Whose New FJR
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:32 pm
So I got up this morning, grabbed a cup of coffee, and strolled on out to the workshop. There my jaw dropped, so I ran back into the house to find the lady I currently live with.
"Whose beautiful new bright red FJR1300 is that?", I cried out.
"It's yours, you old fool! You brought it home yesterday!", my wife lovingly reminded me.
"Oh yeah", I grinned. "I did, didn't I?"
So I went back out to the workshop behind my home in Madison, AL, to admire my new, gorgeous red scooter. Thinking I was all done with this motorcycle nonsense, I sold my 2001 GL1800 Gold Wing four years ago. But as I approach the 68th anniversary of my birth come May, I find myself growing bored, lethargic, and increasingly desperate to talk to someone who chases skirts instead of wears them. Hey, I love my wife, but let's face it, she doesn't know horsepower from horse flies.
I've mostly been a dirt bike rider. Early successes in motocross took me to Europe in 1971 where it took me 2-1/2 seasons to realize I wasn't so good after all. I later tried Observed Trials where I had more success, and still later raced hare scrambles and enduros in the woods where trees are hard... but not as hard as Buicks!
Still, I had maybe a dozen street bikes over the years, first Honda, then Yamaha, and then for a long time nothing but Kawasakis (they were good to me as racing sponsors, both in Europe and in the USA). The high-tech GL1800 Gold Wing grabbed my attention when it came out, so I bought one and took up luxury touring for nine years before eventually losing interest.
I almost bought another Honda this week, a 2013 CB1100, but something drew me to the gorgeous bright red Yamaha nearby, and when I learned of all the standard features, before I knew what was happening, I found myself the owner of a brand new 2014 FJR1300AE! And it's RED!
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, so don't ask how I just happened to have $12,700 in cashiers checks in my pocket. Especially not around she who provides my hot meals and clean sheets.
I trailered it home from Corinth, MS because riding an unfamiliar bike 115 miles through intermittent rain showers just didn't strike me as a really great idea. Now, I don't claim to have had a lot of great ideas, but I've never crashed a street bike, and I once declined an invitation to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, so I'm not Totally stupid!
I nervously rode the new 1300 to the DMV to get my tag this morning (damn that sales tax!), but it was too cold and windy to support any claim of having fun, so I drove my minivan (Oh shut up! I love my soccer mom car!) to the nearest cycle shop and bought a new full face helmet. My dirt bike helmets just won't do.
Now, why can't I find the battery on this beast?
Take off "How Many" panels?
Whaddayamean a hundred and forty-four horsepower?
Oh my God what have I done?
"Whose beautiful new bright red FJR1300 is that?", I cried out.
"It's yours, you old fool! You brought it home yesterday!", my wife lovingly reminded me.
"Oh yeah", I grinned. "I did, didn't I?"
So I went back out to the workshop behind my home in Madison, AL, to admire my new, gorgeous red scooter. Thinking I was all done with this motorcycle nonsense, I sold my 2001 GL1800 Gold Wing four years ago. But as I approach the 68th anniversary of my birth come May, I find myself growing bored, lethargic, and increasingly desperate to talk to someone who chases skirts instead of wears them. Hey, I love my wife, but let's face it, she doesn't know horsepower from horse flies.
I've mostly been a dirt bike rider. Early successes in motocross took me to Europe in 1971 where it took me 2-1/2 seasons to realize I wasn't so good after all. I later tried Observed Trials where I had more success, and still later raced hare scrambles and enduros in the woods where trees are hard... but not as hard as Buicks!
Still, I had maybe a dozen street bikes over the years, first Honda, then Yamaha, and then for a long time nothing but Kawasakis (they were good to me as racing sponsors, both in Europe and in the USA). The high-tech GL1800 Gold Wing grabbed my attention when it came out, so I bought one and took up luxury touring for nine years before eventually losing interest.
I almost bought another Honda this week, a 2013 CB1100, but something drew me to the gorgeous bright red Yamaha nearby, and when I learned of all the standard features, before I knew what was happening, I found myself the owner of a brand new 2014 FJR1300AE! And it's RED!
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, so don't ask how I just happened to have $12,700 in cashiers checks in my pocket. Especially not around she who provides my hot meals and clean sheets.
I trailered it home from Corinth, MS because riding an unfamiliar bike 115 miles through intermittent rain showers just didn't strike me as a really great idea. Now, I don't claim to have had a lot of great ideas, but I've never crashed a street bike, and I once declined an invitation to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, so I'm not Totally stupid!
I nervously rode the new 1300 to the DMV to get my tag this morning (damn that sales tax!), but it was too cold and windy to support any claim of having fun, so I drove my minivan (Oh shut up! I love my soccer mom car!) to the nearest cycle shop and bought a new full face helmet. My dirt bike helmets just won't do.
Now, why can't I find the battery on this beast?
Take off "How Many" panels?
Whaddayamean a hundred and forty-four horsepower?
Oh my God what have I done?
