2005 Yamaha FJR 7300 ABS
~DLJrin
....
By KIT PALMER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF YAMAHA
vidently, there are a lot of people
out t here await ing de livery of
t heir 2005 Fj 1300. 50 many, in
fact, that if you didn't lay down
your $500 down payment for one
by April 30th of this year, you're not going to
get one, because they're sold out. Yes, all
2ooo-plus of them have already been spoken
for, so if you didn't get in again on Yamaha's
Prio rity Delivery Program for the FjR, you'll
have to wait until 2006 to get one. Luckily,
however, the wait will be worth it.
I just watched our FjRI3OO's odometer
crest the 4ooo-mile mark , and I had the
honor of logging almost all of those miles,
and if 1had my way, I'd just as soo n pile on
another 4000. 1must admit, most of those
miles were accumu lated in not the most
glamorous or exciting fashion (mainly droning along 50Cal's congested freeway system
on my daily comm ute), but there were a
few times when 1 just couldn't take the 9 1
craw l anymore and made a beeline for the
nearest off-ramp and headed for the hills - a
E
longer' but certainly more enjoyable curvy
route th rough the canyons that would eventuallyget me home.
Even though a big chunk of my streetsaddle time takes place on crowded freeways, they we re still enjoyable (and even
exhilarating) on the superco mfortable and
user-friendly FjR. My 6-foot -1 frame had
roo m to move about, and the seat, with
dual-foam densities , is one of the best in the
business. Not once did I fee l the hankering
to get off the bike to stretch my legs or massage out a cramped muscle after a lengthy
stint in the saddle. The hardlebars, for me at
least, were very comfortable, so, luckily, 1
didn't have to worry abo ut the fact that
they 're so lidly mo unted and non-adjustable.
The electron ically adjustable w indscreen
certainly contributes to the FJR's on-road
com fort, but 1used the "butto n" mainly for
entertainment purposes. In the "up" - or
"tall" - position, the windscreen creates too
much Duffeting, back-pressure and wind
noise for my liking, so 99.9 percent of the...
.
26 SEPTEMBER22,2004 • CYCLE NEWS ·
...J
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