[Chico]

As Winter settles in and I recover from a total knee replacement, it’s a good time to ponder the two wheeled world...as a Proud Owner of (what I consider) the most shockingly competent motorcycle ever built, the FJR, I fail to understand what any ADV Bike has over the FeeGer. Yes, they can be ridden off road, I get that. What I would love to see in a survey from ADV Owners is the percentage of miles ridden on / off road per year. My educated guess would be far more miles are ridden on road.
I will be adding a lightweight Dualsport to the Man Cave this Spring, for the opportunity to take on the trails, which leads to more riding proficiency on the street. It’s just a blast to bomb through the woods!
If I had the Ching to buy the latest $30,000 BMW GS, $1,500 plus on all Klim gear, and look like I could take “The Long Way Around” with Ewan, would I?
To me, I want the very best Sport Touring Bike when I’m on the Asphalt and a cool lightweight Trail bike to blast around town and get muddy enough for a Tide Commercial.😂
I think, if ADV Riders had the chance to test ride the FeeGer first, they would know where I’m coming from...
What are your thoughts Fellows?

 

[Chico]

Maybe I should refer to the FJR as FeeJer...

 

[Storm-64]

Or just call it what it is, a FJR1300. "Feejer" sounds so juvenile. Same with Gixxer, Crotch Rocket, Joe Rocket... Millennials, always wanting to change things. GET OFF MY LAWN, darn kids!

 

[Damir]

Categories in motorcycle business are all over the place in recent years; in order to boost sales the industry will use whatever classification is currently most popular, that's why you see bikes that are 90% road bias sold under ADVenture umbrella since like you said "everybody want's to conquer the world "on GS and in Klim style" (i read someplace the GS won't even start unless you are wearing Klim) :-D

Everybody wants "one bike for all conditions and terrains" solution, but that usually doesn't work in real life, and even if the bike is equally good on pavement and gravel, tires are a limiting factor, and you always need to ride asphalt to get to gravel (and vice versa).

If you can afford a second bike beside your FJR, there are many bike choices to explore some "off road" trails, depending of how serious you want to get in the dirt. I was always ridding road bikes, and this summer picked up a '18 Vstrom 650XA to get a taste of gravel, and happy to report this bike does excellent job on both pavement and gravel. So for the price it was a no brainer, and a great entry level bike to get some experience "off road" without breaking the bank. And from what I could see when ridding gravel trails this summer, there are not too many of the big (GSA's) playing in the dirt.
Once when you get better off road (and if your knee will allow), a natural upgrade would be bikes like Afrika, Tenere700, Tiger's, KTM's etc and all the way to GS.

I researched soo much and like always, the more you look, the less you know...so this bike came up for sale, liked the color, liked the price and since I read a lot of positives about the Vstrom's, I picked it up, didn't even test ride it. Based on my limited ownership and 5000 km I would definitely recommend this bike to my friends.

Good luck with your "new knee" recovery and with your second bike whatever you choose.

more pics here:
https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/14-gallery/151891-day-adv-office.html

 

[RaYzerman]

Chico, with ya, I want a street bike for sport touring and second bike for dual sporting would be great if I had enough dual sporting roads. How about a nice DR650, they're cheaper than WeeStroms, still street capable.

 

[ZX-11]

I’ve been doing a lot of research on dual sports as well. I was originally thinking of a light ADV bike as it would be perfect for the bulk of the riding I would do. The problem I have with ADV bikes and the larger dual sports is that even the lighter ones are, in my opinion, much too heavy if you get yourself in trouble. While I’m not necessarily going out looking for technical single track I know me and would see a new trail and wouldn’t have the maturity to turn around if it got rough. Therefore, I believe a smaller dual sport that can do highway speeds is what I want. I realize that no dual sport is gonna be much fun on the highway but, as was noted, as every bike has some compromises and accept that if where I want to go ride is much more than an hour or two away I will probably just trailer it. Pretty much the only bike out there that meets these requirements is a DRZ400 but it is a 20 year old platform with a carb and I am done with carbed bikes. The Japanese 250s just don’t have the power for highway speeds loaded down with camping gear. The Japanese 450s and all of the offerings out of Euroland are really just plated dirt bikes with race motors that have ridiculous maintenance schedules. Those maintenance schedules won’t work as I would like to do BDR trips. The new 300s from Honda and Kawi sound promising so looking forward to the ride reports once they get out in the wild for a bit. Yamaha just killed the WR250R due to EU5 emissions and haven’t announced if they are going to do anything to plug that hole in their lineup. A modern 350 or 400 would probably be the sweet spot I am looking for but I’m not too hopeful that that unicorn is going to show up anytime soon.

 

[calboy]

All of you should find this video funny, no matter the bike you're riding.
Keep in mind that he got banned from Adventure Rider.com for indirectly making fun of the snobbish BMW riders. I congratulated him on YouTube after watching the video.

