5 Day FJ adventure

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Just finished cleaning the bike after returning last night from a 5 day, 1500 mile riding trip with an old biking buddy and his 2 sons.

I was riding my FJ (obviously), Kim was riding his 2012 FJR 1300, and his sons were riding a BMW GS 1200 and Gen 2 Yamaha FZ1. There were quite a few positive surprises on the trip - not least of which was the weather (we avoided the rain or the whole adventure). But otherwise, my FJ returned the best fuel mileage, was judged the smoothest, the most comfortable (for the sporty style of riding we ended up doing), and the easiest to handle on the steep, narrow, single-track mountain pass roads we had to use occasionally.

After a 200 mile ride north on the motorway (interstate) on Day 1, the rest of the ride/tour/adventure was without any other motorway riding - almost all twisting, winding, hill-and-valley roads, on some of the best biking roads the UK has to offer.

All 4 bikes behaved perfectly, not even a chain needed adjusting.

The most interesting comments of the trip came from the young "hot shot" on the Ohlins suspended FZ1, after we'd swapped bikes on Day 4 for a ride over a particularly lovely twisting mountain pass, to a great little cafe for breakfast. After following my FJ around roads for the 3 previous days that he reckoned were better suited to a supersports 600, he proclaimed that we was stunned by how fast a 35 year-old FJ could corner. After he'd ridden it on the 4 day he said he couldn't believe how smooth, torquey, comfortable and plain fast the FJ was. He said it was "staggeringly easy to ride fast on roads that it just shouldn't be able to go fast on"   

I think we have anther cnvert to the FJ fold !!

Anyway, I'm going to post up some photos and routes from each days ride. Hope you like them.

First up, Day 1

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Day 2 (including some of our most famous passes (Kirkstone, Whinlatter, Hardknott, Wrynose and Buttertubs)

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Day 3 (including a Lake Windermere Ferry crossing, Ribblehead Viaduct and a visit to the seaside)

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Day 4 - the shortest day, the route was partly forced on us to avoid the rain and thunderstorms. The route actually included the BEST motorcycle road in the UK (from Windermere to Haydon Bridge) and some visits to parts of Hadrian's Wall, which was built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago. This wall crossed the entire width of the country (west to east) from Carlisle to North Shields.

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Day 5 - from our AirBnB digs, the journey home, taking the scenic route....... and me catching young Dan's (the "hot-shot") tip off when we landed back at his dad's house.

A fantastic trip, with plenty of high rpm excursions as well as some more sedate riding admiring the scenery. My FJ returned 54 mpg (imperial gallons) over the whole trip, used no oil and didn't even need the chain adjusting.