shmitty
Member
I am fortunate enough to have both a 14 FJR and a 12 ST. I ride the crap out of them both and love them. This is my second FJR, the first being an 06 that I put 70k miles on without incident. The FJR has had the suspension reworked with Race Tech gold valves and springs up front and an Ohlins in back. My ST is basically stock except for the ECU reflash avc did for me.
I do a lot of LD riding and frankly the ST can't compete with the FJR for that. The speed, power and comfort are good for me, but tehn I've been riding FJRs for over 10 years now. It's not as roomy in the cockpit, but the mass is nice and compact which is why it's so fun to ride in the curvy bits. There is definitely some functional overlap between the two, and although the ST is pretty quick, the FJR makes it feel like the thing has got an anchor tied to it.
If you can only have one bike then the ST is the logical choice over the FJR due to it's ability to go more places as mentioned by others. There is also the fact that the FJR is a specialsit bike, that is to say it was always designed to be a GT type sport touring machine. The ST was designed to be a better BMW GS, which is a jack-of-all-roads type bike. This difference in design briefs mean that the ST can never hope to be better than the FJR is designed to be, but it can be better at things that the FJR was never intended to do. It's kinda like comparing apples to Granny Smith apples. If you're gonna make a pie, you know which one you want. If you just want to eat an apple, then there are lots of different choices.
I am sympathetic to your dilema though. I'm downsizing my house right now, andI may need to make that tough decision soon. If I stop doing the long rides, I would probabaly lean towards the ST. Maybe.
It's a tough call, good luck figuring that out!
I do a lot of LD riding and frankly the ST can't compete with the FJR for that. The speed, power and comfort are good for me, but tehn I've been riding FJRs for over 10 years now. It's not as roomy in the cockpit, but the mass is nice and compact which is why it's so fun to ride in the curvy bits. There is definitely some functional overlap between the two, and although the ST is pretty quick, the FJR makes it feel like the thing has got an anchor tied to it.
If you can only have one bike then the ST is the logical choice over the FJR due to it's ability to go more places as mentioned by others. There is also the fact that the FJR is a specialsit bike, that is to say it was always designed to be a GT type sport touring machine. The ST was designed to be a better BMW GS, which is a jack-of-all-roads type bike. This difference in design briefs mean that the ST can never hope to be better than the FJR is designed to be, but it can be better at things that the FJR was never intended to do. It's kinda like comparing apples to Granny Smith apples. If you're gonna make a pie, you know which one you want. If you just want to eat an apple, then there are lots of different choices.
I am sympathetic to your dilema though. I'm downsizing my house right now, andI may need to make that tough decision soon. If I stop doing the long rides, I would probabaly lean towards the ST. Maybe.
It's a tough call, good luck figuring that out!