Nine of my 42 motorcycles were Beemers but I never found his video offensive in any way.
Some people couldn't help it. Gave up on the BMW cult and HD cult a long time ago, and I never looked back.
This is funny!

 

[ZX-11]

All of you should find this video funny, no matter the bike you're riding.

Thanks for that vid. I sent it to two of my buddies that have VStrom 650s - I'm sure they will find it hilarious.

Some sections of that road are good examples of situations I would not be comfortable riding a 500 lbs ADV bike and why I am leaning toward a light dual sport. Maybe if I were younger or a more talented dirt rider but I am neither.

 

[RaYzerman]

Well, will have to get myself into a Suzi dealer and lookie at the new Wee.... and a test ride at the next event...... definitely changed from 2011. I'd have to get back into it and find out all about it.
Wee weighs in at 475 lbs., DR650 at 366 and the DRZ400 at 317. I have friends with both DR's and DRZ's.... either one would be fine for some street...... just depends on how muddy you want to get...... not that useful to me around here. Carbs wouldn't bother me, they are pretty simple on a single lunger.

 

[judgedelta]

Having both a 1250 GSA and a '13 Feeger (excuse if the slang term offends anyone, or everyone) I can perhaps supply some information, or at least opinion. As mentioned above, all motorcycles are a compromise in one way or another. You want more comfort, less weight, off-road ability, touring, cost, maintenance? There is no perfect bike, in my opinion. I am just over six feet tall and the GSA makes for a more comfortable riding position over a period of several hours, but if I was any shorter in the legs, I would have trouble putting both feet flat on the ground. The lower center of gravity of the Feeger makes it's weight a non-issue, even though it is about a hundred pounds over the GSA. Getting the Beemer up on the center stand is a matter of faith and profanity, the Yamaha, a non-issue. The Feeger is as close to a sport bike as I'll probably ever ride, while the GSA, with it's nine inches of suspension travel is as close to a Rolls Royce as you can get on two wheels. If you only did one kind of riding, you would only need one kind of bike, if you could determine what you really needed. For different riding, and different types of riding, get whatever suits your style of riding and ability. I won't get into the merits of the Road Glide...

 

[Haynes]

Chico:

First, I would like to extend to you my condolences on your recent knee replacement surgery. I haven’t had such a surgery (yet) but I’m betting it’s no fun.

You requested thoughts and opinions on ADV bikes. Here are mine:

Manufacturers know that most large ADV bikes (over 650cc), just like most fancy chromed and lifted $90,000 4x4 pickup trucks, will never see a dirt road let alone a trail like the one in calboy’s video. Part of the proof of this is that most of these bikes come equipped with what are basically street tires (you can order a 1250GSA from the factory with knobby tires) and some even come with cast wheels. Part of the reality is that apart from the few gods of riding among us, I’m betting that most of us on this Forum are too old to be wheeling these motorcycles through sand dunes or swamps and/or jumping trees. Even with a small ADV bike, which in the past might have been known as an enduro bike, I’d bet that “It seemed like a good idea at the time” is a phrase that would undoubtedly be uttered by most of us after such tomfoolery. Plus as others have said, some of these smaller ADV bikes are painfully underpowered for riding on the highway to get you to the fantasy riding land of dunes and swamps – ever ride a KLR650? Bulletproof and cheap all-rounder but it is painfully gutless.

As many here have read before, in addition to my 2020 FJR I have a 2013 Super Tenere. I very much like my FJR, so much so that I bought the 2020 to replace the 2006 that I traded in on the Super T in 2013, but I love my Super T. This large, heavy, underpowered, and ugly ADV bike really is, with the right tires, a do it all motorcycle. It does a pretty good job of keeping up with sport bikes in the twisties and yet also with this bike I have completed 3 Iron Butt rides (1600km in 24 hours, 2000km in 24 hours, and 2500km in 36 hours) and I have ridden countless graded and not so well graded gravel roads, including to the most northerly point that you can travel on an All Weather Road (meaning not an ice road) in the Province of Ontario. (Note: At the time I rode the Northern Ontario Resource Trail it was 250km of gravel (500km return) however in the last few years the road has been extended another 50 or 60km north and a portion of the south end of it has been paved.) I have also ridden it on trails like those in calboy’s video, and worse, however I’d be the first to admit that anything much rougher than the trail in that video is a “no go” area for big ADV bikes, at least with this aging pilot at the controls.

The FJR is absolutely wonderful on a paved highway but it, as with all (most) street bikes or bikes with street oriented tires, can be a little scary when ridden on a loose gravel road. Plus it’s too pretty to get it dirty or scratched, which will happen on a gravel road. This makes the Super Tenere, or most any other large(er) ADV bike, the perfect do-it-all motorcycle.

