High Mileage Fjr - Performance Stats

My Feejer's now clocked up 81k - it's an '03 that has seen a lot of stop and go commuting, two-up touring, a couple of trackday sessions and a fair amount of Super-Sport Touring, including TNS Rally prerunning and that hellacious event known as BLISTER.

It just gotten it's third valve inspection, and this time the tech set 'em back to the middle of the range - they were well within spec at the first and second inspections, around 28k and 57k, respectively, but this time some had tightened up.

The bike also got new iridium plugs and a throttle body sync. Finally, a compression check was done, which revealed the following.

Cylinder #1 150

2 130

3 130

4 145

Pretty good, fairly consistant. I didn't have this done earlier in the bike's life, unfortunately - it would've been nice to be able to compare.

I did get to compare the top-gear roll-on performance of my high-mileage unit against that of a 7k mile '04 the other day, though, and the upshot of that comparo was most encouraging.

The Conditions:

Both bikes had loaded saddlebags, oversized windscreens, and driving lights, though my PIAA 910s are considerably larger than his "new think" illuminators. Lastly, my bike was wearing it's mondo Givi E52 topcase with backrest.

We did this on a 10 mile long, level straightaway on a rural high desert road, with a slight headwind.

The Test:

At the count of 3 we yanked the throttles wide open in top cog while traveling at a steady 80mph.

The Result:

One bike would inch ahead, then the other would catch it and move forward.

Once terminal velocity had been reached we shut down, and my buddy's bike was about 1/2 a bike length ahead of mine. His gps showed 140, and our speedo's had said around 143 - a much smaller degree of optimism than many bikes (esp. BMW's).

Today I got it dyno'd, but gotta run to dinner with my wife right now, so later on I'll share with y'all what kind of numbers a well-used FJR can lay down.

To give you a hint, though, you guys can rest easy about wearing your bikes out - it appears that the mighty FJR can take it, and will keep on pounding out prodigous power even as they near 100k miles.

Oh sure, get us hooked and then abandon us to take the SO to dinner....who's more important here As if we all don't know the answer to that ?

Only 72K to go..... standing by for the dyno info

--G

Ok, escapefjrtist, here ya go:

HP: 131

Torque: 90 ft lbs

These numbers were generated on an MJP 2000 dyno. Mark Ledesma did the testing - he's been running this particular dyno at North Valley (Phoenix) Honda for 3 years, and has 12 years of dyno-tuning experience.

Although NVH is a multi-line dealer, they don't carry Yamaha. So far, Mark's only run 2 other FJR's, one of which was being set up with a PowerCommander. He said that bike pulled 126hp, so apparently it takes awhile for these motors to fully break in :lol:

The chart's very interesting, showing gobs of torque available from under 3000 rpm, and the torque and HP lines intersecting at about 5300rpm.

I just gave the chart to Bill LaBrie, our Fastour Riders' Group webmeister - he'll scan it in so it can be viewed on the site; it'll prolly be there tomorrow night, mebbe sooner. The url is: www.fastour.us/forums

Ok, escapefjrtist, here ya go:
HP: 131

Torque: 90 ft lbs

The chart's very interesting, showing gobs of torque available from under 3000 rpm, and the torque and HP lines intersecting at about 5300rpm.

Click to expand...

Does it look anything like this one from my 2003 (PC3 & D&D Cans):



From: https://www.bikes-n-spikes.org/maint/dyno/dyno.html

Torque and horsepower always intersect at 5250, IIRC. -_-

Glad to hear your FJR is still running strong at 81k.

Nice data, thanks for posting.

As an aside, all torque/hp curves intersect at 5250 if they use ft-lb and hp as units - hp is a simple mathematical function of torque and RPM, so that's the way the math works out.

- Mark

Bounce, our Feejer's dyno charts are remarkably similar, both in smoothness and peak power output. My bike's bone stock except for a K&N filter, which was last cleaned 10k miles ago.

Guess I got a "Monday bike." About damn time - I've always suspected that my bikes were a little weaker than the norm. Only problem now is that I don't have an excuse for being passed

Will post the chart here once I figger out how. In the meantime, if you're interested check it out at www.fastour.us/forums under the "Two Wheeled Chatter" section - the thread is titled "How well do FJR's hold up?"

