The Yamaha/STAR test ride demo truck was at my local Yamaha dealership this past weekend, so with some time on my hands, I decided to go do some test rides. Yeah, I wanted to do it for me, but I try to ride some different bikes when possible so that I can talk with some knowledge with folks going through my MSF classes. Their demo truck had one or two of just about everything in their street lineup from the R3 up to their biggest and baddest cruisers.
On Friday I rode an FJ09, a bike I've been wanting to ride since reading about it in a magazine. While it's hard to get a full picture of a bike in a 10 mile long most straight road ride, but I really liked it. There was a very discernable difference between the ride modes, Std, A (aggressive), and B (rain?...softer than Std). And I found the seating position to be pleasantly comfortable. I can see this bike with saddlebags being ridden just about anywhere. I really liked this bike a lot.
Another rider was testing out the FZ07. While much has been written about the FZ09, the FZ07 is still relatively new. This other rider was mightily impressed with the FZ07 and it's prodigious torque. I didn't ride the 07, but I have to think the 09 would be even more blessed.
Being limited to only two rides per day, I selected an FJR1300 on the next ride. I'd say it is similar in seating position to my ST1100 with a bit of forward lean to the bars, but it's >50# lighter than the ST. If I had won the club raffle this past year, I'd have been pleased to add it to my garage. However, I don't think I'd buy one. I'm thinking smaller...not bigger bikes these days. And while it's about the lightest of the "sport-touring" bikes around, there's a lot of mass there.
Going back the next day, I jumped aboard a Super Tenere. I've been wanting to ride one of these for a while, but just hadn't had a chance. I have now. As noted above, I'm now thinking smaller and not bigger and heavier. The Super T is lighter than some of the open class "adventure" bikes, but it's a BIG bike. With my skill level I really can't imagine taking this bike into an environment with less than good traction...it would be a lot to pick up. It's a nice machine, but it doesn't fit me at this point in my life.
For my last ride, I snagged one of the new R3s. At 321cc, it's sort of a cheater bike in the 250 category, but it might hold some interest for someone just learning to ride something with sport bike styling. With a slight sporty forward lean, it was less to my liking than the Sukuki TU250 (sitting on one of these, I can shut my eyes, drop my hands, and find that they've landed exactly on the grips), or the Suzuki GW250. The R3 was pleasant, but it wouldn't be my first choice of something in that category. Being a bit of a mileage zealot, I did like the mileage calculator displayed at the bottom of the info screen.
My pick of these 4 bikes is definitely the FJ09. I'd been at an Iron Butt Association event in Kingsport last week, and they had a cone course for people to try. The winners (1-up and 2-up) were each aboard a BMW R1200GS. I think I could put a set of saddlebags on the FJ, maybe some aux lights, an aux fuel tank, and use this bike for any kind of long distance travel. And in a cone course, it would have been an absolute killer.
All of the Yamaha products are competitively priced, and they seem to promoting their product line more aggressively than the other Japanese mfrs. I was told by the guys running the show that they have 3 demo trucks for their street bike line and 2 for their off-road products out and about all of the time.
