Someone please talk me into the FJ

[pseudofed]

When I got my red 2015, I had the dealer sell me the heated grips and lower Yamaha seat at a discount. I'm also 5'9", and the lower seat, while harder, provides big difference in ability to flat foot the bike. Since I mostly commute 12 miles on it, with weekend 40 mile trips to nearby outdoor shooting ranges, it's no big deal. I also bought River Road engineer style boots and had a boot repair place add 1/2" or so to the heels. Have a wide, flatfooted stance on the bike now and feel like I'm in total control. Have considered the Yamaha lowering links, but don't think they're necessary now. Enjoy your ride!

[paulsmith]

It must be the season for it as I just saw someone else post a near identical post on another forum, but they had two inches added to the sole and wanted to know how to move the gear lever. Here was my response to them:

 
Solution 2: Stop trying to flat-foot it. Bikes (other then cruisers) are not designed to be flat-footed and two inch soles will kill you quicker than dropping a bike will. You are not trying to carry the weight of the bike on your foot, only to maintain its balance so being able to put your heel down is of no benefit to you, and there is no significant advantage to being able to put both feet down at the same time, as long as you don't need to shift too much weight to transfer legs (technically known as 'doing the Hendon shuffle').
 
Even shifting your butt an inch or so will give you two or three extra inches of reach which should enable you to comfortably put your toe on the road. Slipping forward in the saddle also helps as most are narrower towards the front adding another inch or two to your reach. Remember, it is not the length of your inside leg that matters, it is crotch to toe, giving most guys an advantage over girls with the same length legs, as guys tend to have bigger (hence longer) feet.

[eeetea]

I wasn't going to say it....but I agree.  I'm only 5'8" with a 31" inside leg, and I've had adventure bikes for a while, XT660Z Tenere and KTM 990 Adventure  the Tenere has a seat height of 865mm (34") and the KTM 860mm (33.8").  It was never an issue, you learn to ride without stopping, balance when next to stationary, and tippy toe when you do have to stop...or if you want a bit more flat foot, perhaps for pushing backwards out of parking spot or something, just slide your bum over the seat, and you can have foot flat on the floor, with the underside of the other leg on the seat top.  
 
It's technique to learn that's all.  I think you'll be surprised at how quickly you would adapt.

[stevesweetz]

Story has a happy ending folks - picked up my 2016 silver/blue FJ-09 today and it has the revised oil sump.
 
Promptly rode it around for about 2 hours on slow back roads despite the weather being questionable (very overcast and 55°F, but luckily it didn't rain).
 
Love it overall, but the seat is definitely under scrutiny right now. It feels very hard at first, but ultimately I think I felt less butt fatigue after those 2 hours than I would on my CBR500R - and certainly less back fatigue.
 
One quality of the bike that I didn't pick up at demos - it's so damn easy to low speed maneuver. Despite 2.5 years, 7000 miles on the CBR, I still always felt just a little weary doing tight turns from a stop. There are a lot of roads that intersect at weird angles near me and several turns that are sharper angles than 90° It's not like I was ever in danger of dropping the CBR, but somehow I always felt a little awkward taking these tight turns. Absolutely zero issue with the FJ. Despite being new to the bike, these turns just immediately felt easy. Wide bars vs clip-ons I guess.
 
Anyway thanks to all those who provided their thoughts on these two bikes.