Is the 2007 Yamaha FJR1300 Still a Touring Legend? A Comprehensive Review and Ride Experience

[simonsteer]

Loving your enthusiasm for your FJR. I owned an FJ 1200 3cv back in the early 90's and fell in love with the basic engineering but brilliant design. Back in 2021, my mate who was in a biking group in our village persuaded me to get back in the saddle. I saw a gen 1 2005 FJR in galaxy blue at 43000 miles on FB marketplace for £2500. I just had to have a look. The crazy thing was that when I pulled up to see the big blue beauty, it was the same guy selling it that sold me the FJ12 all those years ago. The planets were aligning so I just had to buy her. I have never looked back. Versatile, quick, and great on long journeys but also sweet in the twisties. She's a big bike to hussle around bends but I love that. Proper biking and a love affair that will never end.

[jazzboy]

2017 FJR1300ES here, and the suspension is actually mighty fine.

[cookieloverTM]

I just bought my first FJR 1300 2009 low miles, ready to have some fun 😁

[John-gzme]

I can't comment on the 2007, but I've a six-gear 2016 and I find it rock solid. Sure, it's got the electrics which the bike you're on doesn't have... but I can honestly say I have never felt other than super-planted, even on choppy Irish backroads.

[ronwarber]

Great video very honest appraisal of the bike. I had a 2010 model. Took it to BC from Phoenix via the PCH. Very reliable bike a a treat in the twisties. I got old and traded it for a K1600GTL. Stay upright

[geraldtruesdell]

I got one in April 2019 and I've been using it to commute year round since. really good for lane splitting

[stevil.]

I’ve been riding for over 50 years and I’m looking for my final bike. I must’ve watched about 200 different YouTube videos from all the experts and yours is the very best. The most honest reveal I think I have ever seen on YouTube even listening to all the professional YouTube experts your video out classes them all thank you very much. You are the only one who has helped me decide on what to buy

[michaelperkins]

In the uk the headlights are called fox eyes

[philiplaurell]

If you are thinking of buying this bike, here’s what they don’t tell you: I had the 2006 model. That year the model received a number of improvements and updates. Here is my impressions of my 2 years of owning the bike: it is very heavy. It is not sporty at all. The engine is great. Silky smooth, yet powerful. I loved the shaft drive and not having to fiddle with maintaining a chain. For the life of me I don’t get the ever repeated mantra that this bike is so comfortable. It isn’t. I have never been in so much physical pain on any other motorcycle. The seat is rubbish and the bike is very heavy and needs manhandling to stear. On longer rides this means pain in the shoulders like nothing I have ever experienced. And I’m 187 cm or 6”2 inches and pretty strong. Another completely missleading thing thing reviewers keep saying is that it is a sporty bike. It isn’t. It’s a power cruiser. It has poor lean angle and the tank has you spreading your legs wider than a hooker and that might have something to do with why the stock seat is so uncomfortable. Ass gets sore and numb after about an hour or two, so forget all you heard about ”all day comfort”. It isn’t there. I grinded the hero blobs under the footpegs - or angstnipples, as the germans call them, down in no time and with little effort by just normally leaning the bike in corners and had started eating away at the gear shifter when I got rid of the behemoth. Unless you are a rather short rider, you will have to ditch the stock wind shield for a taller one as well as the stock one is pretty useless. But it’s cool that it is button operated and reverts down when you shut off the ignition. The one complain some of the reviewers have about the bike is also wrong, they complain about the it only having 5 gears. Not a problem at all. That is a problem on the original Hinckley Bonneville. Not the FJR. City riding is horrible on the Feejer. It’s so heavy it can easily cause you to fall over if you have to make an unexpected stop while cornering at slow speed, as I had to when a lady stepped out from the sidewalk right in front of me as I was slowly coming around a corner. I couldn’t keep the bike upright as I had to stop at a small angle, and just had to let it go. On any other motorcycle I’ve owned this situation would have been no problem at all but the FJR is not only heavy, it’s top heavy. Especially with a full tank. It is not good for veering through traffic either. It’s too heavy. Quality is good though. I took it on 2 long trips and used it quite a lot over the years I had it and I had zero issues with it. It had 20000 km on it when I bought it and I put another 20000 on it. A cruise control would have been nice but it lacked that. The handle bar is like on a scooter and difficult to fit gps and phone mounts to. I bought the bike after having watched a number of videos like this one, praising the bike for all the wrong reasons. These are my impressions, I hope they can help balance all the praise this bike gets

