegs then!!!

I think is was started with a GW in the mix too. I got testy cuz a FNG was tellin peeps like me I dont know how to ride my wing or they would not scrape.

Anyway. THe specs I read suggest that the FJR does have less ground clearance than mos bikes that are in its class. I dont care becuase for me they are high enough. The Feej is just righjt for my riding style, matter of fact, Just came outta "Little Cottomwood" Canyon a few monutes ago playing hookie from work (It is like 61 deg here, sweet!!@) There was snow most of the trip and had to stand it up for snow balls that had rolled ecross the road in a couple of places but that was better than this damm desk. This desk has NO!!! lean angle, even at DSL speeds

 
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Do people really ride gold wings that aggresively? I would think that, if you ride a gold wing, you're more into cruising along comfortably while you sip your latte and watch the hours pass by.

 
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