shuckin', jivin' and snooping around the VFR forum! There is meaning to my antics though. As I gather years, 65 soon, and health problems, I've come to conclude that my current bike may be too heavy to be practical for me. Absolute shame, as it's the best all around bike I've owned to date: '05 FJR 1300. Long story short, I've placed the VFR on a list of bikes to consider replacing my FJR with, thinking it would be lighter and easier to handle. The advise given me by a friend is to search for a 5TH gen pre-catalyst model which would be about 120 lbs lighter and a great bike to own and ride. I appreciate any suggestions and viewpoints from members here and thanks for letting me slink around your forum! J-Daddy
Hello and welcome to the forum J-daddy! Glad to have ya! I would have to say that your friend is mistaken with the 120lb lighter comment, or even 100, or 50lb difference. I believe the difference from a 5th (I have a 1998, pre-cat) and 6th is more about 10-20lbs if I recall correctly. Ok, in a quick search, the 5th gen was listed as 458.6lbs dry. So that means it doesn't have 5+ gallons of gas, over three quarts of oil, no fork oil, brake fuild, clutch fluid, coolant, etc....which will bring it 0ver 520lbs. The 2009 VFR is listed as 540 lbs wet.
Im betting he meant lighter than has Yammie. The 5g is much lighter than an FJ 1200 or at least I would guess it is. I have never ridden the Yammie. I wouldn't mind having one for a long haul bike if I could have the extra one, though. J-Daddy, Welcome to the site. Both Derstuka above and myself ride the 5th gen. We are very fond of them and I have compared them back to back with the 6th gen. They are very similar rides and either is a great bike for you to drop some weight compared to your FJ. With helibars the seat position will be similar to the FJ. As a matter of factm I have helis and a sargent seat so my bike is fairly comfortable to ride all day long. The weight of the VFR is noticeable under 15 mph (think parking lot) but above that, it handles very well. It's a really neutral bike. No steering dampener cause there is no need. Decent shocks (not great) linked brakes that work fine (not great). It's a great all arounder that has more character than your FJ. I do not mean to trash the FJ, I just cam from an inline Yammie to the VFR, and the VFR with an open pipe and a single sided swingarm is just in a different league when it somes to style.
Well, thanks for the quick responses! Sorry for any confusion. I was comparing the weight of the VFR to the FJR. The Yamaha FJR 1300 is a liquid cooled shaft driven sport touring bike with removable hard bags with a dry weight in the 630lb range. For the record, an FJ 1200 (aprox. circa 1988 ~ 1991), is an air cooled, chain driven machine leaning more toward sport bike intentions. Thanks for your intrest- J-Daddy
5th gens rule, and you can pick one up for a good price, but you'll have to look around and be patient With luck, you'll find one with all the mods you want already installed
I rolled my gen 6 onto the scale at work and she weighed in at 520lbs. (I think it had 1/2 tank of gas)
