Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2003 Yamaha FJR1300 Yamaha has incorporated dual counterbalancers to quell the vibes emitted from the brawny FJR motor. One is crank-driven, located at the left front of the engine. The other, located at the right, is run off of the primary drive gear on the clutch. Speaking of the clutch and tranny, both are simila r to the R1, except that the FJR's clutch is a hydraulically activated unit tha~ feeds power to a wide-ratio, five-speed gearbox. The power is then transmitted through a series of shafts leading to the V-Maxtype shaft final drive. Yamaha claims a max output of 145 horsepower and 93 lbs./ft. of torque at the crank, and a rear-wheel horsepower figure "in the high 120s." Of course, such a stout motor requires a stout chassis to go along with it, and the FJR appears to deliver via its beefy cast-aluminum, twinspar chassis, which features a removable subframe and utilizes the engine as a stressed member. The swingarm and shaft arrangement are all lightweight aluminum as well. Fully adjustable 48mm forks connect to a By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTOS BY BLAKE CONNER raditionally, u.s. motorcycle enthusiasts have had good reason to envy Europe and Japan where it pertains to the availability of certain Big Four models in the marketplace. The Euros and the Japanese, it seems, have consistently received a stream of models - from quirky niche fillers to outright missiles capable of ungodly performance - that are strictly handsoff when it comes to America. And Yamaha has the reputation of being the stingiest of the Japanese bike builders when it comes to holding out on America. Who can ever forget the Yamaha RZ500s that buzzed like angry bees just above our heads in Canada, or more recently, that naked, bumble bee-painted monster known as the XJR 1200? Both were strictly taboo in the Land of the Free. You couldn't buy an R7 street bike in the U.S., but they had 'em on showroom floors in Europe. What's a Bulldog? You probably wouldn't know unless you live across the pond. To be fair, a lot of these cases are emissions-related, but the point is that the grass always seems greener elsewhere. So, when Yamaha debuted its cutting-edge FJR1300 sport tourer at the Intermot motorcycle expo two years ago and then announced that the machine would be sold only in the European market, a lot of folks just shrugged their shoulders and went on with their lives. But, among a burgeoning sporttouring enthusiast segment of the buying public, the same news was T 22 MAY 8, 2002' cue • EO met with much wailing and gnashing of teeth - so much so that Yamaha officials began investigating the possibility of a U.S. release for the FJR. What they found was a market segment that has experienced a sustained growth of seven percent over the last five years, with some 30004000 units sold per year - not too shabby. Based upon those figures, Yamaha decided to go for it, introducing the FJR in the U.S. as a 2003 model - even though it has been a European model for the past year and a half - in the hope that the sporttouring crowd would respond by rushing into their local Yamaha dealer and placing an order. If early returns based upon the number of $500 deposits that have been received through the FJR 1300 priority delivery program - are a clear indication, then it would appear that Yamaha has made the right call. So, what's all this revelry for the FJR about anyway? Yamaha's marketing gurus have proclaimed the FJR1300 as a newgeneration supersport tourer (SST) that is going to redefine the category. Perhaps it is easier to describe the FJR as a sport-touring platform that has benefited greatly from trickledown technology, deriving its sport label not merely based upon its racy appearance, but from the gaggle of componentry that has been derived from - or is shared with - Yamaha's cutting edge YZF-R sport bikes. For proof of this. you need look no further than the 13's engine and chassis. Starting with the heart of the beast, the liquid-cooled, electronicaln e vv s Iy fuel-injected, 1298cc, DOHC, 16valve inline-four shares its lineage and much of its architecture with the R1, the obvious difference being the concessions that Yamaha deemed necessary for the touring side of the equation. Tuning has been altered, with the FJR sporting camshaft profiles that accentuate low-end and midrange performance. For emissions compliance, Yamaha has routed the air-induction (lean burn) system through the head directly into each cylinder, rather than to the exhaust ports as on previous models. In the cylinder block, 79mm pistons ride in ceramic-coated bores to decrease drag and increase thermal efficiency. Speaking of thermal efficiency, the cooling system is derived from the R6. Kicking out the spent gasses is a trick 4-into-2-into-1-into-2 exhaust system, which sports a crossover tube between the number two and number three cylinders. The system is capped with a pair of gorgeous, stainless-steel canisters. three-spoke wheel with dual 298mm four-piston brakes that come straight off the Rl. The rear shock features adjustable rebound damping and sports a trick two-stage preload feature that allows the rider to firm up the tail section for two-up riding with the flick of a lever mounted just forward of the left passenger peg. The rear wheel is also a three-spoke unit. The rear brake is a 282mm unit with a single-piston caliper. Available only in liquid silver, the Yamaha FJR1300 retails for $11,499, complete with hard saddlebags. Since our FJR1300 was one of only four test models in the country, our time aboard the bike was limited to a short intro on the twisty Ortega Highway in Southern Orange County and a few excursions up and down the freeway and through a few neighborhoods. Here's what we can tell you: Firing up the FJR is hassle-free, thanks to the closed-loop fuel-injection system with its bank of 48mm throttle bodies. The FJR1300 simply fires up and settles into a nice idle -

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