Not a lot of detail on this date. The girls had prior plans going to Bozeman, Aaron wanted to get some research work done, and Tina wanted to go exploring the park.

What’s a guy with an FJR to do?

I headed up to Bear Tooth Pass – a road we did as a family with a 2004 Honda Odyssey pulling a Jayco Popup camper so many years ago. All the while I was thinking about the proper vehicle for such a road.

Lots of photos ironically enough – they can do the talking.

Nice gathering towards end of the day at the campsite.

What am I Riding?

I’m riding a 2014 Yamaha FJR 1300 ES, that I purchased used in January 2024. The bike had just over 13k miles at time of purchase. The FJR is far and away the most comfortable and highest performing bike I’ve had. Prior motorcycles I’ve owned include Honda ST1100 and Yamaha Super Tenere.

• The bike is an inline 4-cylinder with shaft drive to rear tire.
• It’s an electronic suspension model which means you can adjust the front and rear suspension via pushbuttons from the cockpit.
• It has an electronic windscreen that in low position pushes more air to cool you, in high position makes a protected, quiet envelope to shield you.
• Critical for this sort of travel - it has cruise control.

Service work done immediately prior to departure included:

• New tires front and rear, front fork service.
• Flush/replace coolant, clutch fluid, front and rear brake fluids, oil, filter, final drive fluid.
• Lube the whole bike including service work on the headlight adjustments which had seized up.
• Installation of Neutrino power distribution module under the seat. This will be my heat controller for jacket/gloves this winter. This is wired to a 2-port USB charging device in the top box to enable phone/tablet charging while underway.
• Custom driver and pillion seat refinishing. This was actually done about a year ago and proved itself this trip. A home-brewed job I fashioned from 2 different density foams shaped with a serated bread knife and adhered via 3M contact spray to the OEM seat pan. This was then covered by a local upholstery shop.

It is highly satisfying to do this work yourself and know before starting a 10,000 mile journey that you are doing what you can to make it mechanically sound. The prior owner gave me detailed records, but their was no indication coolant or front fork oil had been replaced before. Both of these are involved tasks – the coolant required removal of the gas tank. The front fork service is beyond my skill level and was entrusted to GMD CompuTrack in Ringgold, GA.

Stats

• Highlight : Family connection, wringing that throttle!

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