2021 FJR is out - one more year!!

[Uncle Hud]

I can imagine 4 FJRs sold in populated US states; say those with a major league sports franchise. Maybe 1 sold in each of the other states. But you’re right, that leads me to half the totals I listed above.

How does Momma Yama make any significant profit off the FJR if they sell fewer than 500 units in North America? By selling 1,500 units in Europe and Asia? Another 25 units in Australia? Jeez.

[wheatonFJR]

I just don't believe these numbers. You setup a whole assembly line and shipping and dealer network to only sell xxx amount of your top end bike?

600 x 300 = 180000 per year? Not a chance they would have made this FJR 20 years if that was the case.

[raYzerman]

It's called flexible manufacturing, think bigger picture. You can see videos of motorcycle assembly lines, they do multiple batch runs on the same line for a number of different models. Design and components already sourced, just buy the componentry and stock the assembly line appropriately. Planned ahead to keep that assembly line moving. It is efficient and cost effective. Guarantee you there is no one dedicated FJR assembly line that does nothing but FJR's and sits idle. Dirt bikes (huge volume) will have their own assembly line, but again do multiple bikes on that line. Goldwings that sell a bunch and are more unique will have their own assembly line.
Automotive is similar can produce multiple cars that have the same frame/chassis family configuration for all the fixturing and big carriers. Far less flexible than a motorcycle assembly line though. Worked in that business, can tell you all about it.
Crank out 1000 FJR's in a few days for a year's supply based on projections, crate and ship to destination country, store inventory in distribution warehouse, distribution logistics and dealer network already exists. Next question, how much does the company make on 1000 FJR's..... manufacturer cost, retail cost have a very wide gap between them. Rebate them to move them if leftovers.... If you're producing a dying model, you stay in the game for PR image, and if you can continue to make even a small profit from it, why not. As long as your assembly line can keep moving, you're good.

[D-Eagle]

Just my guess, but they are selling more than the small numbers above. Not saying it is a huge seller, but it is selling enough to keep bringing the bike back (with little new R&D or tooling costs incurred). You can't judge sales by FJR forums. Lots of people don't play on these forums. I've sold a 2004 and a 2008 to two different guys in Michigan and neither have showed up on the forums. Shame because I'd like to hear how much they love the pristine bikes I sadly handed over the keys to like I was giving away my first born.

Can't judge by EOM. I've had an FJR since 2004. In 2016 I discovered EOM. Had never heard of it. I thought I was really on to something new and then found out that you twats had been having all of that fun without me for 10+ years already.

[danh600]

I have only seen a few FJRs in the wild. I mean people I didn't know and were not at a planned event. Generally if I have the chance to talk to those people they either don't know of or are not active on the forums. In Florida there is only about 5 of us either active or semi active on the forums. So that's probably not a good indicator.

Just dreaming sometimes I go on the Yamaha website and search dealer inventory. Sometimes it shows at least 5 in Florida. Later those are not listed anymore. So I am thinking there has to be around 5-10 sold in Florida alone. Probably more in other states. Florida is about 90% Harley.

My wild number basically just pulled out of the air is they sell 50 FJRs a year in the USA.

[danh600]

The more I see the matte blue ones the more I like them.

If I was in the market for a new FJR I would try to find a 2019 left over.

[gixxerjasen]

It's called flexible manufacturing, think bigger picture.

Don't forget to think even bigger. Yamaha has some advantages over other manufacturers. I recall seeing a TV special years ago about how Yamaha production works as they are able to share production processes across their various lines of business. For instance, all those shiny chrome parts on the Star line are chromed in the same facility that the musical instrument parts are chromed in. Same with drum cables and clutch/brake cables.

Also, there's less cost involved in continuing production on a dying model than going through the R&D to revive a dying model. I mean, with all the used DR/DRZ's out there I can't imagine Suzuki is selling that many, but how much does it cost them to crank out a bunch still milking a 20 year old design?

[bungie4]

Its easy to tell when riding season has ended for most of us

[raYzerman]

I don't have the answer, I was only saying you can get some perception from forums and gatherings and what bikes you generally see on the road. I only know that the red 2014 FJR generated a lot of hype and boosted sales, but how many do you really see... would that average 3 or 4 per state in sales? My opinion is, that's pretty close, not thousands. The only real numbers are known by Yamaha and for some reason many motorcycle manufacturers don't publish any more. Have a motorcycle mag here with a monthly feature called "By The Numbers", trivia material. They throw up a number and explain what it is.... I'll dig for an interesting factoid on BMW that took me aback, but here's a couple.... sounds like the beginnings of a new thread.......

63,404 - The number of motorycles Triumph sold to its dealers from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, representing a record breaking year.

100,000 - (dated 2019) The number of Ducati Multistradas that have been built in Ducati's factory in Bologna, Italy. The milestone comes after 16 years after the first Multistrada was built, and includes all variations of that adventure bike. The 100,000th bike made, a Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak, was delivered to a customer in Dusseldorf, Germany.

65 - The number of years since Royal Enfield moved some of its production from England to India in 1955. Royal Enfield is now owned by Eicher Motors, a wholly owned Indian company.

