Attention All FJR AE Owners and Prospective Buyers

[palerider]

That's a interesting idea and no commitment on the dealer side. If you send Yamaha a letter, please enclose that idea. I would pay full retail just to have the opportunity to buy a new one and keep it for many years.

The following letter is in today's mail:


Yamaha Motors Corporation
6555 Katella Avenue
Cypress, CA 90630

To whom it may concern:

I write to request that you consider bringing back the FJR1300 Auto-Clutch model, in North America designated the "AE."

I am aware that, for whatever reason, the AE never sold well in North America, but I would like to point out that it was last available here in 2009, so the very newest of them is now nine years old and the oldest (like my 2006) is 12 years old. Given the steady improvement in the FJR1300 over those 12 years, many of us happy and proud AE owners are ready to trade up. I assure you that there is a pent-up demand.

I recognize that bringing what is essentially a new model to our shores is an expensive undertaking and that your dealers will hesitate to buy a model that has historically not sold well. To ameliorate that, I would like to suggest you consider selling the AE here on a Pre-order Deposit Program (PDP) basis. Many of you will remember that the FJR1300 was originally sold in North America as a PDP model. Under the PDP program, your dealers would not have to invest scarce resources in the AE. You would need only publicize the AE's availability, and your dealers could then accept deposits on and orders for the new AEs. I am confident that the news of the AE's availability would be passed along on motorcycle forums and by motorcycle magazines, lowering the cost of any publicity campaign.

Though under-appreciated, the FJR1300 in general and the AE in particular was and remains a startling engineering and manufacturing achievement, and literally every time I ride it I thank and think well of Yamaha for the superb job you did.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Yours very truly,

[wheatonFJR]

You forgot to sign your name.

Seriously, though. Good letter...I hope it works out for y'all.

[palerider]

You forgot to sign your name.

Seriously, though. Good letter...I hope it works out for y'all.

Thanks. On the actual letter I used your name.

[wheatonFJR]

You forgot to sign your name.

Seriously, though. Good letter...I hope it works out for y'all.

Thanks. On the actual letter I used your name.

You screwed yerself on that one.

My sincere regrets...

[palerider]

You forgot to sign your name.

Seriously, though. Good letter...I hope it works out for y'all.

Thanks. On the actual letter I used your name.

You screwed yerself on that one.

My sincere regrets...

Hmm--you may be right. I just got a call from Yamaha saying, "WheatonFJR, we want our AE back."

I said, "Wait, I'm not WheatonFJR!"

They replied, "Yeah, that's what everyone says."

[FJRPittsburgh]

palerider, Thanks for following through with the letter to Yamaha. Much appreciated and well written.

[palerider]

palerider, Thanks for following through with the letter to Yamaha. Much appreciated and well written.

Thanks. I don't blame Yamaha or its dealers for their reticence after years of having new AEs sitting forlornly on sales floors.

I encourage others to take the bones of the letter, personalize it to make it their own (an anecdote about how they use the AE or how it enhances their rider experience), and send it to Yamaha. Couldn't hurt; might help. Also one or two letters from Canada might have a salutary effect.

I always thought that Yamaha's marketing of the AE was pathetic. The AE occupies a gray area between evolutionary and revolutionary, and the motorcycle magazines just didn't--and still don't--know what to do with it. They didn't/don't have a pre-fab journalistic paradigm in which to include it, and as a result, it was damned with faint praise, leading many potential buyers to see it for what it wasn't--an automatic transmission--rather than for what it was--a really cool, well-implemented, rider-experience-enhancing paddle-shifter. To borrow a tech metaphor, it was a feature; people reacted like it was a bug.

[gixxerjasen]

And Yamaha shot themselves in the foot with the fueling/throttle on the 06/07 bikes, which was more prominent on the AE due to not being able to use the clutch to mask it. It got bad press because of it's herkyjerkyness and Yamaha didn't bother to address the concerns or affected bikes directly, but did address it in future models. By that time the wound in the foot had festered and amputation would eventually be the only way out.

My 07 was pretty bad when I got it, but I fixed mine with the smoothness map and a G2 throttle tube. If Yamaha would have put out a remap and a new throttle tube to owners who wanted it, it would have cost much less than having to sell the AE for less than the non AE as many dealers had to do. If they'd done this they could have come back to the press with a "We heard and addressed your concerns, please test again." Instead, Yamaha left it up to the owners to fix it and then made changes to the overall bike quietly in future years, but it was too late because the AE's reputation damage was completed.

Yes, I place the blame directly on Yamaha here. I find it odd that something that gives a bike a bad reputation and is easily and inexpensively fixed, isn't addressed by manufacturers. Facing the same thing with Suzuki and my GSX-S1000. It also gets bad reviews due to the snatchy throttle. Odd thing was that it was hit or miss, some bikes had it some didn't. The owners groups have discovered several fixes for it, but the easiest and cheapest is to check and adjust the TPS. Mine was terrible and the TPS was way off from the factory. I adjusted it as per the manual, and it's smooth as butter now. Suzuki has yet to address this on the bike despite it's reputation taking a hit. All it'd require is a TSB to the dealers and done. You'd at least think they'd make sure they give a perfect bike to a reviewer, right?

