.....and buy a K1200s or the like and not look back.
Haha, in your dreams. As Frank said, they are brutally fast, handle well and have brakes to match, they're the whole package, but.....they are money pits, the very thing you wish to avoid and unless you are riding the wheels off it on a regular basis, you are paying for a performance edge you'll never get near. They also have a particularly long wheelbase which makes them pigs at low speed and in the twisties, they are Autobahn bikes.
I have a number of different configurations of luggage for my FJ, all soft, all hard and several mixed options plus 3 different size Givi Tanklock bags.
I rode hundreds of thousands of km's with expandable, water proof, soft bags. Single medium size for daily use and two expandable large bags for trips....
For general round town use I now use the biggest top box I could find, it's lockable, weather proof, very cheap to buy and reasonably vandal/thief proof in both lid and locking to bike.
....I can fit a 4XL helmet in there.
The biggest downside to hard panniers is clearance, they make it virtually impossible to filter, and for me around town, that is an absolute deal breaker. When I'm heading out of town for a trip and have the panniers on, I find it an absolute pain in the arse having to que as I would in my car because my bike is too wide to ride between the lanes. Even navigating my own driveway and carparks is a PIA.
What is surprisingly difficult, contrary to first thoughts, is how difficult it is to replace an FJ, despite it's age and disparity in value. The sort of use mine is put to makes finding a bike with similar attributes harder than you would think. In a nutshell, I do a lot of "Sports Touring" in the literal sense and have averaged since I bought it in '08, 22,500 recreational km per year, the mileage being split equally between big day rides and 4 or 5 trips.
Four years ago, armed with a budget that would buy most bikes a couple of years old, I set out to find a stable mate for the FJ that would fulfill the same duties, I was salivating at the thought of choice that lay before me, that was, until I got down to it. Turns out, the obvious successors, such as FJR's, GTR's etc just don't cut it like an FJ, particularly a tweaked one.
I feel like I almost had my hand forced as the bike that nearest fitted the bill was not what I had in mind at the outset but undeniably does the job. 50k and 4 years later I describe it as "brilliant but bland" It doesn't put a smile on my face like the FJ does.
Dan, get the FJ fixed. I know of two people here who have in the last 12 months split their cases and been back on the road within 24hrs, neither one of them a mechanic like yourself, neither of them having done the job before.
Buy the gear set and continue your love affair with the FJ, truly one of the best bikes ever built. Oh yeah, and fit a big top box to it, unlike pannier systems, they're dirt cheap and do the job.
As Andy said, FJ's remain one of the best bang for buck bikes out there to this very day. Because of my former life I still get to ride a ton of new bikes and I agree.
You'd be surprised just how many folks on here are returning owners who spent who spent years, if not decades regretting selling the last one.
Noel
