Here's the 33 year-old Voyager preproduction prototype "FJ"gently slipping through evening rush hour traffic in the city of Bristol recently. Apart from the comfortable seat and the powerful heater, the low Centre of Gravity and the 'Hub Centre' front suspension and steering eliminate braking dive and provide light and precise steering. These qualities make dealing with traffic easy and undramatic in this heavy (290Kgs) vehicle.
The Voyagers were conceived as an 'all round' general purpose vehicle and several of them (There are six including FJ) have covered high mileages in a variety of roles. FJ has over 88,000 miles on the clock and at least one of the others has exceeded 100,000 miles. Urban use shown here, almost all in first and second gear clearly does not allow use of the full performance and other, lighter, lower capacity FFs, like the Tmax scooter conversion known as the "Comfortmax", with it's CVT transmission, makes an even easier town bike. It is however hampered by the stock telescopic fork front suspension and steering. The Voyagers represent the most compact and comprehensive FF design from the era of Petrol engines.
An electric powered version is the obvious next step.
For more about Voyagers and other FFs go to the free Global compilation site at
bikeweb.com/
Videos are in the section at bikeweb.com/node/1012
