I have been looking for a bike that would satisfy my needs for week long camping trips as well as local canyon carving. I had narrowed it down to the 2004 Honda ST1300 and the Yamaha FJR, both of which I had ridden. In August I saw the Galaxy Blue 2005 FJR and decided to get it. I have since put 6,000 miles on it including a 2,000 miler through California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
The styling of the bike is beautiful and strangers in parking lots come up to me and tell me so. When you sit on the FJR the gas tank greets you and when you put your hands on the handlebars you are ready to blast off. Start the 145 hp engine and the nice rumble from the pipes tells you it's ready to go. Acceleration and torque is plenty on this rocket and at 90 mph the engine is purring at 5k rpm. The limiter kicks in at 150 mph.
MPG is 40/50 and with the 6.6 gallon tank you can go 250 miles before you need to fill up. This is a long range for a motorcycle. Your butt does get a little sore at 220 miles so you would want to pull over anyway. The FJR also feels good in the canyons with generous clearance, which you will need since this bike, with Metzlers tires, really wants to lean and take you and your co-rider through the curves quickly!
The sidebags come with 2 nice Yamaha duffle bags which I use a lot. You can also fit a fullface helmet in each sidebag.
The finish and styling of this blue bike is beautiful and it's FUN to ride on the highways and the canyons. The ST1300 is also a very good bike but I prefer the FJR.
Upgrades/Accessories: I have added tip over guards, Cee Bailey headlight protectors, TankSlapper kit, Cox radiator guard, Heli bar risers, and a radar detector.
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