Hi All , Got a test ride on a FJR 1300 yesterday , here's how it went . My first surprise was how light the bike felt when i sat on it , for it's size i was expecting it to be as heavy as the GTS , the weight appears to have been kept very low down on the bike . It's a big bike but you feel like your sat on top of it , it's probably due to the highish handle bars ( their extended some 6 inch's from the head stock ) , it's a great riding position , i felt like i could do hundreds of miles in one sitting . The steering felt very light when not moving , as if the front tyre had 20 psi extra . The engine is silky smooth all the time , and has tons of grunt from tick over to high rpm .
The ride . The weather was over cast with light rain from time to time , the roads were wet country roads yuck . >From first gear to top it was smooth notchless gear changes , the extra power over the GTS is very obvious right from the start , it's blinding . I gave it a handful in 2nd gear , the power comes in with a bit of a rush but it doesn't fall off it keeps coming and building more and more . On the wetish roads i did feel that the rear wheel would either spin up or the bike would head for the sky , it didn't but i'm sure with the power it's got ( 145 bhp ) it wouldn't have a problem doing it in the future . When your moving the suspension is softish but able to cope very well , you get a smooth stable ride , the front end feels to far to light for my liking , i got the impression that it was so light it would loose grip in tight bends so i didn't push it , after all it wasn't my bike and i didn't want to bin it . You only realise how good the GTS frame with the centre hub steering is , when you get back on it , it's more solid and more stable than probably any other bike on the road today , and with the abs which the FJR doesn't have the GTS gives a more secure feeling , you could head towards a tight bend at 100plus in the wet and not get brown stains on your seat . The screen is electrically operated rising up and down at the touch of a button and can be set at any position in it's range , it's quite nice to be able to change the wind noise to suit the riding speed , when raining you can set the screen to make the rain get pulled down off your visor with no finger wiping . Although the bike is shaft driven i didn't notice much in the way of engine braking when shutting the throttle off . I'll sum up the FJR for now as long letters make for tired eyes . Power and loads of it . Light compared to the GTS . Good looks better than the GTS depending on how you look at it ( i.e. from the front ). Mile muncher due to riding position . Not as stable as the GTS . Lets hope Yamaha bring out a new GTS with a FJR engine in it and an electric screen . atb Nick T