[billbonu]

Just unplug the windshield return wire, small white plug below the digital readout screen behind the black plastic.button still works but windshield will stay put when you kill the motor.

[sparkypdx]

Great review. You hit all of the good & not so good. I have the 2016 last Gen. Yamaha fixed a lot of little issues. But still top heavy. Light front end. Overall a great bike. 
I prefer the ST1300–mirrors, weight lower and pulls hard. 
ST is “old fashioned” compared to the last Gen FJR, but both are excellent bikes

[LuftdroneDk]

I have a 2009 model and I came from the FZR1000 model with the same amount of hp. I love this and yes, it has it quirks but once you master those it just rides like a dream. As for the gearshift, you can make those much more smooth by applying just a bit of "preload" with your foot before the actual shift and then it clicks in gear much nicer. Alternatively get a Healtech quickshifter and enjoy some REAL fun rides when on the throttle :D

[mashed]

I agree with this review. While the FJR of that era has a great feel and look of quality, unfortunately it wasn’t particularly comfortable and the suspension struggled with the poor quality roads here in the south of England. The transition of power delivery was not great like you found too. It was a blast in France on their smooth tarmac in the dry however! It roosted the 1200 bmw gsers that I was with on that particular trip - particularly when exiting hairpin bends on the incline. Super fun. But, alas, it had to go because I needed something more comfy that handled better and has more tractable power delivery (something that Yamaha could have mapped better?)

[FREE_PUREBLOOD]

Ive owned a Gen1 2004 FJR, did 98k miles on it. Was still like new when I sold it. Great bike. I'm on my second FJR now, a 2013 gen3. It's like new still and has everything I need in a bike. Absolutely love the bikes, looks, ride, maintenance, shaft drive, great mpg, etc etc. Just hope Yamaha find a way to continue the FJR in the future. They have given the huge police market to BMW by not getting round the euro6 requirements.

[newera]

11:00 One drawback they had after first generation FJR is that they made locking mechanism in that glove compartment able to lock itself even when you don't have electricity on. In first generation that glove compartment was only able to lock itself when you had electricity on the bike, otherwise it wouldn't lock.
I heard one of my friends happened to put his key briefly inside that glove compartment and then locked it inside because he forgot to take it outside. He had to have one of his family member to bring a spare key.

[chamborespakoka]

Compañeros. En mi vida profesional he recorrido más de 1.7000.00 km en moto. El año 2002, nos cambiaron las motos BMW, GUZZI, por las primeras FJR 1300. Hoy todavía siguen en servicio. Motos que se sutituian con 280.00 Km. En mi caso jamas tuvieron que llevársela en grúa por avería. Cuando me jubilé me compre la mía propia, FJR 1300 AS del año 2019.

[daveh]

Man, that is a good looking bike... Dave AZ

[mikefowler]

I've had 2 of these and you can fix the abrupt initial throttle response with a "throttle tamer" - makes the bike much easier to ride smoothly

[D-Almighty]

It amazes me how guy's who are 5'2"-5"7" get these BIG boy bikes and say they are uncontrollable. Maybe it's not the right fit for you broh. I am 6'4" 300lbs and I have NO problems at all with the handling, steering, or anything. 1300cc is no toy, it's for the big dogs. No disrespect, it was a great video, but us bigger guy's need big things like this rocket on wheels. #teamfjr

[tonybucca]

JUST picked up an '06, Feb 1st. COME ON SPRING!!!!