Will post the chart here once I figger out how.  In the meantime, if you're interested check it out at www.fastour.us/forums under the "Two Wheeled Chatter" section - the thread is titled "How well do FJR's hold up?"

Click to expand...

Geese louise Douggie. You may be the T-n-S fjr man, but I am gonna hafta give you some schoolin in this darn innernet stuff.

Linky: FasTour Riders Group FJR dyno thread

And, the chart:



Greg

It's true, I'm a luddite... thanks Skooter.

Scooter

I also need help on that internet thingy

2 questions:

1. How do you set up that link, and

2. How do we set up a pic for an avatar - my problem in the past has been getting the size to the spec required by the board

Cheers

Paul

01 fjr

uk

As I understand it, one thing about dyno testing is that there are a lot of variables that the technician can can try to compensate for but can not completely aleviate. Temperature and humidity are among them.

What I'm saying is that you really can't compare a dyno run from when your bike was new to one you get today because they would have been run under different conditons. Dyno's are great for determining how a tuning change or part upgrade affects the bike because you would run the before and after on the same day under very similar conditions.

And, you are really comparing apples and oranges if you have 2 runs on different dynos. Even the same dyno with a different technician can give diferent results.

Myles,

Is you 81K FJR and early 2003 or built late?

Thanks

Myles

Any non-service parts replaced by now - eg exhausts, bearings

Paul

01 fjr

uk

Scooter
I also need help on that internet thingy

2 questions:

1. How do you set up that link, and

2. How do we set up a pic for an avatar - my problem in the past has been getting the size to the spec required by the board

Cheers

Paul

01 fjr

uk

Click to expand...

Hi Paul. Looks like you got question #2 answered.

As for the link - use the "https://" button above the posting box for posting clickable links. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.

Greg

It's understood that there are many variables to dynos - both the units themselves and their operators, in addition to climatic conditions. But, what other means of testing one's bike are there?

Compression Test. Also can depend on the equipment used and the tech's skill.

Leakdown Test. More definitive way to gauge the motor's health, but as with a compression test, doesn't give performance figures.

Drag strip. Prevailing weather conditions and operator skill can vary widely, complicating comparisons.

Roll-on against another bike. I did this, but it's not always a practical option h34r:

No question that the best way to compare is on the spot, same machine/operator/climate, but after performing two of the above tests (compression and roll-on) what I sought from the dyno run was some idea of how much power this particular FJR was putting out at this point in its life.

When it has over 100k (next spring) I'll go back to the same shop and have the same tech test it again, in similar climatic conditions, to give an idea of how it's holding up as mileage accrues.

Even given all the above variables, isn't it interesting that the two chart's traces are so similar? I believe they pretty accurately reveal the basic power characteristics of this motor.

Parts replaced:

Camchain tensioner. Replacing it failed to eliminate the slapping noise, so the camchain itself, two cam gears and rubber "dampners" were also replaced, and now all's quiet.

How to diagnose a worn tensioner and/or camchain? If it rattles at idle but goes away as the revs come up, it's likely the tensioner. If you're sure the tensioner's good but the noise is the same, replace the chain - mine was quite rough along the inside, indicating a lot of wear.

No other parts have been replaced outside of normal maintenance items, including regular oil changes (Golden Spectro) at 2500-3000 miles. The bike does ping a bit under hard acceleration when it's really hot out, but running a mid-grade gas lessens this. My unfortunate habit of overfilling the crankcase could've caused this condition by creating a carbon build up.

Don't know when the bike was built - how would I tell? I'm sure it's on the VIN tag, but I don't know what to look for.

I took delivery of the bike on Oct. 26 of 2002, and broke it in using the factory rpm recommendations as a rough guide.

Don't know when the bike was built - how would I tell? I'm sure it's on the VIN tag, but I don't know what to look for.

Click to expand...

Yep, on the VIN tag. Should be big numbers - date and year.

Greg

Greg

Adding avatar and links seems so much easier on this site - my questions assumed the same system applied

Another advantage of fjrforum

Paul

01 fjr

uk

Myles

Can you remmber at what mileage roughly the cam parts were renewed?

Paul

01 fjr

uk

Tom of VA: Bike was built in August of '02.

Yam1300Rider: Camchain and parts were replaced at 68,392 miles.