I thought the no soul comment would generate a little discussion. In my experience a bike with soul, or character, was sometimes fun to ride, sometimes a pain in the ass, and sometimes flat out scary. I grew up riding dirt bikes in an era where powerbands were 500 RPM wide and riding the pipe was a skill. I rode a 400 CZ that had all of the character you would ever want in a motorcycle. I was done with that sort of soul a long time ago. If I need to remember what motorcycling was, I've got a 1980 SR500 in the garage that has all of the soul and character I need. Thump. A modern motorcycle does not have to have bad manners, or keep talking to me to be right. It just needs to be reliable and not throw out surprises. That is what the FJR is. Rock solidly reliable with no nasty habits. It goes when I say go, it whoa's when I say whoa, it turns when I point it. No drama, no issues, no arguments. Damn good bike.
There are a few other things that are due for consideration here as well. One of them is that Yamaha is pushing out what is basically the 2016 bike with a 2022 price tag. The lack of updates/distinguishing characteristics does not give one a great deal of confidence that Yamaha is currently putting resources into the platform, or will continue to support it in the future. The unwillingness to make it Euro 5 compliant and dropping it from that market doesn't look great either. This uncertainty weighs heavily. It's hard enough now to find a tech that speaks Feej, without the mothership dropping support. What does the future hold? If Yamaha would throw out some crumb of encouragement, it would probably go a long way towards settling the market. It would for me. How about reinstating the A model? Is electronically adjustable suspension really that vital? Sort of like chains, I don't need a bunch of things to fiddle around with. I know how I ride, I know what I want, and it ain't complicated. See above. Set it and forget it. I don't even want to think about having to work on that horror story if Yamaha bails out, much less when they are in it.
Still, for all of this, the FJR is a fantastic fucking motorcycle. Because it's a FFM, and I know it, the Feej remains top of the heap. But, I have to think this out. The Bavarian sirens are calling.........