2014 Yamaha FJR1300ES - First Look

Irvine, CA — After a long slumber, Yamaha and Star are finally waking up and delivering some very cool new motorcycles for 2014. And now--joining the much-anticipated FZ-09 Triple, hot-selling Star Bolt and updated four-stroke YZ MXers (YZ250F and YZ450F)--comes the FJR1300ES. Those letters at the end stand for Electronic Suspension, and this feature helps update the bike further (after an overhaul in 2013) in the face of some pretty stiff competition in the sport-touring class.

A new upside-down fork and shock can be adjusted via a bar-mounted switch. Shock-spring preload settings include One Up, One Up with Luggage, Two Up, and Two Up with Luggage (fork preload is set manually). Additionally, three damping choices--applied front and rear--can be selected: Soft, Standard and Hard. These overall damping settings can be further fine-tuned plus or minus 3 increments, meaning Soft and go three clicks softer or harder, and so on. A three-panel dash features an analog tachometer at left with a pair of LCD screens that provide speed, fuel level and suspension-setting menus and more.

With traction control, D-Mode (throttle-response setting), Unified Braking System with ABS, cruise control, standard heated grips and an adjustable-height seat, the $16,890 ES-equipped FJR is undercuts BMW's K1600GT by more than $4000, is $2000 less than Triumph's Trophy SE and only around $600 more expensive than Kawasaki's Concours 14 ABS.

The standard $15,890 FJR1300A returns, as well. Both models are offered in the same Candy Red paint.

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