I own a '05 FJR1300ABS. I feel weird writing about a FJR here. Busa-only fans, please bare with me. I also own an '05 FJR1300ABS. I switch between my Busa and FJR depending on the style of riding I'm planning on doing. (For snoozin', long distance riding, I roll out the FJR.) Initially I was riding my FJR somewhat hard, but gave that all up the day I bought my Busa. Now I just use my FJR as a weekend cruiser, complete with top box and XM radio. In fact, I've added so many "extras" to my FJR, some of my riding buddies tell me I'm turning it into Wing!
(And unfortunately they're probably right!)
The FJR is a nice all-around, do-it-all "fairly" well, yet pretty quick bike. My only gripe with it is, in stock form at least, the heat coming off the engine is pretty intense. Then again, the engine has a claimed horsepower rating of 145, so obviously it's gonna generate heat. On a hot (90+ degree & high humidity) day the damn thing will cook your crotch and legs like a well-done steak. It's worse when stopped of course, but even when you're rolling, it's hot. What I did with mine is to take the fairings and tank off, perform all the heat-mods, then thought through a few heat mods of my own. The mods resulted in 95% of the heat now routing down under the bike and away from me (no change to the engine operating temp). I'm happy with it now and wouldn't hesitate to ride it on a hot day. By the way, the FJR comes with a motorized windscreen, continuously variable. In the summer, mine is ALWAYS down. It helps in the cooler months, but with the stock windscreen it creates a bit of suc-vaccuum effect on the rider.
As for the '06 FJR, I've read that Yamaha has supposily listened to its customers and made changes. They supposily took care of the heat issues (rider and passenger cooler), added a motorized elevator seat (wtf?), and I believe I heard they added "linked" ABS brakes. As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on their brake change. I have standard ABS on mine. I haven't had to use the ABS feataure (yet), but having the front and rear "linked"? I"m not so sure about that!
They also changed the color to a cobolt blue of some sort. Looks a bit better than the '05 i think.
As for its "feel". Compared to the Busa, it's a tank, especially with all hard luggage and optional top box installed. But it does handle fairly well for its weight, and provides a more relaxed seating position. Like the Busa, there's tons of after-market parts it. If your into hard knee-to-the-ground cornering, you'll be scraping parts on the FJR.
Here's my take on the FJR (compared to the Busa):
Overall WOW factor:
Busa = 10
FJR = 7 (maybe 8 if you take all the hard luggage off and ride it aggressively)
Comfort factor:
Busa = 7 (Hey! Give me a break. I'm 53!)
FJR = 9
Power factor (both stock):
Busa = 10
FJR = 8 (~100 ft lbs of torque is nice)
Fit & Finish:
Busa = 10
FJR = 10
I'm waiting to see what the '06 FJR mods are, so I can maybe add some of them to my '05. And you'll find a wealth of information at
www.fjrwowners.com and
www.fjrforum.com. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
