Didn’t mean for this to sound like a whine & cheese or a rant, just what it is, observations from *my* perspective after a long weekend trip. I've been riding for 40 odd years. I’m not a high mileage rider. I usually ride ~7500 miles a year, most of it local. My longer distance rides generally consist of a 600 mile weekend (last year on a hardtail chopper) and a ~2K weekend. I’ve owned this bike for ~ a year and it has become the hands down winner of the “which key” contest. The FJR has turned into the primary two wheeled vehicle of the fleet.
Maybe I’m a little obsessive compulsive, but things that don’t rate a second thought on short hops begin to dig in after 10-12 hours in the saddle. The turn signals are in that category because in my normal riding I seldom use them on this bike, my other bike, or any other vehicle. That’s just a perk of where I live and ride. I only signal when there’s someone to see it (I know, bad habit) and on this trip (to the Ohio Northeast Coast) there were plenty of folks that I wanted to see my signals. And being this is the first bike I’ve owned in the last ten years without some form of self cancel they got left on a bit more than I would like. Operator error? Sure. Engineering issues? A matter of opinion.
The bags have been a pain from the word go. That said, I knew that I wouldn’t like them before I bought the FJR, but I still bought it. I like the bike, but still don’t like the bags. Some people say I just like to bitch and accuse me of creating problems to bitch about. That argument may have some merit. I’ve had other bikes with side openers, didn’t care for those either. I use my bags a lot, they are both opened a minimum of twice a day for every day ridden to work and countless times on other longer rides. I realize there are work arounds. If I could find a small, sexy top box this would be a moot point. I have considered building a small box to my specs. As I’ve grown older, saddle bags/top boxes have become my MC man purse. I gotta have ‘em and they’re always full of little stuff ya can’t live without. Just a random thought along a similar line, I’ve never owned a retired cop bike, but bags you could open and access from the riders seat would really be cats ass.
Heat is well, hot. What ya gonna do? Yeah, call me a puss. Yeah, big engines make big heat. This is not my first large displacement bike. I’ve ridden/owned air cooled, air/oil cooled, and water cooled. It’s an issue with them all; it’s not an FJR exclusive. It doesn’t make much difference what you ride if you ride all day and it’s ~100 degrees F, you’re gonna get hot at some point. I think that due to the good frontal protection provided by the FJR there is a trade off of sorts, plus the adjustment of the windshield is a factor. Like 64Y80 said, the lower leg heat soak is noticeable on longer rides; I hadn’t experienced this up till now. Up till around noon I didn’t notice it, but later in the day it did become a comfort factor.
Something I didn’t mention that did please me was the level of rain protection. I went through a 10 mile or so shower at 70 mph and the only thing that got noticeably wet was the toe of my boots. That was a first.
I had a good trip on a good bike. I covered a lot of miles in a short time and was able to walk away in one piece. I’ve never ridden the perfect bike so I don’t think I’ll scrap out the FJR just yet.
Oh yeah, that crack about the Gold Wing was just plain mean. If it comes to that, I’d much rather have a Miata.