So, if I were to make a suggestion to you on which ADV bike to consider I would first ask you what you mean by ADV riding. If you’re sticking to graded gravel roads and trails no rougher than in calboy’s video then do not fear a large ADV bike. If you plan on really roosting it up in the rough, go for a smaller, enduro-type bike but pick an off-road site close to home, or consider trucking or trailering your bike to your playground. Oh yes, and contact your surgeon to see if knee replacements are cheaper by the dozen.

Heal quick, heal well.

Haynes

PS: I always wear a Klim Badlander Jacket and Pants when I ride the Super Tenere and sometimes I even wear this combo when I ride my FJR. Klim makes nice, though spendy, stuff that’s not just for those in the $30,000+ Beemer Club.

 

[Chico]

You guys are the best! As for Feejer, it will never be typed again...😖 I’m going to show my age with my Dualsport Consideration...yearned for one for at least 20 years...AND wanted to stay in the Yamaha Family Circle (remember Circle of Trust, Greg...thanks Robert DiNero). The Yamaha TW200. It makes this old heart skip a beat.

 

[Donk]

I went from the FJR to an Adventure bike looking for something lighter. Ended up with the 1290 Super Adventure and to answer the OP’s question as to why the Adventure bike? Because on pavement it does everything better than the FJR does and it’s more comfortable while it does it. Plus I can explore dirt roads too. Ok the FJR wins on pavement if you want to push it WAY into the triple digits but I don’t do that anymore, well rarely.

 

[mikester]

To me a big adventure bike is like buying a minivan/SUV, a poor compromise between a car and a truck and trying to be little something to everyone, nothing to no one.

I keep the FJR as a bagger to enjoy roads and highways, a lightweight 250 enduro with knobbies for riding around the back forty. I don't want to go a buck forty along the edges of muddy fields and on wet grass.

 

[Donk]

To me a big adventure bike is like buying a minivan/SUV, a poor compromise between a car and a truck and trying to be little something to everyone, nothing to no one.

I keep the FJR as a bagger to enjoy roads and highways, a lightweight 250 enduro with knobbies for riding around the back forty. I don't want to go a buck forty along the edges of muddy fields and on wet grass.

Super Adventure is 160hp with electronic suspension and to quote Bike magazine, "an all road ballistic missile." It comes in 2 variant S which is road biased and R which is an off road weapon. I first became interested in KTM Adventure bikes when I was on The Slimey Crud Run. Riding the FJR at a very decent clip, fast enough to be passing sport bikes an older KTM Adventure bike, one of the funny looking ones, blew by me like I was on the centerstand. He did it in a super twistie stretch on knobbies too!

 

[ZX-11]

Having both a 1250 GSA and a '13 Feeger...

2 questions for you since you have both:

1. Do you feel the GS is as good as the FJR when attacking the twisties? I really like the FJRs sport bike feel - the fat girl can really dance on curvy roads and with a few comfort mods like bar risers it has been the perfect trans continental touring bike for me. But the idea of a bike that can do that and also be used on the Dalton and the Shafer trail in Moab is definitely something that is alluring to me. I passed on that idea when I got the FJR because I assumed a bike that has suspension for off-road couldn't possibly feel as planted in the twisties as an FJR. I might be wrong about that even though I still find that hard to believe. Curvy roads are my first love so I am not willing to compromise any competence in this area to gain a little light off road capability.

2. So why do you have both bikes? When do you choose to take the FJR and not the GSA?

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I will not be parted from FJR’s. But I’ve long strongly suspected that, except for wind protection, I’d be quite happy on a super tenere.

 

[Haynes]

I will not be parted from FJR's. But I've long strongly suspected that, except for wind protection, I'd be quite happy on a super tenere.

The wind protection is surprisingly good. Less noisy than behind either windshield (I have both the stock and touring shields) of my FJR. My 2013 has a small windshield to which I added a Madstad adjustable bracket. I also added the Yamaha wind deflectors that attach to either side of the fairing at the gauges.The windshield got bigger and was made adjustable by Yamaha in 2014, I believe.

The Super Tenere is a fine motorcycle and is amazingly quick and agile, and great fun, if you ride it like you stole it. It is underpowered and it has traction control so it is unlikely to bite you. While the power of the big KTM is attractive I don't trust myself enough to own one.

Haynes

 

[Chico]

I’m right there with you Mikester. My FJR is getting prepped for a SS1000 in the Spring / Summer of 2021. I spent time in the Smokey Mountains (Dragon) and the area blew me away (first time there) I have farkled the ergonomics to be a perfect fit for me. When I return from Long Distance journeys, I can jump on a small Dual Sport, commute to work, hits some trails afterwards, and it immediately brings me back to being 16, Lol!

 

[Bayhill19]

Those are great looking bikes and nicely fit into the frame.