Austin Motorcycle Riders Meetup Group Ride to Bartlette Texas

[SuperUnknownMC]

you guys are living the dream down there in texas

[JimNtexas]

I do like it here!

[BusasaurusRex]

Awesome Jim! I was wondering if you came up to get it! Enjoy it! i'm curious how you like the automatic clutch? I have to finish getting Carolina's Blast running. I'm sure she's going to want to take it to bike night once she gets back. :) That thing has been stupid easy to work on! I like it!

[JimNtexas]

Thanks Busa. I still want to fix my 250, I think it has a warped head.

I love the FJR paddle shifter. It was very intuitive from the frist ride, and I am starting to appreciate some subtle aspects of its design.

The paddle shifters are The Bomb in stop and go traffic! I've used the foot shifter about 4 times.

I do want to work on u-turns, those are a little more challenging than with a manual clutch.

I hope Carolina is doing OK on her deployment, Pat and I are proud to know her.

[billmaa]

Jim, you are not the best at hiding the "giveaway", I know your sense of humor too much, you had me at "manly man" Congratulations my friend well deserved..

[JimNtexas]

I'd been vacillating for almost 2 weeks as to how to introduce the new bike. This clip was just spontaneous, I planned nothing.

Heck, I didn't even remember to bring my monopod! I've got to get used to having a little bit of room to take stuff.

Thanks.

[cokecan500]

Thats awesome Jim, congrats :D

It's quite an upgrade from the Ninja lol

What I wana do is take one of these cross countries I have coming up down there to Austin haha, but even in a plane its a long way :/

[JimNtexas]

Thanks CokeCan, it is a big step.

[sekhmet1098]

Yay, Buell Blast! I have one of those... it's the bike I started out on.

And OMG, FJR!! NICE!!! I'm jealous. I'm going to come steal it from you... I'll bring it back... promise.... :)

[JimNtexas]

I used to think I was a long distance rider until I met this girl on the Blast. She's ridden that darn thing all over the country.

Talk about polar bear riding, she rode from New Hampshire to Texas in November!!

[dbauernf]

Congrats! I KNEW IT the SECOND you paned the camera over it! :-D

[JimNtexas]

I suppose the 'manly man' comment gave it away, hehe.

[dbauernf]

@JimNtexas Yep! I figured it all out! ;-) You could have used the "The owner of that FJR is probably from Texas" too. ;-)

[davidhowellca]

Congrats on the new bike Jim! She's a beaut!

[JimNtexas]

Thanks David, she turns my head every time I go into my garage.

[JimNtexas]

Thank you DJ!

[ernjr2]

Congratulations Jim! Very nice bike, good choice!

[JimNtexas]

thanks ernjr!

[RedanWhiteRebel]

Beautiful bike Jim, congrats and well wear.

[JimNtexas]

Wearing well is a major goal at my age!  Thanks!

[RedanWhiteRebel]

Lol and what a good job you are doing.

[Trinith]

Now that's a hoss of a bike. Any chance you could show me the route to bartlette? Need something new to do, and don't have any plans for this weekend. :)

[JimNtexas]

Thanks Trinith,

I haven't yet mounted a RAM ball, so I didn't have my gps, so I don't know the exact route we took, I just followed the bike in front of me.

I know we went west from Georgetown out to Briggs, and then took a very nice small twisty road back east through Salado to Bartlette.

[ToastToGo]

Wow amazing! Congratulations on the beautiful bike! I be it's very comfortable and a great joy to own. I wish you many many many many happy miles on that bike.

[JimNtexas]

Thanks very much for the kind words Toast.

[MYSTERY4575]

Wow look at this town looks like a good ol' fashioned gunfight can break out at anytime! Congrats on the new bike ride on!

[JimNtexas]

It's the red brick main street that give it that feel. It's kind of sad seeing all the boarded up stores.

It would be a great movie set for sure.

[boobtubeviewr]

I'm impressed JT, but I had u pegged as someone who really liked fuel efficiency.