[palerider]

And Yamaha shot themselves in the foot with the fueling/throttle on the 06/07 bikes, which was more prominent on the AE due to not being able to use the clutch to mask it. It got bad press because of it's herkyjerkyness and Yamaha didn't bother to address the concerns or affected bikes directly, but did address it in future models. By that time the wound in the foot had festered and amputation would eventually be the only way out.

My 07 was pretty bad when I got it, but I fixed mine with the smoothness map and a G2 throttle tube. If Yamaha would have put out a remap and a new throttle tube to owners who wanted it, it would have cost much less than having to sell the AE for less than the non AE as many dealers had to do. If they'd done this they could have come back to the press with a "We heard and addressed your concerns, please test again." Instead, Yamaha left it up to the owners to fix it and then made changes to the overall bike quietly in future years, but it was too late because the AE's reputation damage was completed.

Yes, I place the blame directly on Yamaha here. I find it odd that something that gives a bike a bad reputation and is easily and inexpensively fixed, isn't addressed by manufacturers. Facing the same thing with Suzuki and my GSX-S1000. It also gets bad reviews due to the snatchy throttle. Odd thing was that it was hit or miss, some bikes had it some didn't. The owners groups have discovered several fixes for it, but the easiest and cheapest is to check and adjust the TPS. Mine was terrible and the TPS was way off from the factory. I adjusted it as per the manual, and it's smooth as butter now. Suzuki has yet to address this on the bike despite it's reputation taking a hit. All it'd require is a TSB to the dealers and done. You'd at least think they'd make sure they give a perfect bike to a reviewer, right?

Yes to all that. It's hard to sympathize with the plight of motorcycle manufacturers and dealers when they're so busy undercutting themselves.

[palerider]

That's a interesting idea and no commitment on the dealer side. If you send Yamaha a letter, please enclose that idea. I would pay full retail just to have the opportunity to buy a new one and keep it for many years.

Have heard nothing back from Yamaha.

[FJRPittsburgh]

Ditto, but informing them that people are interested is good. I'd like to see one of the 700cc bikes with the auto clutch. That would be cool also!

[Harald]

Ditto, but informing them that people are interested is good. I'd like to see one of the 700cc bikes with the auto clutch. That would be cool also!

I have one of those in my garage. The wife has a Honda NC700XD, which is the model with the Dual Clutch Trani. There's no shift lever and no clutch lever, although you can manually shift it with paddles on the left switch cluster. It works real slick and it's telling that Honda is now offering it on their flagship Gold Wing too.

With arthritis affecting my left thumb and freshly completed left ankle surgery, I can see one of those auto shift models in my future although I'm not giving up without a fight.

[FJRPittsburgh]

My wife has the Honda CTX700 DCT. It's an awesome system. I was referring to a 700 Yamaha with an electric clutch like the AE. No automatic shifting needed, just the auto clutch. Once riders had the opportunity to ride without a clutch lever, it would catch on quickly. You still have all the fun of shifting, but never having to squeeze the clutch lever.

[palerider]

After waiting in vain for a new AE, I just purchased a Gold Wing DCT/Airbag. Nice bike. It gives you the ability to shift "manually," like the AE, or fully automatically. There are times for both. In heavy Los Angeles traffic and on the slab, the automatic shift is a pleasure. In the canyons, which the Gold Wing handles surprisingly well for such a big motorcycle, the manual mode is the way to go. Not at all do I miss the clutch.

[gixxerjasen]

Just a little connect the dots speculating here. Going through the googles and recent memory (Highly flawed) Honda has the DCT on at least the following bikes...
NC700
Africa Twin
NM4
CrossTorurer
CTX
VFR1200
Gold Wing

And after all that, the ST1300 is long past due for a redesign... Hmm. It's entirely possible they could woo over some AE FJR riders if Yamaha isn't careful.

[palerider]

Already won over. I just bought a Gold Wing DCT/Airbag.

[Bounce]

I would be interested in them offering more than 1 color a year and include some of those stripes other markets get. We get the silvers here because of how silver is seen in some countries. (not that there's anything wrong with that)

[gixxerjasen]

Already won over. I just bought a Gold Wing DCT/Airbag.

That was actually what got me thinking. The ST is due for a redo, especially with everything else getting redone. I bet it comes with a DCT option too. I could be in line for one of those in a few years.

[wheatonFJR]

Already won over. I just bought a Gold Wing DCT/Airbag.

That was actually what got me thinking. The ST is due for a redo, especially with everything else getting redone. I bet it comes with a DCT option too. I could be in line for one of those in a few years.

Just make sure you ride with BAGS ON!

[gixxerjasen]

Bags on?