FNG in Vegas

[FTL900]

New to the FJR world but not to riding. Really, who buys this for their very first bike?

I'm picking up a 2011 this weekend, gonna road trip to Phoenix with my girlfriend, poke around town for the weekend, and then maiden voyage will be a 5 hour ride home on Sunday.

[wheatonFJR]

New to the FJR world but not to riding. Really, who buys this for their very first bike?

I'm picking up a 2011 this weekend, gonna road trip to Phoenix with my girlfriend, poke around town for the weekend, and then maiden voyage will be a 5 hour ride home on Sunday.

I didn't...but after a 20 year layoff I did. Welcome from the east.

[fontanaman]

Welcome to the forum. Most of us old guys here have been riding many more years before the FJR was first available.

[Uncle Hud]

Bon voyage!

[0face]

Welcome, you're gonna have a blast!

[LKLD]

Congrats on the bike, and welcome to the forum!

Rob

[Top_Speed1]

Welcome to the Forum. Be careful with your new (first) bike. You chose a wonderful bike to see the world on, and it will give you many many HUGE exciting sMiles along the way!

Enjoy, and come to one of our meetups/rally's and get acquainted!

[FTL900]

It was a 6 hour ride home with a few short stops along the way. After the skies opening up and drowning Chandler AZ all through the night, we left the Phoenix area on damp roads and under threatening skies. I got a few raindrops as we left Waffle House at 7:30, but mostly it helped the morning remain cool.
I rode up to highway 93 in Surprise AZ and then through Kingman and into Las Vegas. It was in the 80's leaving the Phoenix area, right at 90 as we jumped on I-40 for 20 miles or so into Kingman, and mid-90's all the way to almost Hoover Dam. Then nearing the dam, temps jumped into triple digits and we knew we were back.

The bike has bar risers on it, but I still felt like the bars were too far away from me. If I wasn't sitting on the very front edge of the seat, my lower back started to hurt from leaning forward. I used an Airhawk2 seat pad that helped a lot with the seat, but even with that, I felt like the seat was too low and too close to the pegs. I rode the last 35 miles or so without the Airhawk seat pad, and it felt an inch lower, and even closer to the pegs. The stock seat is terrible even for those last 35 miles= hard as a rock, reminds me of stock Yamaha dirt bike seats. (hey, maybe the same people make both... )

I was quite surprised that my 2001 Bandit 1200S was more comfortable than the FJR. I have no idea what the seat is set on, high or low, so I'll start sorting out what can be done to make it more cushy. On my ZRX1100, I put lowered pegs on that dropped my feet down a little over an inch, and added a Sargent seat that's taller than stock. I'll look into dropping the pegs a bit, I don't wanna pop big bucks on a seat until I have done everything else to sort it out... don't wanna drop $500 or more and still have the same basic geometry problems between the seat, pegs, and bars.

I had great fun playing with the windshield, altho it shudders a little when it goes up or down. Probably needs some lube and tightening in places.
I also noticed that the top of the stock windshield vibrated noticeably whether up, down, or in the middle. Again, maybe a tightening issue. The windshield could be a touch taller, but not much. I may stay with the stock size but go to a tinted one, haven't looked at what's out there yet.

The glove box latch is broken off and/or missing, so it flies in the open position. I'll need to source parts for that.
I'm thinking Delkevic slip-ons just so I can hear the bike, altho I did enjoy the stealth mode ride today. Not anytime soon tho, first things first, I gotta work on the basics- clean the bike up with some TLC and making the bike more comfortable comes first.

Oh, one more question. I hate the grips, they're probably original OEM grips. The bike has grip warmers. Can I just remove the old grips and put new ones on, or....?
I usually just slice off old grips with a razor knife when replacing them but I don't know what's under there and don't want to slice through the wiring.

[Red]

Oh, one more question. I hate the grips, they're probably original OEM grips. The bike has grip warmers. Can I just remove the old grips and put new ones on, or....? I usually just slice off old grips with a razor knife when replacing them but I don't know what's under there and don't want to slice through the wiring.

FNG,

Welcome to the sandbox. Lotsa good people here.

If the stock grips are heated, the wiring is molded into the stock grips. Their costs are about astronomical, so you really do not want to cut them. You can install foam grips right over the factory grips; I did, and they are fine by me. The foam grips also cut down on handlebar vibration. My hands would go partly numb sometimes from the vibrations, before the foam grips went on. Look for Grip Buddies or Grip Puppies, two different products that do the same thing. I like the slide-on types.

[FTL900]

Wow, Bike Bandit says a little over $200 for each grip!!!

[BkerChuck]

Welcome aboard and congrats on the new ride!

The slip over grip covers make a huge improvement for little cash outlay. You may want to check the throttle body sync as that can add some vibrations when it's too far out.

[Uncle Hud]

Some bar riser systems have the option of pivoting the bars forward and back. Do a bit of internet research and see if yours does.

[Steel_Gin]

Welcome to the group and congrats on the purchase!!

Just like most of us this rock solid steed takes a few tweaks to make it comfortable for YOU. I was very hesitant in spending the money I did, but when it was all done very glad I did. I now have a bike I can ride from sun up to sun down, something I have never experienced before. There are a lot of people who have been there done that in this area, do your research and the decisions will be simple........this doesn't imply they will be cheap.

[FTL900]

I don't mind spending the money to get it dialed it, but you're right about the research, I don't want to spend money on the wrong direction, trial and error gets expensive.