[Cav47]

Its easy to tell when riding season has ended for most of us

The beginning of yours and end of yours is what????? .................................... 41 days apart?

[gixxerjasen]

but how many do you really see

How many do you expect to see? I know on the GSX-S forum there's several of us in the DFW area just from the forum, but I've never seen another GSX-S out and about in all my riding/driving. Same with my truck, it's old and somewhat rare, but there's a handful of us on that forum in the DFW area but I've never seen another one driving around. Just because you don't see them doesn't really mean they aren't out there. They aren't sold in Honda Civic numbers for sure, but there's a good number of them being sold out there.

[ionbeam]

One number I have seen is 889 Yamaha dealers in the US. If each dealer sells one or more FJRs per year it would be close to 1,000 bikes. Most years a thousand to fifteen hundred FJR sales wouldn't be a wildly wrong number. World wide 2,500 to 3,000 FJRs would be a good working guess.

Jennifer at Motorcycles of Manchester told me that Yamaha had given them 'an allotment' of FJRs to sell. They did sell out so Yamaha offered them bonus FJRs still in the box from one of their warehouses. I'm enjoying a bonus FJR. So, some dealers sell more than one FJR and Yamaha has some control over how many dealers get FJRs and how many FJRs they get. Makes a feller wonder how many FJRs D & H is allotted and has sold. There is also some number of FJRs that are sold to be police bikes.

These days when we take day trips, typically ~300 miles, we almost always see one or more FJRs. I was surprised at how many FJRs I saw in France as well as the number of V-Max.

In the early days of Gen I and early Gen II, if I parked my FJR at the end of my driveway I would regularly have guys stop and say they own a FJR or ask me about my FJR with the intent to buy one if they can find one. Sometimes the guy that stops would be riding a FJR.

In 2005 when it was extremely rare to see a FJR we were on our way out for a ride when I noticed a FJR way behind us. I slowed down to let it catch up, then I moved over and waved him past so I could check out his bike. We exchanged waves and a thumbs-up. When I got home I went on the Forum and discovered the rider had made a Spotted post. It was Fred W. And it turned out that we were nearby neighbors. That led to roughly 25 of us New England FJR owners riding together on a very regular basis. Next thing you know, we were NERDS

Late spring in 2014 NERDS got together for a breakfast RTE. It looked like this:



Among our little NERDS group there were five 2014 FJRs before the model year was half way through. It was probably a good indication that Yamaha was having a good year for FJR sales. It looks like Yamaha would have learned something and offered another bold color later -- like they were already doing in Europe.

[wheatonFJR]

I know which bike is Iris' bike!
(and which one is Jim's)

I'm feeling better about my 1234 guess. Thanks Alan, sounds more realistic than the Canajun's.

[raYzerman]

Its easy to tell when riding season has ended for most of us

The beginning of yours and end of yours is what????? .................................... 41 days apart?

Not in my neck of the woods, but in the true Great White North.... the old saying goes, there is 10 months of winter and two months of bad hockey, July and August.

[Uncle Hud]

... two months of bad hockey ...

[bill lumberg]

They sell a lot more than those numbers suggest. I think those are pure guesstimation. I see more FJR’s now than I have any previous year. Trying to figure out how many they sold is like trying to figure out Steve-O’s net worth.

I know they sold at least one in 2018 (ES with 55,000 plus and I love it as much as I loved my A at that mileage), and they’ll sell one in 2022 or 2023, unless they’ve screwed them up by then.

[raYzerman]

I am not stuck on a number and can be swayed..... dug around for some sales numbers, found some interesting stuff but try this Australian perspective, at least they listed the top 10 in each category. Kinda gives you an idea what's going on (there).
https://www.mcnews.com.au/road-motorcyc ... s-figures/

Then there was this from 2018.... and some others... nothing FJR specific.
https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/y ... tastrophe/

[bigjohnsd]

Yamaha FJR Sales Numbers are available via subscription to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) https://www.mic.org/#/statistics It ain't cheap, $5-600 per year. I used to know some folks that subscribed, don't anymore, they have all retired.

Aftermarket Accessory Manufacturers often subscribe to develop production plans and targets. If someone knows or is related to someone in that industry they might be able to get the data.

[Canadian FJR]

There are at least a dozen FJRs within 100 miles of me.
Pretty sure I’ve ridden with most of them.

I’m just glad they didn’t come with that Black/Gold edition.

Absolutely the prettiest FJR to date.
(Right behind my Matte Blue )



Canadian FJR

[bungie4]

There are at least a dozen FJRs within 100 miles of me.
Pretty sure I’ve ridden with most of them.

I’m just glad they didn’t come with that Black/Gold edition.

Absolutely the prettiest FJR to date.
(Right behind my Matte Blue )



Canadian FJR

Same as me. My ex-preferred dealer, out in the farmland in a town of less than a thousand ppl apparently sells more fjr's then any dealer in Canada.

End of session he gets first crack at leftover stock and blows them out and significant discounts. Because of that, their are a lot of fjr's around Sudbury.