We’ll just ignore the date of my last post.

In the early ’90s, when the bikes I rode were all used ’80s Universal Japanese Motorcycles, Yamaha was producing a “sport touring” bike called the FJ1200. Sport tourers are comfortable, long distance touring bikes that still retain the power and handling of their sportier cousins. While plenty of people racked up amazing mileage on long trips on relatively small displacement UJMs in the 80s, long trips were definitely a chore. The Honda Silverwing and later Goldwing reached bigger, plusher sizes in the ’90s and became the long-distance touring motorcycle standard; but, while I’ve seen folks ride the hell out of those things, they’re far from sporty. Sport bikes and supersport bikes took off in the 90s and got faster and faster- and more and more uncomfortable for long trips. Towards the end of the 90s, Harley Davidson re-invented itself and the cruiser era took off.

But, for me, the slick plastic enclosed crotch rockets left my back sore; and the underwhelming cruisers left me unimpressed. There were sport touring bikes, sure- the ST, Concours, Pacific Coast *shudder*; but they were still more touring than sport and out of my price range. The Bandit was the closest I could come to the old reliable UJM of the 80s… but I kept my eye on the FJ (now FJR) as my “ultimate” bike.

Sooo… last Monday I traded in the Bandit on a 2008 FJR1300. I had to wait until Thursday for it to be delivered; and, of course, it decided to rain for the next three days. I’ve still managed to put 100 miles on it in that time. But what I’ve found so far is that it’s just as sporty as the Bandit was while being far more comfortable and suited to long rides. The adjustable windscreen keeps me a lot warmer (and drier) than the Bandit’s, I’ve got saddlebags now, the seat is far more comfortable…

I think I’ll keep it.