Excellent choice tho. How's the whole engine heat venting issue on that bike? It used to be a problem, but they claim to have addressed the issue on the newer model FJRs.

[JimNtexas]

The bike gets around 44mph with regular gas, which isn't too bad for a 1300cc motor.

You're sitting on a 140hp motor so there is going to be some heat. Yamaha, unlike Honda, has done their best to difuse it. The Honda ST1300 concentrated the head on my thighs, whereas the FJR kind of disperses it.

The Honda felt hot all the time, the FJR only occasionally when stopped in traffic.

Of course I won't know for sure until July. Ask me again then.

[boobtubeviewr]

Btw, I love the FJR's too & that color is an excellent choice - makes a handsome bike look even better imo.

I'll be interested to hear ur impressions of the auto clutch & touch-button shifting after a few thousand miles have gone by :-)

[JimNtexas]

The paddle shifter deserves its own video. It's very nice. Its easy to use, and as I ride with it more I'm starting to appreciate the subtleties Yamaha put in to its design.

[Thaibiker85]

That's a sharp looking bike there Jim. Can't wait to get me a new bike next spring.

Ride safe.

[JimNtexas]

Thanks, and good luck with your new bike!

[theSMYRNAcowboy]

Well you had me going. I thought for sure you were going to fake us out and say you got the Burgman 650. My heart was a pumping. I'm glad you decided on the FJR. That really is a sharp bike. Love the hard luggage and the paddle shifter is cool. Congrats my friend and many safe miles riding !

[JimNtexas]

I still like the Burgman a lot also. It's a real serious machine for sure.

My next bike may well be a scooter, I'd sure like one for running around town.

[britex3186]

Congrats on the bike purchase! You have a really looker and performer there! Are you going to do a video review of it?

I sure like the color too!

[JimNtexas]

My impressions from my demo ride remain true. I will do a 'thousand mile' video I think. I'm already over 700, and we've had a very cold wet December here, at least by Austin Texas standards.

[M3anMachin3]

Congratulations Jim! So you ended up taking that 2008 AE model you told me about! It's a really nice all-around bike, Be shure to tell us your impressions of it! Wish you many fun miles with her.

[JimNtexas]

Thanks, I'm sure I'll be discussing this new bike a lot. On a bumper sticker:

1) It's a lot more top-heavy than a Ninja

2) Paddle shifters rule!

3) A hard twist of the throttle and you are going warp nine!

[lpncna32]

sweet bike, can't wait to see a close up walk around.

[JimNtexas]

Thanks, coming soon.

[dsmith308]

Nice bike! Only 1.5 miles? Put some miles on that thing!!!! :)

[JimNtexas]

It was 1.5 miles the first time I sat on it.  Two weeks latter it's over 700!.

Thanks for watching.

[Wilks89]

Congratz on the FJR, Jim. Awesome and beautiful bike!!

[JimNtexas]

Thank you.l

[afterthetone]

Yey. HAPPY NEW BIKE!

[JimNtexas]

Thanks very much.

[dprider02]

Congrats on the new bike. A world away from your previous one, and I'd bet that you're riding with an even bigger grin than you were before! :)

[JimNtexas]

I still like my Ninja and hope to get the cooling problem fixed.

You're right about the grin, it's one twist of the throttle away.

[danmoto73]

really nice jim :) congrats on your new bike, how are you finding riding with auto? i bet it was odd at first.

i hope you guys had a nice ride and meetup

[JimNtexas]

Paddle shifters rule!!!!

My advice is that if you have a bike with an archaic manual clutch you have it crushed!!!!

Ok, well, that may be a little extreme, but the paddle shifter is great.  I've used the traditional foot shifter about three times.

[AkornRider]

Beautiful bike Jim! That thing looks sharp. Hope you are enjoying it.

[JimNtexas]

At first I felt some stress stopping and parking it, but I'm getting more comfortable with that.

On the road it's terrific!